His Master's Voice-20

Geetā Dutt born Geetā Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri) (23 November 1930 – 20 July 1972) was a prominent singer in India, born in Faridpur before Partition. She found particular prominence as a playback singer in Hindi cinema. She also sang many modern Bengali songs. Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri was one of 10 children born in the rich Zamindar family of Debendranath Ghosh Roy Chowdhary and Amiya Devi, at Faridpur in Bengal, British India, now in Bangladesh. Her family shifted to Calcutta in early forties, leaving behind their land and properties. In 1942, her parents shifted again to an apartment in Dādar, Bombay. Geeta was only twelve at that time and continued her schooling at the Bengali High School.


K. Hanuman Prasad took Geeta under his patronage, trained and groomed her in singing and later launched her into singing in the movies. In 1946, she got the first break when she got an opportunity to sing in mythological film Bhakta Prahlad (1946) for which Prasad was the music director. She was given only two lines to sing in the movie for a few songs. She was just sixteen at that time. But those two lines mesmerized everyone in the recording studio.


During Geeta's recording of songs for the movie Baazi, she met the movie's young and upcoming director, Guru Dutt. Their romance culminated in marriage on 26 May 1953. Geeta went on to sing some of her best songs in his movies while continuing to sing in various other assignments as well. Geeta and Guru Dutt had three children: Tarun (b. 1954), Arun (b. 1956), and Ninā (b. 1962). In 1957, Guru Dutt launched a movie, Gauri, with Geeta as its singing star. It was to be India's first movie in Cinemascope, but the project was shelved after only a few days of shooting. By then, their marriage was on the rocks, Guru Dutt had got romantically involved with Waheeda Rehman, and Geeta had taken to drinking. The breakup of their marriage affected Geeta's singing career.


In 1958, S.D. Burman had developed discord with Lata Mangeshkar as a playback singer, and he attempted to work with Geeta as the main singer of his compositions rather than the upcoming Asha Bhosle, who, he felt, was relatively raw. However, out of her personal problems, Geeta would not practice her art sufficiently, and failed to meet Burman's demanding standards. (He, and O.P. Nayyar too, then started to work with Asha and helped her blossom as a singer.) In 1964, Guru Dutt died from a combination of alcohol and an overdose of sleeping pills. (His death was widely perceived as a suicide following two earlier attempts.) Geeta then suffered a serious nervous breakdown, and also ran into financial problems. She tried to resume her singing career, cutting discs at Durgā Pujā, and giving stage shows. She also performed in a leading role in a Bengali movie, Bhadu Bharan (1967), and sang admirably for a movie, Anubhav (1971), which turned out to her final performance to the music of Kanu Roy as she died of liver cirrhosis in 1972, at the age of 41.


She is supposed to have sung over 1200 songs in Hindi films. In addition she has also sung songs in many Indian regional languages including Marathi, Bengali, Maithili, Bhojpuri and Punjabi.She has also sung in Nepali evergreen movie "Maitighar" Some of the memorable songs sung under S.D. Burman's direction. Geeta died of cirrhosis of the liver on 20 July 1972.

His Master's Voice-19

Mohammad Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian recording artist who is considered by many to be one of the greatest Indian playback singers of the Hindi film industry. In his lifetime, he was awarded the National Film Award, Best National Singer Award and six Filmfare Awards. In 1967, he was honoured with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India. His singing career spanned about 35 years. Rafi is noted for his ability to sing songs of different moods and varieties: They ranged from classical numbers to patriotic songs, sad lamentations to highly romantic numbers, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans. He is best known for romantic and duet songs and, as a playback singer, his ability to mould his voice to the persona of the actor lip-synching the song.

Rafi is primarily noted for his songs in Hindustani, over which he had a strong command. He sang in other Indian languages including Assamese, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Oriya, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Telugu, Maghi, Maithili and Urdu. He also recorded a few songs in English, Persian, Spanish and Dutch. From available figures, Rafi sang 4,516 Hindi film songs, 112 non-Hindi film songs, and 328 private (non-film) songs from 1945 to 1980.

Mohammed Rafi was the youngest of six brothers. His father was Hajji Ali Mohammad. The family lived in Kotla Sultan Singh, a village near present-day Amritsar in Punjab, India. Rafi, whose nickname was Pheeko, began singing by imitating the chants of a fakir in his village. Rafi's father moved to Lahore in the 1920s where he ran a men's salon in Noor Mohalla in Bhatti Gate. His elder brother, Mohammad Deen, had a friend, Abdul Hameed, (future brother-in-law), who spotted the talent in Rafi in Lahore and encouraged him to sing. Abdul Hameed later convinced the family elders to let Rafi move to Mumbai; he accompanied him in 1944.


Rafi learnt classical music from Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, Pandit Jiwan Lal Mattoo and Firoze Nizami. His first public performance came at the age of 13, when he sang in Lahore featuring K. L. Saigal. In 1941, Rafi, under Shyam Sunder, made his debut in Lahore as a playback singer in the duet "Soniye Nee, Heeriye Nee" with Zeenat Begum in the Punjabi film Gul Baloch (released in 1944). In that same year, Rafi was invited by All India Radio Lahore station to sing for them.


In 1944, Rafi moved to Bombay (now Mumbai). He and Hameed Sahab rented a ten-by-ten-foot room in the crowded downtown Bhendi Bazar area. Poet Tanvir Naqvi introduced him to film producers including Abdur Rashid Kardar, Mehboob Khan and actor-director Nazeer. Shyam Sunder was in Mumbai and provided the opportunity to Rafi to sing a duet with GM Durrani, "Aji dil ho qaabu mein to dildar ki aisi taisi...," for Gaon Ki Gori, which became Rafi’s first recorded song in a Hindi film. Other songs followed. Rafi's first song with Naushad was "Hindustan Ke Hum Hain" with Shyam Kumar, Alauddin and others, from A. R. Kardar's Pehle Aap (1944). Around the same time, Rafi recorded another song for the 1945 film Gaon Ki Gori, "Aji Dil Ho Kaaboo Mein". He considered this song his first Hindi language song.


Rafi appeared in two movies. In 1945, he appeared on the screen for the song "Tera Jalwa Jis Ne Dekha" in the film Laila Majnu. He sang a number of songs for Naushad as part of the chorus, including "Mere Sapnon Ki Rani, Roohi Roohi" with K. L. Saigal from the film Shahjahan (1946). Rafi sang "Tera Khilona Toota Balak" from Mehboob Khan's Anmol Ghadi (1946) and a duet with Noor Jehan in the 1947 film Jugnu, "Yahan Badla Wafa Ka". After partition, Rafi decided to stay back in India and had the rest of his family flown to Bombay. Noor Jehan migrated to Pakistan and made a pair with playback singer Ahmed Rushdi.


