Uma Devi

Tun Tun. The name conjures up the image of a roly-poly, funny woman. She was christened thus by none other than Dilip Kumar. She was working with the thespian in her first film Babul which had Nargis in the romantic lead. And the impact that she made with her debut was so “heavy” that Tun Tun emerged an overnight star. She was indeed Hindi cinema’s first-ever comedienne and roles were specially written for her. She did not make a special pair with any one comedian but she was paired with everyone from Bhagwan Dada, Agha, Sunder, Mukri, Dhumal, Johnny Walker to Keshto Mukherji.

The funny thing was that while all other heroines were on a constant diet, watching what they ate, Tun Tun made it a point to carry a dabba with her all the time, nibbling at junk food and mithai every minute she was on the sets. “I had to maintain myself,” she often joked.

But Tun Tun, whose real name was Uma Devi, did not join the film industry to become an actress. She wanted to be a singer. In fact, even as a child she only dreamt of becoming a singer. And not just that, she, at the age of eight, had some great, almost impossible dreams. If and when she would sing, it had to be for Naushad only! She would not sing for any lesser music-director. Naturally, she had to struggle very hard to make the dream come true.

Orphaned as an infant, Uma was raised by her chacha in an obscure village near Mathura. Girls were not sent to school as a matter of course. Consequently, as a child Uma would climb on imli trees, play on farmyards and listen to film songs on the radio. She would listen to the names of the singers and music directors being announced on the radio and dream of hearing her name on the air waves.

However, a major hurdle stood in the way. Singing was taboo in her orthodox North Indian household. She began practicing singing on the sly. Ramlila and film songs were her source of inspiration. She taught herself to read and write Hindi and later picked up a smattering of Urdu and English to get by in showbiz.

Luckily for Uma, her friend from Delhi came to her village. She was educated and had connections in the Bombay film industry. She wrote to her director friend in the tinsel-town to help Uma. In 1946, all of 13, Uma boarded the train to Bombay without informing her chacha. In Bombay she struck up an instant friendship with actor-director Arun Ahuja and his singer-wife Nirmala Devi (Govinda’s parents). They introduced her to various music directors.

One of them was Allah Rakha who agreed to give her one song in the film Wamaq Azao, the others being sung by Mallika Pukhraj. Thus, Uma Devi sang Hai do dil milte milte reh gaye… and got paid Rs 200, a princely sum those days.

The quest for Naushad continued. Finally, A.R. Kardar, who was looking for fresh female voice, introduced her to Naushad. She told him if he did not give her a chance, she would jump into the sea, which happened to be right across the bungalow where they were . The great music director asked the chubby Uma what was the “sur” she sang in. Uma was blank. She asked him to listen to her and decide. After listening to her for 10 minutes, Naushad gave the nod. A contract was signed and Uma was enrolled at Kardar Productions. She was paid Rs 500 as advance and arrangements were also made for her stay at the official guest house where the staff stayed.

Uma sang Afsana likh rahi hoon, dil-e-baqarar ka, aankhon mein rang bhar ke tere intezar ka… for Munawwar Sultana. The song floored the nation and established her as a front-ranker in the era of Noor Jehan and Shamshad Begum. She became Naushad’s favourite singer and he would reserve at least 1 song for her in each of his films.

Uma Devi’s Kahe jiya dole… and Dil ko lagaya humne… from Anokhi Ada cemented her popularity. She was offered Chandralekha by director S.S. Vasan of Madras. She had to sing seven classical songs for music director S.S. Rajeshwarrao. Uma realized these were beyond her capabilities. However, Rajeshwarrao worked hard on her and helped her sing the compositions.

Uma’s career as a singer was short-lived. New singers entered the industry. It was impossible to keep pace with Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. “Rakhi”-brother Naushad used to compose songs to suit her range. But that could not have continued for long.

It was time to change tracks. Naushad advised her to switch to acting. He felt she would make an excellent comedienne for she had a natural flair for the funny stuff.

Once again, Uma wanted the best. She said she wanted a role opposite Dilip Kumar. Naushad couldn’t stop laughing, but he talked to Dilip. A role was created for Uma and she got her first film Babul in 1950. A scene required her to chase Dilip around a charpai (cot), but she ran so fast that she would leave the hero behind. Ultimately, after repeated takes, she pulled him in front of her. But in the process she fell on the charpai and Dilip fell on her. The shot was canned and they retained the shot. The credits announced her name as Uma Devi, but they decided to give her a screen name. It was Dilip Kumar’s idea to call her Tun Tun.

Tun Tun did many films later. She had a fan in Guru Dutt and acted in almost all his films. Her favourite role too was from Guru Dutt’s Mr and Mrs 55 in which she played a Christian lady.

Having more or less left films, Tun Tun, alias Uma Devi, led a retired life in a middle-class residence at Andheri, Mumbai. She spent her time playing with her grandchildren or listening to her favourite songs on All-India Radio. It was, after all, listening to the radio that got her attracted to the film industry in the first place, wasn’t it?

