Shamshad Begum
Encyclopedia
- Not to be confused with Shamshad Begum (classical singer) (d. 1998), mother of Naseem Banu, and grandmother of actress Saira BanuSaira BanuSaira Banu , also known as Saira Bano, is an Indian Bollywood actress and the wife of the film actor Dilip Kumar. She acted in many Bollywood films between 1960 and 1980.-Early life:...
.
Shamshad Begum (born April 14, 1919) is an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n singer who was one of the first playback singer
Playback singer
A playback singer is a singer whose singing is prerecorded for use in movies. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras, while the actual singer does not appear on screen.-South Asia:...
s in the Hindi film industry.
Begum was born in Amritsar
Amritsar
Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. The 2001 Indian census reported the population of the city to be over 1,500,000, with that of the entire district numbering 3,695,077...
, Punjab
Punjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
. She was a big fan of K.L. Saigal and watched Devdas
Devdas
Devdas is a Bengali Romance novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Essentially, it is a retelling of the Krishna, Radha, and Meera myths, the relationships between its three protagonists - Devdas, Parvati, and Chandramukhi - paralleling the Hindu deities'.-Plot summary:Devdas is a young man from...
14 times. She earned 15 rupees per song and was awarded 5,000 on the completion of the contract on Xenophone, a renowned music recording company.
Sometime back, a controversy erupted in the media, when several publications gave the false news of her death, before it was clarified that the Shamshad Begum who died in 1998 was Saira Banu
Saira Banu
Saira Banu , also known as Saira Bano, is an Indian Bollywood actress and the wife of the film actor Dilip Kumar. She acted in many Bollywood films between 1960 and 1980.-Early life:...
's (Dilip Kumar
Dilip Kumar
Dilip Kumar , is an Indian actor and a former Member of Parliament.He lives in Pali Hill, Bandra in Mumbai, India. He is commonly known as "Tragedy King",and is described as "the ultimate method actor" by Satyajit Ray....
's wife) grandmother with the same name. The singer has been living with her daughter Usha Ratra and son-in-law in Mumbai, ever since her husband Ganpat Lal Batto died in 1955. Recently, she celebrated her 89th birthday at her elder sister's house and now she stays at - Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
She was conferred the Padma Bhushan
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
in 2009.
Career
Begum made her debut on radio on PeshawarPeshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
Radio in Lahore on December 16, 1947, captivating the hearts of her listeners with the enchanting depth of her voice. Shamshad was very much conscious of her not so beautiful face and she never posed for any pictures and not many people saw her pictures anywhere. Until the end of the 1970s, nobody knew her face at all, though everybody could recognise her melodious voice as it was used by the great maestro
Maestro
Maestro is a title of extreme respect given to a master musician. The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera. This is associated with the ubiquitous use of Italian vocabulary for classical music terms...
s like Naushad Ali and O. P. Nayyar
O. P. Nayyar
Omkar Prasad Nayyar was an Indian film music director and composer born in Lahore, India, now in modern day Pakistan. He was particularly acclaimed for his peppy numbers.-Career:...
. Even today, her songs from the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s are popular and continue to be remixed by music directors.
Begum sang for the All India Radio
All India Radio
All India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
(AIR) through her musical group 'The Crown Imperial Theatrical Company of Performing Arts', set up in Delhi. The then AIR Lahore helped her entering the world of movies as they frequently broadcast her songs, which induced music directors to use her voice for their films. Shamshad also recorded naats and devotional music for a couple of gramophone recording companies.
Her crystal-clear voice caught the attention of sarangi maestro Ustad Hussain Bakshwale Saheb, who took her as his disciple. Lahore-based composer Ghulam Haider
Ghulam Haider
Ghulam Haider was an early film music composer who worked both in India and Pakistan. Ghulam Haider was born in Hyderabad, Sind in 1908.-Erly Life:...
used her voice skillfully in some of his earlier films like Khazanchi
Khazanchi
Khazanchi is a 1941 Indian Bollywood film. It was the highest grossing Indian film of 1941....
(1941) and Khandaan
Khandaan
Khandan is a 1965 Hindi film. Produced by Vasu Menon and directed by A. Bhimsingh. The film stars Sunil Dutt, Nutan, Pran, Om Prakash, Lalita Pawar, Helen and Mumtaz. The films music is by Ravi. A box-office success, the film became the seventh highest earning film of 1965, earning an approximate...
(1942). When he moved to Bombay in 1944, Shamshad went with him as a member of his team, leaving behind her family and staying with her Chacha (paternal uncle). She is credited with singing one of the first Westernised songs, Meri jaan...Sunday ke Sunday by C. Ramchandra
C. Ramchandra
Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar was a renowned music composer in the movie industry of India. In the composer's role, he mostly used the name C. Ramachandra, though he also used the names Annasaheb , Ram Chitalkar Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar(Marathi: रामचंद्र नरहर चितळकर /सी.रामचंद्र ) (1918–1982) was...