Rafi married twice; his first marriage was to his cousin and took place in his ancestral village. The marriage ended when his first wife refused to live in India following the killing of her parents during the riots of partition of India and moved to Lahore, Pakistan. Rafi had three sons and three daughters. He was very much a family man, following a recording-room, to home and to recording-room itinerary. He rarely attended film parties, did not smoke or drink, was religious, and was considered a humble man. He used to perform his riyaz (musical practice) regularly. His only indulgences were playing carom, badminton, and flying kites.


In 1949, Rafi was given solo songs by music directors such as Naushad (Chandni Raat, Dillagi and Dulari) Shyam Sunder (Bazaar) and Husnalal Bhagatram (Meena Bazaar). Rafi was influenced by the singers of that time like K. L Saigal and, most notably, by G. M. Durrani on whose style he based his singing. He sung with his idol in some of the songs such as "Humko Hanste Dekh Zamana Jalta Hai" (Hum Sab Chor Hain, 1956) and "Khabar Kisi Ko Nahiin, Woh Kidhar Dekhte" (Beqasoor, 1950), etc.  In 1948, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the team of Husanlal Bhagatram-Rajendra Krishan-Rafi had overnight created the song "Suno Suno Ae Duniyawalon, Bapuji Ki Amar Kahani". He was invited by the Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to sing at his house. In 1948, Rafi received a silver medal from Nehru on Indian Independence Day.


In his early career, Rafi associated with many contemporary music directors, most notably Naushad. In the late 1950s and 1960s, he worked with other composers of the era such as O. P. Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishan, S.D. Burman and Roshan. As per Naushad, Rafi came to him with a letter of recommendation from Naushad's father.  Rafi’s first song for Naushad was "Hindustan Ke Hum Hain" ("We belong to Hindustan") for the film Pehle Aap in 1944. The first song for the duo was the soundtrack of the movie Anmol Ghadi (1946). Before Rafi, Naushad’s favorite singer was Talat Mahmood. Once Naushad found Talat smoking during a recording. He was annoyed and hired Rafi to sing all the songs of the movie Baiju Bawra. Rafi's association with Naushad helped the former establish himself as one of the most prominent playback singers in Hindi cinema. Songs from Baiju Bawra (1952) like "O duniya ke rakhwale" and "Man tarpat hari darshan ko aaj" furthered Rafi's credentials. Rafi ended up singing a total of 149 songs of them solo) for Naushad. In the 1960 film Mughal-E-Azam, Mohammed Rafi sang "Ae Mohabbat Zindabad", composed by Naushad, with a chorus of 100 singers.


S. D. Burman patronized Rafi as the singing voice of Dev Anand and Guru Dutt. Rafi worked with Burman in movies like Pyaasa (1957), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1963), Guide (1965), Aradhana (1969), and Abhimaan (1973). S. D. Burman was also another music director besides Naushad who used Rafi prolifically to sing for most of his songs. Rafi and Shankar Jaikishan was a very famous and successful partnership in the Hindi film industry. Under Shankar-Jaikishan, Rafi produced some of his songs for actors like Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar. Out of six Filmfare awards, Rafi won three for S-J songs — "Teri Pyari Pyari Soorat Ko", "Baharon Phool Barsao", and "Dil Ke Jharokhe Mein". The song "Yahoo! Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe" was sung by Rafi, only to be matched a fast-paced orchestra and a composition by Shankar Jaikishan. S-J made Rafi give playback for Kishore Kumar in the film Shararat ("Ajab hai daastan teri yeh zindagi"). Rafi sang a total of 341 numbers (216 solo) for Shankar-Jaikishan. Among the films of this combination are Basant Bahar, Professor, Junglee, Suraj, Brahmachari, An Evening in Paris, Dil Tera Deewana, Yakeen, Prince, Love in Tokyo, Beti Bete, Dil Ek Mandir, Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai, Gaban and Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai.


Rafi got his first Filmfare Award for the title song of Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960), composed by Ravi. He got National Award for the song "Babul Ki Duaen Leti Ja" from the film Neel Kamal (1968), also composed by Ravi. Rafi wept during the recording of this song. He admitted this in his interview to the BBC in 1977. Ravi and Rafi produced several other songs in the films China Town (1962), Kaajal (1965), and Do Badan (1966). Madan Mohan was another composer whose favorite singer was Rafi. Rafi's first solo with Madan Mohan in Ankhen (1950) was "Hum Ishq Mein Barbad Hain Barbad Rahenge". They teamed up to produce many songs including "Teri Aankhon Ke Siva", "Yeh Duniya Yeh Mehfil" and "Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho".



Rafi and O. P. Nayyar created music in the 1950s and 1960s. O. P. Nayyar was once quoted as saying "If there had been no Mohd. Rafi, there would have been no O. P. Nayyar". He and Rafi created many songs together including "Yeh hai Bombay meri jaan". He got Rafi to sing for singer-actor Kishore Kumar – "Man Mora Baawara" for the movie Raagini. Later, Rafi sang for Kishore Kumar in movies such as Baaghi, Shehzaada and Shararat. O. P. Nayyar used Rafi and Asha Bhosle for most of his songs. The team created many songs in early 1950s and 1960s for movies such as Naya Daur (1957), Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957), and Kashmir Ki Kali (1964). Rafi sang a total of 197 numbers (56 solo) for Nayyar. The song "Jawaaniyan yeh mast mast" and the title song "Yun to humne lakh hansee dekhe hain, tumsa nahin dekha" of the film Tumsa Nahin Dekha. They were followed by songs like "Taareef karoon kya uski jisne tumhe banaya" from Kashmir ki Kali. Rafi and OP had a fallout during the recording for movie "Sawan ki Ghata", as disclosed by OP during one of his interviews.


The composer duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal (L-P) patronized Rafi as one of their singers, right from their very first song by him from the film, Chaila Babu-1967. Rafi honoured the affection and commitment of the duo by accepting no payment for the song "Tere pyaar ne mujhe gham diya" . Rafi and L-P won the Filmfare Awards for the song "Chahoonga Main Tujhe Saanjh Savere" from Dosti (1964). Rafi rendered the maximum number of songs for the music director duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal: 369 numbers (186 solo) for L-P. Once, when composer Nisar Bazmi (who had migrated to Pakistan) didn’t have enough money to pay him, Rafi charged a fee of one rupee and sang for him. He also helped producers financially. As Laxmikant (of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo) once observed – “He always gave without thinking of the returns”. Between 1950 and 1970, Rafi was the most sought after singer in Bollywood. He sang for many male stars in Hindi films. In 1965, he was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Sri award. Rafi recorded two Hindi songs in English on 7" release in 1968. He also sang a song in Creole while on his visit to Mauritius in the late 1960s. Rafi recorded two English albums as well. One of them is Pop Hits.



