I had no ladai (fight) with anyone,” she narrates raising her hands in gratitude. I never insisted that I’d sing only the heroine’s numbers. Firm that she’ll not lambast the composers who used her as a stepping stone and then ignored her. Firm that she doesn’t want a recorder around. As if on cue she sings the zingy C Ramchandra number Sunday ke Sunday complete with the rhyme, ‘Ye dil beating kya jaane.yeh chasing hunting kya jaane’.įun loving as she is, she’s firm. But the lines on her face have left her heart untouched. “Bahut gandh ho gayi thi (the scene had become dirty),” she says cryptically of her voluntary retirement. Instant fame, adulation, separation from loved ones and then a retreat from rivalry. Her lucent eyes mirror the changing notes in her life. Dressed in salwar kameez she moves with a walker. While her pictures shot in her heyday show her as a robust woman, today Shamshad Begum at 92 is frail and almost angelic. The romantic Saiyan dil mein aana re (Bahar), the teasing Kahin pe nigahen kahin pe nishana (CID), the pathos-dipped Chod babul ka ghar and even the Hinglish ditty Meri jaan Sunday ke Sunday (Shehnai) are all classics from songstress Shamshad Begum who ruled between the ’40s-’60s. India awarded the the Padma Bhushan, one of its top awards, to Begum in 2009.Her spectrum has been kaleidoscopic. Her last song was for the film “Main papi tum bakhshanhaar” in 1976. She recorded songs for films such as India’s first foreign-language Oscar nominee, “Mother India” (“O gadiwala dheere” and “Holi aayee re Kanhaai”), “Naya andaz” (“Meri neendon main tum, meri khwabon mein tum”) and “Babul’s” “Chod babul ka ghar.” Ramachandra tapped into the mischievous sound in her voice for fun songs such as “Aana mere jaan Sunday ke Sunday” and “Mere piya gaye Rangoon.”īut by the late 1950s Mangeshkar and her sister Asha Bhonsle were ascending and there was little demand for Begum, although some of her fave composers had her sing a number occasionally. She not only recorded in Hindi but also regional Indian languages such as Gujarati, Bengali and Telugu. With a deep voice that differed from other playback singers of the period, she was much sought after during the 1940-50s by top composers such as Naushad, O.P. When her mentor Ghulam Haider moved to Bombay in 1944, she joined him, but stayed on when he left for Pakistan after India was partitioned in 1947. Her father insisted she record wearing a burka and not be photographed.Īlso over family objections, Begum, raised a Muslim, fell in love with Hindu lawyer Ganpat Lal Batto and married him at age 15.īegum made her film debut as a playback singer in “Khazanchi” (1941) and her radio bow in Lahore in 1937. for the princely sum of 15 rupees per song and 5,000 rupees when she finished the contract. Despite family objections, Begum signed a deal at age 12 with the Xenophone Recording Co. I have sung with her in several films and she had a pleasant and simple personality,” Mangeshkar tweeted.īorn in Lahore, Punjab, Begum grew up singing at weddings and social events, and was discovered in primary school at age 10. “I am saddened to hear of the death of Shamshad Begum. She was 94 and had been ailing for some time.īefore Lata Mangeshkar put her stamp on India’s film industry as the prima singer who provided the voice for many Hindi film actresses, Begum’s distinctive notes were behind such hits as “Mere piya gaye Rangoon” in “Patanga” (1949) and “Leke pehla pehla pyar” from “C.I.D.” (1956). Throaty-voiced thrush Shamshad Begum, one of Bollywood’s earliest singers, died on April 23 in Mumbai, India.
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