Remembering legendary singer Shamshad Begum 1919-2013

Shamshad Begum (Śamśād Bēgam; 14 April 1919 – 23 April 2013) was an Indian singer who was one of the first playback singers in the Hindi film industry. She had a distinctive voice and was a versatile artist, singing over 6,000 songs in Hindi and Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and Punjabi languages and of them 1287 songs were Hindi film songs.She worked with maestros including Naushad Ali, S. D. Burman, C. Ramchandra and O. P. Nayyar. Her songs from the 1940s to the early 1970s remain popular and continue to be remixed.

Shamshad was at the peak of her career right from 1940 to 1955 and was the most in demand female singer and highest paid female playback singer from 1940-1955 but after her husband's accidental death in 1955, Begum became a recluse and stopped accepting singing assignments, including recordings, for a year. Though she had stopped recording for her songs in the year 1955 after her husband's death, the songs released between 1955 and early 1957 including songs from films such as CID, Naya Andaz, Baradari, Mr.  & Mrs. '55 and other hits. continued to be popular. At this juncture Mehboob Khan approached her in 1957 and said he wanted a full-throated voice for Nargis in Mother India. The first song she sang after returning to her career was "Pee ke ghar aaj pyari dulhaniya chali" for Mother India. She made a successful comeback, and subsequently recorded many notable songs for films such as Howrah Bridge, Jaali Note, Love in Simla, Bewaqoof, Mughal-e-Azam, Bluff Master, Gharana and Rustom-E-Hind.

Shamshad Begum was one of the first playback singers in the Hindi film industry. She had a distinctive voice and was a versatile artist, singing over 6,000 songs in Hindi and the Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and Punjabi languages and of them 1287 songs were Hindi film songs.

She was born on 14 April 1919 in Lahore of modern day Pakistan; the day after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in nearby Amritsar city.

Begum's talent was first spotted by her principal when she was in primary school in 1924. Impressed by the quality of her voice, she was made head singer of classroom prayer. At 10, she started singing folk-based songs at religious functions and family marriages. She received no formal musical training. In 1931, when she was twelve, her uncle took her to Jenophone (or Xenophone) Music Company for an audition with Lahore-based musician and composer, Ghulam Haider. She earned 15 rupees per song and was awarded 500 on the completion of the contract on Xenophone. Xenophone was a renowned music recording company, patronized by the rich, and her popularity grew in elite circles in the early 1930s. It was from Hussain Bakshwale Sahab and later Ghulam Haider who improved her singing skills. Though she had won the Xenophone audition without taking any formal music training but after that both Ghulam Haider and later Hussain Bakshwale Sahab improved her singing skills between 1937 and 1939.

In 1932, the teenage Shamshad came in contact with Ganpat Lal Batto, a Hindu law student who lived in the same neighbourhood and who was several years older than her. In 1934, despite strenuous opposition from both their families due to religious differences, 15-year-old Shamshad got married to Ganpat Lal Batto.

Her popular breakthrough came when she began singing on All India Radio (AIR) in Peshawar and Lahore from 1937. Producer Dilsukh Pancholi wanted her to act as well in a film he was producing. Begum readily agreed, gave a screen test and was selected. Her father became angry when he found out and warned her that she would not be allowed to sing if she continued to harbour a desire to act. Begum promised her father that she would never appear before the camera. She continued to sing songs on radio. She never posed for photographs, and few people saw her picture between 1933 and the 1970s.

Begum sang for AIR through her musical group 'The Crown Imperial Theatrical Company of Performing Arts', set up in Delhi. The then AIR Lahore helped her to enter the world of movies as they frequently broadcast her songs, which induced music directors to use her voice for their films. Mehboob Khan brought Shamshad Begum to Mumbai and used Begum's voice in Taqdeer (1943), where he introduced Nargis as the heroine. Begum was soon singing for other composers including Rafiq Ghaznavi, Ameer Ali, Pt Gobindram, Pt Amarnath, Bulo C. Rani, Rashid Atre and M. A. Mukhtar, in the pre-independence era. When Haider moved to Bombay in 1944, Begum went with him as a member of his team, leaving behind her family and staying with her Chacha (paternal uncle). After partition, Haider migrated to Pakistan but Begum remained in Mumbai. Begum became a national star between the early 1940s and the early 1960s, having a voice different from her peers such as Noorjehan (also discovered by Haider), Mubarrak Begum, Suraiya, Sudha Malhotra, Geeta Dutt and Amirbai Karnataki. Her peak period in the Hindi film industry was from 1940 to 1955 and again from 1957 to 1968.

Begum died at her Mumbai residence on the night of 23 April 2013 after a prolonged illness. She was 94

.