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Shamshad Begum – Profile

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Shamshad Begum

The inimitable Shamshad Begum was the reigning queen of film music in its earliest years. From the 1940s to the early 1960s, her unmistakable voice sang such memorable songs as Kaahe koyal shor machaye re (Aag), Pee ke ghar aaj pyari dulhaniya chali (Mother India), and Kajra mohabbat wala (Kismet).

Shamshad Begum was never trained to be a singer; she strayed into a career in music when the Jenaphone music company signed her as their artiste following an audition. She soon began singing on the Lahore radio, gaining popularity with the song Ik baar phir kaho zara.

It was music director Ghulam Haider who groomed the young singer and she sang for him in a couple of successful films including Yamla Jatt, Khazanchi and Khandaan. A string of subsequent successes spread her fame to Bombay. Shamshad Begum shifted to the city in the mid-1940s and established herself with such films as Taqdeer, Anmol Ghadi, and Shahjehan.

Shamshad Begum’s distinct nasal voice and ghazal-inflected folk style of singing made her a favorite of the leading music directors of the time, including O.P. Nayyar, Naushad, and C. Ramchandra. Under their baton, she moulded her voice to sing songs of every mood — the teasing Kahin pe nigahen kahin pe nishana (CID), the tragic Hum dard ka afsana (Dard), the romantic Kabhi aar kabhi paar laage teere nazar (Aar Paar), and the incensed Teri mehfil mein kismat aazmakar (Mughal-e-Azam).

Although her style was never imitated or challenged, Shamshad Begum went into semi-retirement with the advent of younger singing stars in the late 1960s. Shamshad Begum sang her last three songs in 1981 for Ganga Maang Rahi Balidan. She now leads a quiet life in Mumbai – (Source :- Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema)

Note :- Article has been edited for accuracy – Ummer Siddique

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