Rafi associated with several of his contemporaries, singing duets with them and sometimes for them (as in case of Kishore Kumar who was also an actor). Rafi sang the maximum number of duets with Asha Bhonsle (female), Manna Dey (male) and Lata Mangeshkar (female). In the song "Humko Tumse Ho Gaya Hai Pyaar Kya Karein" (Amar, Akbar, Anthony), Mohd Rafi sang with Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh - all in one song. This was probably the only time that all of them rendered their voices for one song. Rafi sang several hit songs in Chris Perry's Konkani album Golden Hits with Lorna Cordeiro. His Kannada hit "Neenelli Nadeve Dhoora"  from movie Ondhe Balliya Hoogalu is one among his ever green solo.


In 1962-1963, the popular female playback singer Lata Mangeshkar raised the issue of playback singers' share in the royalties. Recognizing Rafi's position as the leading male playback singer, she wanted him to back her in demanding a half-share from the 5 percent song royalty that the film's producer conceded to select composers. Lata's contention was that, there was no way producers and music directors could deny this singing duo, one-half share in that 5 percent song royalty to the composer. Rafi's stated that his claim on the filmmaker ended with his being paid his agreed fee for the song. After that, if the film proved a hit, the filmmaker was welcome to keep the Gramco (HMV) royalty he earned from it. If it did not prove to be a hit, argued Rafi, that he had already been paid the same fees for his song; so later the situation is resolved. Lata viewed his stand as a stumbling block on the royalty issue and this subsequently led to differences between the two. During the recording of "Tasveer Teri Dil Mein" (Maya, 1961), Lata argued with Rafi over a certain passage of the song. Rafi felt belittled, as music director Salil Chowdhury sided with Lata. The situation worsened when Lata Mangeshkar declared that she would no longer sing with Rafi. Rafi stated that he was only so keen to sing with Lata as she was with him. The music director Jaikishan later negotiated a reconciliation between the two.


In early 1970s, Rafi recorded fewer songs. At the same period Kishore Kumar's popularity increased due to the songs he sang for the film Aradhana. The music for Aradhana was composed by S. D. Burman, and he had used Rafi as the male playback voice for the first two recorded duets, "Baaghon Mein Bahaar Hai" and "Gunguna Rahen Hain Bhanwre". After these two recordings, S. D. Burman fell ill and his son and assistant, R.D. Burman, took over the recordings. R. D. Burman got Kishore Kumar to sing the solos "Roop Tera Mastana" and "Mere Sapnon Ki Rani". During 1971-1973, Rafi's musical output decreased; however, he did sing several songs. Some of Rafi's songs of the early 1970s were with music directors like Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Madan Mohan, R.D. Burman and S. D. Burman. These include "Tum mujhe Yun Bhula na Paoge" (a signature song of Rafi in 1971) from Pagla Kahin Ka, "Yeh Duniya Yeh Mehfil" from Heer Ranjha (1970), "Jhilmil Sitaron ka" from Jeevan Mrityu (a duet with Lata Mangeshkar, 1970), "Gulabi Aankhen" from The Train (1970), "Yeh Jo Chilman Hain" and "Itna to Yaad Hain Mujhe" from Mehboob Ki Mehndi (1971), "Mera mann tera pyasa" Gambler, "Chalo Dildar Chalo" from 1972 released Pakeezah, "Chura Liya Hain Tumne" from Yaadon Ki Baarat (a duet with Asha Bhosle, 1973), "Na tu Zameen Ke liye" from 1973 released Dilip Kumar movie Dastan, "Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho" from Hanste Zakhm (1973), "teri bindiya re", from Abhimaan (1973) and "Aaj mausam bada beimaan hai" from Loafer (1973.)


Rafi made a comeback as a leading singer in 1974. In 1974, he won the Film World magazine Best Singer Award for the song "Teree Galiyon Mein Na Rakhenge Qadam Aaj Ke Baad" (Hawas, 1974) composed by Usha Khanna. In 1977, he won both Filmfare Award and the National Award for the song "Kya Hua Tera Wada" from the movie Hum Kisise Kum Naheen, composed by R.D. Burman. Rafi sang for Rishi Kapoor in films like Laila Majnu (for which music was given by two composers namely Madan Mohan, and after his death by Jaidev), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977), Sargam (1979) and Karz (1980). The qawwali "Pardah Hai Pardah" from Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) was a superhit. Rafi's notable renderings in the late 1970s and early 1980s include Bairaag (1976), Laila Majnu (1976), Apnapan (1978), Suhaag (1979), Qurbani, Dostana (1980), The Burning Train (1980), Naseeb (1981), Abdullah (1980), Shaan (1980), Asha (1980), Aap To Aise Na The (1980), Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai (1982).



In December 1979, Rafi recorded six songs for the Hindi remake of Dilip Sen's Bengali superhit Sorry Madam; the film was never completed due to a personal tragedy in Dilip Sen's life. These songs, written by Kafeel Aazar and composed by Chitragupta, were released digitally in December 2009 by the label Silk Road under the title "The Last Songs". The physical album was released only in India by Universal. During his last years, Rafi was involved in a controversy over Lata Mangeshkar's entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. In a letter dated 11 June 1977 to the Guinness Book of World Records, Rafi had challenged the claim that Lata Mangeshkar has recorded the maximum number of songs ("not less than 25,000" according to Guinness). After receiving a reply from Guinness, in a letter dated 20 November 1979, he wrote, "I am disappointed that my request for a reassessment vis-a-vis Ms Mangeshkar's reported world record has gone unheeded." In an interview to BBC recorded in November 1977, Rafi claimed to have sung 25,000 to 26,000 songs till then.



After Rafi's death, in its 1984 edition, the Guinness Book of Word Records gave Lata Mangeshkar's name for the "Most Recordings" and stated, "Mohammad Rafi (d 1 August 1980) claimed to have recorded 28,000 songs in 11 Indian languages between 1944 and April 1980." According to the available figures, Rafi has sung 4,516 Hindi film songs, 112 non-Hindi film songs, and 328 private (non-film) songs from 1945 to 1980. The Guinness Book entries for Rafi and Lata were removed in 1991. In 2011, Lata's sister Asha Bhosle was given the title.


On Thursday, 31 July 1980, Rafi died at 10:50 p.m., following a heart attack. His last song was "Shaam phir kyun udaas hai dost" (Aas Paas), which he had recorded with Laxmikant-Pyarelal few hours before his death. Rafi was buried at the Juhu Muslim cemetery. It was one of the biggest funeral processions Mumbai had ever witnessed, with over 10,000 people attending. In 2010, his tomb was demolished to make space for new burials. Fans of Mohammed Rafi who visit his tomb twice a year to mark his birth and death anniversary use the coconut tree nearest to his grave as a marker.