. O.P. Nayyar describes her voice as that of a "temple bell" for its clarity of tone
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
. Begum became a national rage between the 1940s and the late 1950s, having a voice different from her peers like Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional...
, Asha Bhonsle, Geeta Dutt
Geeta Dutt
Geetā Dutt was a prominent singer in India. She found particular prominence as a playback singer in Hindi cinema...
and Amirbai Karnataki
Amirbai Karnataki
Amirbai Karnataki was a famous actress/singer and playback singer of the early Hindi cinema and was famous as Kannada Kokila. Mahatma Gandhi was an ardent fan of her song Vaishnav Jan To.-Personal life:...
.
Songs
- Leke pehla pehla pyar, (CID 1956), (music: O.P. Nayyar)
- Milte hi aankhen dil hua, (Duet with Talat Mehmood), (Babul), (music: Naushad)
- Chali chali kaisi yeh hawa yeh, (Duet with Usha MangeshkarUsha MangeshkarUsha Mangeshkar is an Indian singer who has recorded many Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati songs soundtracks.She is daughter of Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar & Shevanti . She is the younger sister of singers, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle and elder to her music-director brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar...
), (BluffmasterBluffmasterBluffmaster! is a 2005 Bollywood film, a remake of the Argentine film Nine Queens. Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh and Priyanka Chopra. Boman Irani and Nana Patekar have supporting roles in the film. This film is not related to Manmohan Desai's film Bluff Master released in 1963.The...
1965), (music: Kalyanji AnandjiKalyanji AnandjiKalyanji Anandji is a name used by Indian composer duo known for its work on Hindi film soundtracks, particularly action potboilers in the 1970s. The name comes from first names of the two Gujarati brothers that formed the duo, Kalyanji Virji Shah and Anandji Virji Shah...
) - Kabhi aar kabhi paar zara dere chalo, (Aar PaarAar PaarAar-Paar is a 1954 Indian Hindi-language film. Directed by Guru Dutt, the film has music by O.P. Nayyar and lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri. A light-hearted film , Aar-Paar stars Johnny Walker, Shyama, Shakila, Jagdeep, Jagdish Sethi, Bir Sakuja, Rajendra, Amir Banu, Rashid Khan, M.A...
), (music: O.P. Nayyar) - O Gadiwale - Mother India - Naushad
- Kahin pe nigahen kahin pe nishana - CID (1956) - music O.P. Nayyar
- Boojh Mera Kya Naam Re - (1956) - music O.P.Nayyar
- Mere piya gaye Rangoon - Patanga - music C.Ramchandra
- Ek Tera Sahara – Shama - music Master Ghulam Haider
- Holi aayee re Kanhaai - Mother IndiaMother IndiaMother India is a 1957 Hindi film epic, written and directed by Mehboob Khan and starring Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Raaj Kumar. The film, a melodrama, is a remake of Mehboob Khan's earlier film, Aurat...
(1957) - Lyrics: Shakeel BadayuniShakeel BadayuniShakeel Badayuni was an accomplished Urdu poet, lyricist and songwriter.-Early life and background:Shakeel Badayuni was born in Badayun, Uttar Pradesh...
, Music: NaushadNaushadNaushad Ali was an Indian musician. He was one of the foremost music directors for Bollywood films, and is particularly known for popularizing the use of classical music in films.His first film as an independent music director was Prem Nagar in 1940... - Naina Bhar aye neer - Humayun - music Master Ghulam Haider
- Chod Babul Ka Ghar - Babul - music Naushad
- Kajra Mohabbatwala Ankhiyon mein Aisa dala (Duet with Asha BhosleAsha BhosleAsha Bhosle is an Indian singer. She is one of the best-known and most highly-regarded Hindi playback singers in India, although she has a wider repertoire. Bhosle's career started in 1943 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over a thousand Bollywood movies...
) - Kismat (1968) - Music: O.P. Nayyar - Meri neendon main tum, meri khwabon mein tum (Duet with Kishore KumarKishore KumarKishore Kumar , born Abhas Kumar Ganguly, was an Indian film playback singer and an actor who also worked as lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter and scriptwriter.Kishore Kumar was one of India's greatest performers of the late 20th century...
) - Naya Andaz - Music: O.P.Nayyar - Teri Mehfil Mein Qismat (Duet with Lata MangeshkarLata MangeshkarLata Mangeshkar is a singer from India. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional...
) - Mughal-E-Azam - Saiyan Dil mein aana re - Bahar
External links
- Legends - Shamshad Begum: Her profile, Interview, complete list of her songs and her work with Music Directors and Co-Singers
- Indianetzone - Shamshad Begum
- PLANET POWAI - Shamshad Begum
- IndianMelody.com - Shamshad Begum, The Legendary Singer This link refers to the wrong Shamshad Begum, which says she has died.
- PRO BOLLYWOOD - Dharti Ko Aakash Pukare by Manohar Iyer
- PRO BOLLYWOOD - Shamshad Begum's Photos at Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Awards
- Dhool.com - Song of the Day # 691
- Shamshad Begum -The Eternal Voice
Video links