Roshan Ara Begum visited Lahore, the music capital in Pakistan then, during her teens to participate in musical soirees held at the residences of affluent citizens and the aastana of Chun Peer in Mohalla Peer Gillaanian inside Mochi Gate. Another reason for her occasional visits to this city was to broadcast her songs from the then All India Radio Station, Lahore, and her name was announced as Bombaywali Roshan Ara Begum. She had acquired the popular nomenclature Bombaywali because she shifted to Bombay (now Mumbai) in the late 1930s from Calcutta, the place of her birth, to be near to Ustad Abdul Karim Khan from whom she took lessons in classical music for many years. I still remember her performance at Chun Peer’s abode in early 1941, when she pleasantly surprised local musical heavyweights and connoisseurs with her expertise in rendering classical compositions.

Possessing a rich, mature and mellifluous voice that could easily lend itself to the expression of a wide range of intricate classical asthai-antras, Roshan Ara employed her natural talent in the promotion of the art which requires a high degree of cultivation and training. Her singing was marked with a full-throated voice, short and delicate passages of sur (tones), lyricism, romantic appeal and swift taans. All these flourishes were combined in her unique style that reached its peak which was from 1947 to 1982. Her vigorous style of singing which was interspersed with bold strokes and perfect laykari, left no doubt that she was the greatest exponent of the Kirana gharana style of khayal singing after the demise of both her mentor Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and his equally talented cousin Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan.

Even before migrating to Pakistan, Roshan Ara Begum was acclaimed the best exponent of Kirana gharana style of khayal singing in the subcontinent. She embodied in her art all the exquisite tonal qualities and attributes of her mentor’s delicate style of classical vocalization. She was equally good at alap (step-by-step progression from one note to another) while delineating ragas, and also in taking breezy taans (flights) again in the strand of her ustad. She was very conscious of her dignity and status and never allowed herself to be emotionally swayed. But when the recording of her ustad’s music was played her eyes filled with tears.

An outstanding personality in the world of music, Roshan Ara Begum has aptly been called a phenomenon as her voice and its timbre, her creative musical intelligence and sensitivity had combined to produce perfect harmony. She had profound knowledge of the theory of classical music and practised this art for over 40 years. Roshan Ara Begum changed the course of Pakistani classical music by her masterly renditions and at the same time raised its status by endowing it with dignity, grace and glory.

Migrating to Pakistan in 1948, Roshan Ara Begum settled in Lalamusa, a small town almost mid-way between Lahore and Rawalpindi, a place to which her husband originally belonged. Although far away from Lahore, the cultural centre of the country, she would shuttle back and forth to participate in music and radio programmes.

Thanks to audio and visual recording devices, the late Malika-i-Mauseeqi will always be remembered for the richness of her music, which often overflowed with tonal modulations, for its sweetness and delicacy of gammaks (trills), and for her slow progression of ragas. It is difficult to adequately describe in words the quality of her music. One can only say that it went straight to the hearts of both knowledgeable listeners and cultivated connoisseurs, in live concerts as well as through radio and television.

The electronic media can play an important role in keeping her music alive. However, PTV seems to have forgotten all about Roshan Ara Begum — a fact which is substantiated by its failure in not telecasting her music even on her death anniversaries. Classical music has long been relegated by PTV to the lowest rung in its priorities. The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, however, is doing slightly better as once in a while it airs recorded music of Roshan Ara Begum from its second channel.

Sudha Malhotra

Sudha Malhotra was born in New Delhi in 1936, and she was discovered as a child artiste by Master Ghulam Haider (a prominent music director of the 1940s, known for combining popular ragas with Punjabi rhythm in his songs). Her first break as a playback singer came with Mila gaye nain, composed by Anil Biswas, for the film Arzoo (1950). Ganga ki reeti pai (Mirza Ghalib, 1954), Salaam-e-hasrat qubool karlo (Babar, 1960) and Kashti ka khamosh safar hai (Girl Friend, 1960), a duet with Kishore Kumar, Naa mein dhan chahun (with Geeta Dutt), a bhajan from Kala Pani (1958); are the other songs she is often remembered for. She was awarded the coveted Kala Bhushan Award by the President of India Giani Zail Singh in the 1980s.

Sudha is one of the rare female playback singers to have sung a self-composed song — She has not only given the music for the haunting song Tum mujhe bhool bhee jao, from the 1959 film Didi, but also sung it with Mukesh. The story goes that on the day the song had to be recorded, composer N. Dutta fell ill. The recording couldn’t be postponed, as the picturization of the song could not be delayed. On hearing this Sudha offered to compose the number — surely a highlight of her glorious career. Sudha was also often linked with prominent lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi, who was said to be in love with her. Unfortunately, his was to be an unrequited love and it is this disappointment which has been immortalised in the number Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaen (Gumrah, 1963). Sudha is now 72 and lives in Mumbai, home of the Hindi film industry. Barring an occasional stage program of ghazals and bhajans, today she is seldom seen or heard.