Singers like Shabbir Kumar, Mohammed Aziz and, more recently, Sonu Nigam, made their names by adopting Rafi's style. On 22 September 2007, a shrine to Rafi designed by artist Tasawar Bashir was unveiled on Fazeley Street, Birmingham, UK. Bashir is hoping that Rafi will attain sainthood as a result. The Padma Shri Mohammed Rafi Chowk in the Bandra suburb of Mumbai and Pune (extending MG Road) is named after Rafi. In June 2010, Rafi along with Lata Mangeshkar was voted the most popular playback singer in the Outlook Music Poll, conducted by Outlook magazine. The same poll voted "Man re, tu kahe na Dheer Dhare" (Chitralekha, 1964), sung by Rafi as the #1 song. Three songs were tied for the #2 place: Two were sung by Rafi. The songs were "Tere Mere Sapne Ab Ek Rang Hain" (Guide, 1965) and "Din Dhal Jaye, hai raat na jaye" (Guide, 1965). This poll was published in Outlook. The jury included people in the Indian music industry: Abhijeet, Adesh Srivastava, Alisha Chinai, Anu Malik, Ehsaan, Gulzar, Hariharan, Himesh Reshammiya, Jatin, Javed Akhtar, Kailash Kher, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Khayyam, Kumar Sanu, Lalit, Loy, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Mahendra Kapoor, Manna Dey, Prasoon Joshi, Rajesh Roshan, Sadhna Sargam, Sameer, Sandesh Shandilya, Shaan, Shankar, Shantanu Moitra, Shreya Ghoshal, Sonu Nigam and Talat Aziz.

His Master's Voice-18

Lata Mangeshkar  (born 28 September 1929) is an Indian singer, and occasional music-composer. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over seven decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi. She is the elder sister of singer Asha Bhosle, Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar. She is the second vocalist to have ever been awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.


Mangeshkar was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for having made the most recordings in the world. The claim was that she had recorded approximately 25,000 solo, duet, and chorus-backed songs in 20 Indian languages between 1948 to 1974. Over the years, while several sources have supported this claim, others have raised concerns over its veracity, claiming that this number was highly exaggerated and that Mangeshkar's younger sister, Asha Bhosle, had more song recordings than she had. In 2011 Guinness officially acknowledged Bhosle as the most recorded artist in music history.


Lata Mangeshkar was born in a Gomantak Maratha family, in the princely state of Indore, part of the Central India Agency (now part of Madhya Pradesh). Her father, Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar was a classical singer and theater actor. Her mother Shevanti (Shudhamati) who was from Thalner, Maharashtra, was Deenanath's second wife. The family's last name used to be Hardikar; Deenanath changed it to Mangeshkar in order to identify his family with his native town, Mangeshi in Goa. Lata was named "Hema" at her birth. Her parents later renamed her Lata after a female character, Latika, in one of her father's plays, BhaawBandhan. Lata is the eldest child of her parents. Meena, Asha, Usha and Hridayanath are her siblings in sequence. Mangeshkar took her first lessons from her father. At the age of five, she started to work as an actress in her father's musical plays (Sangeet Natak in Marathi). On the first day in the school, she started teaching songs to other children. When the teacher stopped her, she was so angry that she stopped going to the school. Other sources cite that she left school because they would not allow her to bring Asha with her, as she would often bring her younger sister with her.


In 1942, when Mangeshkar was 13, her father died of heart disease. Master Vinayak (Vinayak Damodar Karnataki), the owner of Navyug Chitrapat movie company and a close friend of the Mangeshkar family, took care of them. He helped Lata get started in a career as a singer and actress. Mangeshkar sang the song "Naachu Yaa Gade, Khelu Saari Mani Haus Bhaari" which was composed by Sadashivrao Nevrekar for Vasant Joglekar's Marathi movie Kiti Hasaal (1942), but the song was dropped from the final cut. Vinayak gave her a small role in Navyug Chitrapat's Marathi movie Pahili Mangalaa-gaur (1942), in which she sang "Natali Chaitraachi Navalaai" which was composed by Dada Chandekar. Her first Hindi song was "Mata Ek Sapoot Ki Duniya Badal De Tu" for the Marathi film, Gajaabhaau (1943). Mangeshkar moved to Mumbai in 1945 when Master Vinayak's company moved its headquarters there. She started taking lessons in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Amanat Ali Khan . She sang “Paa Lagoon Kar Jori” for Vasant Joglekar's Hindi-language movie Aap Ki Seva Mein (1946), which was composed by Datta Davjekar. The dance in the film was performed by Rohini Bhate who later became a famous classical dancer. Mangeshkar and her sister Asha played minor roles in Vinayak's first Hindi-language movie, Badi Maa (1945). In that movie, Lata also sang a bhajan, “Maata Tere Charnon Mein.” She was introduced to music director Vasant Desai during the recording of Vinayak's second Hindi-language movie, Subhadra (1946).



Following the partition of India in 1947, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan migrated to newly formed Pakistan, so Mangeshkar started to learn classical music under Amanat Khan Devaswale. Pandit Tulsidas Sharma, a pupil of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, also trained her. After Vinayak's death in 1948, music director Ghulam Haider mentored her as a singer. Haider introduced Mangeshkar to producer Sashadhar Mukherjee, who was working then on the movie Shaheed (1948), but Mukherjee dismissed Mangeshkar's voice as "too thin." An annoyed Haider responded that in the coming years the producers and the directors would "fall at Lata's feet" and "beg her" to sing in their movies. Haider gave Lata her first major break with the song “Dil Mera Toda,” from the movie Majboor (1948).


Initially, Mangeshkar is said to have imitated the acclaimed singer Noor Jehan, but later she developed her own style of singing. Lyrics of songs in Hindi movies are primarily composed by Urdu poets and contain a higher proportion of Urdu words, including the dialogue. Actor Dilip Kumar once made a mildly disapproving remark about Mangeshkar's Maharashtrian accent while singing Hindi/Urdu songs; so for a period of time, Lata took lessons in Urdu from an Urdu teacher named Shafi. One of her first major hits was “Aayega Aanewaala,” a song in the movie Mahal (1949), which was composed by music director Khemchand Prakash and lip-synced on screen by actress Madhubala.


