Shamshad Begum

Dr. Visho Sharma

In keeping with the promise made by me while writing the mail on Shri Dushyant Kumar, I am here again with a piece of information on the legendary singer Shrimati Shamshad Begum. It was decades ago that the gifted crooner decided to call it a day and lead a private life away from the glitter of the film world. She has seldom been heard of as a person ever since, though her songs continue to be an important part of the Hindi film music lexicon even today. It was, however, a big (and a very pleasant one, too) surprise to find a very well documented article on the media shy artiste in the September issue of the Hindi magazine Ahaa! Zindagi.

The writer of the rare article Shri Rajeev Shrivastav met the affable singer in her Mumbai home and recorded for the posterity many hitherto unknown facets of the life of one of our most admired, and yet least covered, female playback singers. It is a matter of great satisfaction that she was conferred Padma Bhusahn. This gesture, though too late and little for an artiste of her stature, shows that there are still people in the establishment, who care for the artistes of the era gone by.

In the article titled Maine Dekhi Jag Ki Reet (these are the opening lines of a famous duet she sang with another legendary artiste of her time Mukesh for the film Sunhare Din in the year 1949), the singer remembers how her rare singing capability was recognized by her teacher at a school in Lahore and recounts her journey to the film world of Mumbai from Lahore, where she had already made a big name for herself as a singer of great strength.

She also remembers our beloved Mukeshji during the course of the interview. She relates a very interesting anecdote about him which goes like this : Sometime in the late forties she noticed that Mukesh was very frequently failing to make it to the recording studio, though his was already an established name in the field of playback singing by this time. When she asked him about this (she used to call him Mukesh Bhai), Mukesh told him that he had been suffering from intolerable stomach ache, which failed to go even after all sorts of treatment. She then suggested that he should tie a thread (Dhaga) on the thumb of his foot, which is supposed to have relieved him of his pain. Later Mukesh wore a ring to tackle the problem, as suggested by her. This was the kind of concern she had for her fellow artistes. The charm of her innocence emanates from her persona even today at the age of 90.

She also recounts how she met the “singer of the singers” Shri K L Sehgal at Ranjit Movietone. Sehgal, whom she admired very much, told her,”Main to khud aap se milna chahta tha, aap bahut acchha gaati hain.” This was the kind of respect and adoration they had for each other.

Another attraction of the article is the very rare and expressive photographs of the singer placed along with the text including the one showing Shamshadji with her daughter Ushaji. I hope you, as lovers of serious music, would find this article on the lovable senior artiste worth reading and remembering.

Dr. Visho Sharma
Emeritus Professor of Social Science and Sociology,Kalamazoo, MI.

All My Posts, India, Music Begum, Bombay, Cinema, India, Lahore, Music, shamshad, singer, song