In the 1950s, Mangeshkar sang songs composed by various music directors of the period, including Anil Biswas (in films such as Tarana and Heer), Shankar-Jaikishan, Naushad, S. D. Burman, C. Ramchandra, Hemant Kumar, Salil Chowdhury, Khayyam, Ravi, Sajjad Hussain, Roshan, Kalyanji-Anandji, Vasant Desai, Sudhir Phadke, Hansraj Behl, Madan Mohan, and Usha Khanna.She made her debut in Tamil playback singing with Vanaradham in 1956 (Uran Khotala dubbed in Tamil) with Tamil song Enthan Kannalan picturised on Nimmi in the dubbed version composed by Naushad. Mangeshkar sang many raga-based songs for Naushad in movies such as Baiju Bawra (1952), Mughal-E-Azam (1960), and Kohinoor (1960). Ae Chorre Ki Jaat Badi Bewafa, a duet with G. M. Durrani, was her first song for composer, Naushad. The duo, Shankar-Jaikishan, chose Mangeshkar for Aag, Aah (1953), Shree 420 (1955), and Chori Chori (1956). Before 1957, composer Sachin Dev (S. D.) Burman chose Mangeshkar as the leading female singer for his musical scores in Sazaa (1951), House No. 44 (1955), and Devdas (1955). However a rift developed between Lata and Burman in 1957, and Lata did not sing Burman's compositions again until 1962.


Mangeshkar won a Filmfare Best Female Playback Award for Salil Chowdhury's composition “Aaja Re Pardesi,” from Madhumati (1958). In the early fifties, Lata Mangeshkar's association with C. Ramchandra produced songs in movies such as Anarkali, Albela, Asha, Pehli Jhhalak, Shin Shinkai Bublaa Boo, Azad and Amardeep. For Madan Mohan, she performed for films like Adalat, Railway Platform, Dekh Kabira Roya and Chacha Zindabad.


Mangeshkar's song "Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya" from Mughal-E-Azam (1960), composed by Naushad and picturized on Madhubala, still remains famous . The Hawaiian-themed number "Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh" from Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai (1960) was composed by Shankar-Jaikishan and picturized on Meena Kumari. In 1961, Mangeshkar recorded two popular bhajans, "Allah Tero Naam" and "Prabhu Tero Naam", for Burman's assistant, Jaidev. In 1962, she was awarded her second Filmfare Award for the song "Kahin Deep Jale Kahin Dil" from Bees Saal Baad, composed by Hemant Kumar.  On 27 June 1963, against the backdrop of the Sino-Indian War, Mangeshkar sang the patriotic song "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo" (literally, "Oh, People of My Country") in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India. The song, composed by C. Ramchandra and written by Pradeep, is said to have brought the Prime Minister to tears.


In 1963, Mangeshkar returned to collaboration with S. D. Burman. She also sang for R. D. Burman's very first film Chhote Nawaab and later for his films such as Bhoot Bangla (1965), Pati Patni (1966), Baharon ke Sapne (1967) and Abhilasha (1969). She also recorded several popular songs for S. D. Burman, including "Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai", "Gata Rahe Mera Dil" (duet with Kishore Kumar) and "Piya Tose" from Guide (1965), and "Hothon Pe Aisi Baat" from Jewel Thief (1967). During the 1960s, Lata Mangeshkar continued her association with Madan Mohan which included the songs "Aap Ki Nazron Ne Samjha" from Anpadh (1962), "Lag Ja Gale" and "Naina Barse Rim Jhim" from Woh Kaun Thi? (1964), "Woh Chup Rahen To" from Jahan Ara (1964), and "Tu Jahan Jahan Chalega" from Mera Saaya (1966). The 1960s also witnessed the beginning of Mangeshkar's association with Laxmikant-Pyarelal, the music directors for whom she sang the most popular songs in her career. She sang for Parasmani (1963) which was their first film together.


She also sang several playback songs for Marathi films, composed by Marathi music directors including Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Vasant Prabhu, Srinivas Khale, Sudhir Phadke and herself (under the name Anandghan). During the 1960s and 1970s, she also sang several Bengali songs, composed by music directors like Salil Chowdhury and Hemant Kumar. In this period Lata Mangeshkar has recorded duets with Mukesh, Manna Dey, Mohammed Rafi, and Kishore Kumar. For a brief period during the 1960s, she was not on good terms with Mohammed Rafi over the issue of royalty payments to singers. Mangeshkar wanted Rafi to back her in demanding a half-share from the five percent song royalty that the film's producer conceded to select composers. But Rafi took a diametrically opposite view, and believed that a playback singer's claim on the filmmaker ended with the payment of the agreed fee for the song. This led to tensions between the two. After an argument during the recording of the song Tasveer Teri Dil Mein (Maya, 1961), the two refused to sing with each other. The music director Jaikishan later negotiated a reconciliation between the two.



In 1972, Meena Kumari's last film, Pakeezah, was released. It featured popular songs including "Chalte Chalte" and "Inhi Logon Ne" sung by Lata Mangeshkar, and composed by Ghulam Mohammed. She recorded many popular songs for S. D. Burman's last films, including "Rangeela Re" from Prem Pujari (1970), "Khilte Hain Gul Yahaan" from Sharmeelee (1971), and "Piya Bina" from Abhimaan (1973).  Lata Mangeshkar's most notable songs in 1970s were composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal (Laxmi-Pyare) and Rahul Dev Burman[citation needed]. She recorded several songs composed by Laxmi-Pyare in 1960s and 1970s, many of them written by the lyricist Anand Bakshi. She also recorded many hit songs with Rahul Dev Burman in the films Amar Prem (1972), Caravan (1971), Kati Patang(1971), and Aandhi (1975). The two are noted for their songs with the lyricists Majrooh Sultanpuri, Anand Bakshi and Gulzar.


In 1973, she won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Beeti Na Bitai" from the film Parichay, composed by R. D. Burman, and written by Gulzar. In 1974, she sang her only Malayalam song "Kadali Chenkadali" for the film Nellu, composed by Salil Chowdhury, and written by Vayalar Ramavarma. In 1975, she again won the national award, this time for the song "Roothe Roothe Piya" from the film Kora Kagaz, composed by Kalyanji-Anandji. From 1970s onwards, Lata Mangeshkar has also staged many concerts in India and abroad, including several charity concerts. Her first concert overseas was at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in 1974. She also released an album of Mirabai's bhajans, Chala Vaahi Des, composed by her brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar. Some of the bhajans in the album include "Saanware Rang Raachi" and "Ud Jaa Re Kaaga". In the early 70s, she released other non-film albums, such as her collection of Ghalib ghazals, an album of Marathi folk songs (koli-geete), an album of Ganesh aartis (all composed by her brother Hridaynath) and an album of abhangs of Sant Tukaram composed by Shrinivas Khale.


In late 1970s and early 1980s, she worked with the children of composers she had earlier worked with. Some of these composers included Rahul Dev Burman (son of Sachin Dev Burman), Rajesh Roshan (son of Roshan), Anu Malik (son of Sardar Malik), and Anand-Milind (sons of Chitragupt). From 1980s onwards, Lata Mangeshkar worked with music directors including Shiv-Hari, Ram Laxman, and A. R. Rahman. She recorded some non-film songs, including ghazals with Jagjit Singh.


In 1990, Mangeshkar launched her own production house for Hindi movies which produced the Gulzar-directed movie Lekin.... She won her third National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her rendition of the song "Yaara Sili Sili" from the film, which was composed by her brother Hridayanath. During the 1990s, she recorded with music directors including Jatin-Lalit and Nadeem-Shravan. She has sung for Rajshri Productions, including Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) and Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994). Mangeshkar has sung for almost all the Yash Chopra films and films from his production house Yash Raj Films at that time, including Chandni (1989), Lamhe (1991), Darr (1993), Yeh Dillagi (1994), Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) and later on Mohabbatein (2000), Mujhse Dosti Karoge (2002) and Veer Zaara (2004).



A. R. Rahman recorded a few songs with Mangeshkar during this period, including "Jiya Jale" (Dil Se..), "Khamoshiyan Gungunane Lagin" (One Two Ka Four), "Ek Tu Hi Bharosa" (Pukar), "Pyaara Sa Gaon" (Zubeidaa),"So Gaye Hain" (Zubeidaa) "Lukka chuppi" (Rang de Basanti) and "O Paalanhaare" (Lagaan). She made an appearance in the film Pukar singing this song. In 1999, Lata Eau de Parfum, a perfume brand named after her, was launched. In 1999, Mangeshkar was nominated as a member of Rajya Sabha. However, she did not attend the Rajya Sabha sessions regularly, inviting criticism from several members of the House, including the Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptullah, Pranab Mukherjee and Shabana Azmi. She stated the reason for her absence as ill-health; it was also reported that she had not taken a salary, allowance or a house in Delhi for being a Member of Parliament.



In 2001, Lata Mangeshkar was awarded Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor. In the same year, she established the Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Pune, managed by the Lata Mangeshkar Medical Foundation (founded by the Mangeshkar family in October 1989). In 2005, she designed a jewellery collection called Swaranjali, which was crafted by Adora, an Indian diamond export company. Five pieces from the collection raised £105,000 at a Christie's auction, and a part of the money was donated for the 2005 Pakistan earthquake relief. Also in 2001, she recorded her first Hindi song with the composer Ilaiyaraaja, for the film Lajja; she had earlier recorded Tamil and Telugu songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

Lata Mangeshkar's song "Wada Na Tod" is in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and on the film's soundtrack. On 21 June 2007, she released an album Saadgi, featuring eight ghazal-like songs written by Javed Akhtar and composed by Mayuresh Pai. Lata Mangeshkar records songs for Madhur Bhandarkar Kitne Ajeeb Rishte Hain Yahan Par for Page 3 (2005), Daata Sun Le for Jail (2009) and, Kyun Yahan Hota Hai was recorded years ago for Corporate (2006), but is only being used in Heroine (2012). On 28 November 2012 Singing legend Lata Mangeshkar has launched her own music label LM Music with an album of bhajans. Lata has sung along with younger sister Usha for the new album.



Lata Mangeshkar composed music for the first time in 1955 for Marathi movie Ram Ram Pavhane. Later in 1960s, she composed music for following Marathi movies under the pseudonym of Anand Ghan. She won Maharashtra State Government's Best Music Director Award for the film Sadhi Manase. The song "Airanichya Deva Tula" from the same film received best song award. Lata Mangeshkar has won several awards and honors, including Bharat Ratna (India's Highest Civilian Award), Padma Bhushan (1969), Padma Vibhushan (1999), Dada Saheb Phalke Award (1989), Maharashtra Bhushan Award (1997), NTR National Award (1999), Bharat Ratna (2001), ANR National Award (2009), three National Film Awards, and 12 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards. She has also won four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards. In 1969, she made the unusual gesture of giving up the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award, in order to promote fresh talent. She was later awarded Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.



In 1984, the State Government of Madhya Pradesh instituted the Lata Mangeshkar Award in honour of Lata Mangeshkar. The State Government of Maharashtra also instituted a Lata Mangeshkar Award in 1992. In 1974, The Guinness Book of Records listed Lata Mangeshkar as the most recorded artist in the history, stating that she had reportedly recorded "not less than 25,000 solo, duet and chorus backed songs in 20 Indian languages" between 1948 and 1974. Her record was contested by Mohammed Rafi, who was claimed to have sung around 28,000 songs. After Rafi's death, in its 1984 edition, the Guinness Book of World Records stated Lata Mangeshkar's name for the "Most Recordings", but also stated Rafi's claim. The later editions of Guinness Book stated that Lata Mangeshkar had sung no fewer than 30,000 songs between 1948 and 1987.

Although the entry has not been printed in Guinness editions since 1991, several sources claim that she has recorded thousands of songs, with estimates ranging up to figures as large as 50,000. However, even the earliest Guinness claim of 25,000 songs (between 1948–1974) was claimed to be exaggerated by several other sources, with one of them stating that the number of songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar in Hindi films till 1991 was found to be 5250. Mangeshkar herself stated that she does not keep a record of the number of songs recorded by her, and that she did not know from where Guinness Book editors got their information. In 2011 Asha Bhosle was officially acknowledged by Guinness as the most recorded artist in music history, surpassing Mangeshkar.

His Master's Voice-17

Prabodh Chandra Dey (born 1 May 1919 better known by his nickname Manna Dey (Bengali: মান্না দে), is a playback singer in Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Assamese films. Along with Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh he was a part of Indian film playback music industry. He is rated as the best[according to whom?] classical singer among all singers of Hindi film music, though he sang various types of songs from pop to folk. He has recorded more than 3500 songs over the course of his career. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1971, the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007.


Dey was born to Purna Chandra (father) and Mahamaya Dey (mother) on 1 May 1919. Besides his parents, his youngest paternal uncle, Sangeetacharya (meaning "Venerable Teacher of Music" in Sanskrit), K. C. Dey highly inspired and influenced him. Dey received his early education in a small pre-primary school named Indu Babur Pathshala. Thereafter he attended Scottish Church Collegiate School and Scottish Church College, followed by Vidyasagar College where he received his graduate education.


During Dey’s years at Scottish Church College, he sang to entertain his classmates. He began taking singing lessons from his uncle, Krishna Chandra Dey and Ustad Dabir Khan. During this period, Manna Dey stood first for three consecutive years in three different categories of inter-collegiate singing competitions. In 1942, Dey accompanied Krishna Chandra Dey on a visit to Bombay. There he started working as an assistant. First under Krishna Chandra Dey, and then under Sachin Dev Burman. Later, he assisted other music composers and then started to work independently. While working independently as a music director for various Hindi movies, Manna Dey continued to take musical lessons in Hindustani classical music from Ustad Aman Ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan.


Dey started his career in playback singing with the movie, Tamanna, in 1943. The musical score was by Krishna Chandra Dey and Manna sang a duet with Suraiya. The song was an instant hit. He sang a solo composed by Sachin Dev Burman, Upar Gagan Vishal, in the 1950 movie, Mashal. Its lyrics were written by Kavi Pradeep. In 1952, Dey sang for a Bengali and a Marathi movie with the same name and storyline, Amar Bhupali. This established him as a leading playback singer.



Dey recorded popular duets with Mohd. Rafi, Dey sang 58 duets like "Isq Isq" (Barsaat Ki Raat) "Tu hai mera prem Devta (Kalpana), "Mama o mama" (Parvarish). With Lata Mangeshkar, Manna recorded 113 duets including Yeh raat bhigi bhigi,"Pyar hua iqrar hua", "Aja sanam madhur chandni mein hum", "Ritu aye". With Asha Bhosle, Manna recorded more than 100 duets including "Re man sur me ga", "Tu chupi hai kahan", "Zindegi hai khel". Dey also sang with singer/composer, Hemant Kumar (Hemanta Mukherjee), in Bengali movies, and also for some other Bengali composers like Nachiketa Ghosh and Sudhin Dasgupta. He sang a duet, "Ke Prothom Kachhe Esechi", with Lata Mangeshkar in the movie Sankhyabela. He also performed Rabindra Sangeet and has recorded over 3500 songs. In addition to film songs, Dey has released several albums of devotional songs of Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj.


On 18 December 1953, Manna Dey married Sulochana Kumaran from Kerala, they have two daughters: Shuroma, born on October 19, 1956 and Sumita, born on June 20, 1958. Sulochana died in Bangalore on January 18, 2012. She had been suffering from cancer for some time. Manna Dey currently lives in Bangalore in the township of Kalyannagar after spending more than fifty years in Mumbai. He also maintains a Calcutta address. He still travels widely in the world to present musical programs. Dey's Bengali language autobiography, Jiboner Jalsaghorey, has been published by the renowned Ananda Publisher in the year 2005 which has been translated in English as Memories Come Alive, in Hindi as Yaden Jee Uthi and in Marathi as Jiboner Jalsaghorey.



Jibaner Jalsaghore, a documentary on Dey's life, was released in 2008. Manna Dey Sangeet Academy is developing a complete archive on Manna Dey. In association with Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, the Manna Dey Music Archive has been developed in the Sangeet Bhawan. He has also lent his voice for Madhushala, composed by Late Harivansh Rai Bachchan. Dey has been honored with the titles Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan.

His Master's Voice-16

Suraiya Jamaal Sheikh (15 June 1929 - 31 January 2004) was a singer and actress of the Indian films in the 40s and 50s, and was popularly known by her first name Suraiya.

Suraiya was born in Gujranwala, Punjab, (which is in Pakistan), and was the only child of her parents. She was not formally trained in music; yet she went on to become a successful singing actress. She attended New Girls' also known as J.B. Petit High School for Girls, in Fort, Bombay (Mumbai). She received religious Islamic teachings in Persian at home.


Suraiya made her debut as a child artist in Usne Kya Socha (1937). She got a prominent role as a child artist with the help of her uncle Zahoor, who was then a popular villain actor. During a holiday from school in 1941, she accompanied him to Mohan Studios to see the shooting of the film Taj Mahal which was being directed by Nanubhai Vakil. Vakil noticed Suraiya and not having in his mind at that time any particular young girl to play the role of young Mumtaz Mahal in Taj mahal, selected Suraiya to play that role.


Music director Naushad once heard Suraiya's voice on All India Radio while she sang for a children's program, and chose her to sing as a 13 year old for Mehtaab in Kardar's film Sharda (1942). He was Suraiya’s mentor and she sang some of the best songs of her career under his baton. Later he gave hits after hits when Suraiya became full fledged singing star in Anmol Ghadi (1946), Dard (1947), Dillagi (1949) and Dastaan (1950). Naushad composed approximately 51 songs for Suraiya, coming at 2nd place after Husnlal Bhagatram for composing the highest number of songs for Suraiya.




As an actress, Suraiya had an edge over her contemporaries Kamini Kaushal and Nargis because she could sing her own songs. After three hits Pyar ki jeet (1948), Badi Behen, and Dillagi (1949), she became the highest paid female star. But her reign at the top was brief; her films started flopping in the 1950s. She made a comeback in Waaris and Mirza Ghalib (1954). Rustom Sohrab (1963) was her last film. she fall in love with Dev Anand but they didn't succeeded it to marriage. it was opposed by her family, especially by her grand mother took step against this inter religious life bonding. that made Dev Anand to tie his knot with Kalpana Karthik. then after Suraiya get broke down for ever.


Suraiya lived in her apartment on Marine Drive in Mumbai until her death due to cancer in 2004 at age 74. She was interred at Badakabarastan in Marine Lines, Mumbai. Suraiya was declared the first Melody Queen (Malika-e-Tarannum) in the sub-continent and much later Noor Jehan was awarded with the same title.


Her greatness can be judged by these comments. "You have put life in the soul of ‘Mirza Ghalib’", were the remarks of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister. The Hollywood legend Gregory Peck was keen to meet Suraiya. In connection with the shooting of some film he happened to visit Bombay (Mumbai) where he was honoured by the great actress by meeting him.

His Master's Voice-15

Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay (Bengali: হেমন্ত কুমার মুখোপাধ্যায়; also Hemanta Mukherjee; 16 June 1920 – 26 September 1989) was a Bengali singer, composer and producer. He sang in Hindi films under the name Hemant Kumar. Hemanta was born in the city of Varanasi (India). His family originated from Baharu village in West Bengal. They migrated to Kolkata in the early 1900s. Hemanta grew up there and attended Mitra Institution school of Bhawanipore area. There he met his longtime friend, Subhas Mukhopadhyay who later became a Bengali poet. During this time, he developed friendship with noted writer Santosh Kumar Ghosh. In fact, at that time, Hemanta used to write short stories, Santosh Kumar wrote poems and Subhash Mukhopadhyay sang songs. After passing the intermediate examinations (12th grade), Hemanta joined Bengal Engineering college to pursue Engineering. However, he quit academics to pursue a career in music, despite parental objection. He briefly tried his hand at literature and also published a short story in a prestigious Bengali magazine called Desh, but by the late-1930s he was committed entirely to music.


Under the influence of his friend Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Hemanta recorded his first song for All India Radio in 1933. The first line of the song was Amar Ganete Ele Nabarupi Chirantanii. Hemanta's music career was primarily mentored by the Bengali musician, Sailesh Duttagupta. In an interview on television in the early 1980s, Hemanta had mentioned that he had also received classical music training from Ustad Faiyaz Khan, but his tutelage was cut short by Ustad's untimely death. In 1937, Hemanta cut his first gramophone disc under the Columbia label. The songs (non-film) on this disc were Janite Jadi Go Tumi and Balo Go Balo More whose lyrics were by Naresh Bhattacharya and music was composed by Sailesh Duttagupta. Thereafter, every year Hemanta continued to record non-film discs for the Gramophone Company of India (GCI) till 1984. His first Hindi songs were Kitana Dukh Bhulaya Tumne and O Preet Nibhanewali, released in 1940 under GCI's Columbia label. Music for these songs were composed by Kamal Dasgupta, lyrics were by Faiyaz Hashmi.


Hemanta's first film song was in the Bengali film Nimai Sanyas released in 1941. Music for this film was scored by Hariprasanna Das. Hemanta's first compositions for himself were the Bengali non-film songs Katha Kayonako Shudhu Shono and Amar Biraha Akashe Priya in 1944. Lyrics of these two songs were by Amiya Bagchi. His first Hindi film songs were in Irada in 1944 under Pt. Amarnath's music direction. Lyrics were by Aziz Kashmiri.


Hemanta is considered a foremost exponent of Rabindrasangeet. His first recorded Rabindrasangeet was in the Bengali film Priya Bandhabi (1944).[2] The song was Pather Sesh Kothaye. He recorded his first non-film Rabindrasangeet disc in 1944 under the Columbia label. The songs were Aamar Aar Habe Na Deri and Keno Pantha E Chanchalata. His first movie as a music director was the Bengali film Abhiyatri in 1947. Although many of the songs Hemanta recorded during this time received critical acclaim, major commercial success eluded him until 1947. Some contemporary male singers of Hemanta in Bengali around that period were Jaganmay Mitra, Robin Majumdar, Satya Chowdhury, Dhananjay Bhattacharya, Sudhirlal Chakraborty, Bechu Dutta and Talat Mahmood.


In the mid-1940s, Hemanta became an active member of the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) and started an association with another active IPTA member — songwriter and composer Salil Chowdhury. One of the main driving forces behind the establishment of IPTA was the Bengal famine of 1943 and the inaction of the British administration and wealthy Indians to prevent it from happening. In 1948, Hemanta recorded a non-film song called 'Ganyer badhu' (literally translates to 'The rural bride') that had music and lyrics by Salil Chowdhury. The six-minute song recorded on two sides of a 78 rpm disc was sung at a varying pace and lacked the conventional structure and romantic theme of a Bengali song. It depicted an idyllic, prosperous and caring rural woman's life and family and how it gets ravaged by the demons of famine and ensuing poverty. This song generated an unforeseen popularity for Hemanta and Salil in eastern India and, in a way, established Hemanta ahead of his male contemporaries. Hemanta and Salil paired again in several songs over the next few years. Almost all these songs proved to be very popular.


Around the same period, Hemanta started receiving more assignments for music composition for Bengali films. Some were for a director named Hemen Gupta. When Hemen moved to Mumbai a few years later, he called upon Hemanta to compose music for his first directorial venture in Hindi titled Anandmath under the Filmistan banner. Responding to this call, Hemanta migrated to Mumbai in 1951 and joined the Filmistan Studios. The music of Anand Math (1952) was a moderate success. Perhaps, the most notable songs from this movie is 'Vande mataram' sung by Lata Mangeshkar, which Hemanta set to a marching tune. Following Anandamath, Hemanta scored music for a few Filmistan movies like Shart in subsequent years, the songs of which received moderate popularity. Simultaneously, Hemanta gained popularity in Mumbai as a playback singer. His songs playbacked for actor Dev Anand under music director Sachin Dev Burman in movies like Jaal, House No. 44, Solva Saal and 'Baat ek raat ki' became quite popular.

By the mid-1950s, Hemanta had consolidated his position as a prominent singer and composer. In Bengal, he was one of the foremost exponents of Rabindrasangeet and perhaps the most sought after male singer. In a ceremony organised by Hemanta Mukhopadhyay to honour Debabrata Biswas (1911–1980), the legendary Rabindrasangeet exponent, in Calcutta in March, 1980, Debabrata Biswas unhesitatingly mentioned Hemanta as "the second hero" to popularise Rabindrasangeet, the first being none other than the legendary Pankaj Kumar Mallick. In Mumbai, along with playback singing, Hemanta also carved a niche as a composer. He composed music for a Hindi film called Nagin (1954) which became a major success owing largely to its music. Songs of Nagin remained chart-toppers continuously for two years and culminated in Hemant receiving the prestigious Filmfare Best Music Director Award in 1955. The very same year, he scored music for a Bengali movie called Shapmochan in which he also played back four songs for the Bengali actor Uttam Kumar. This started a long partnership between Hemant and Uttam as a playback singer-actor pair. They were the most popular singer-actor duo in Bengali Cinema over the next decade.


In the latter part of the 1950s, Hemanta composed music and sang for several Bengali and Hindi films, recorded several Rabindrasangeets and Bengali non-film songs. Almost all of these, especially his Bengali songs became very popular. This period can be termed as the zenith of his career and lasted for almost a decade. He sang songs composed by the major music directors in Bengal such as Nachiketa Ghosh, Robin Chatterjee and Salil Chowdhury. Some of the notable films Hemanta himself composed music for during this period include Harano Sur, Marutirtha Hinglaj, Neel Akasher Neechey, Lukochuri, Swaralipi, Deep Jwele Jaai, Shesh Parjanta, Kuhak, Dui Bhai, and Saptapadi in Bengali, and, Jagriti and Ek Hi Raasta in Hindi. Hemant Kumar also sang several Marathi songs, notably "Mee Dolkara, Dolkara, Dolakra dariyacha raaja...." (मी डोलकर, डोलकर दर्याचा राजा) with Lata Mangeshkar. This song became immensely popular. Another popular Marathi song by Hemant Kumar, "Gomu sangatina mazya tu yeshil kay" (गोमू संगतीनं माझ्या तू येशील काय), is filmed on the famous actor Kashinath Ghanekar in the film Ha Khel Saavalyancha, हा खेळ सावल्यांचा. Another marathi song sung by Hemant Da is "Preetichya Chandraati". Additionally one more Koli Geet is "Daryawari re tarali hori re" along with singer Shyama chittar.


It was in the 1960s that he was the predominant and lead male voice in many of Tagore's musical dramas like "Valmiki Pratibha", "Shyama", "Sapmochan","Chitrangada" and "Chandalika". Together with Kanika Bandopadhyay (1924–2000) and Suchitra Mitra (1924–2010)who were the lead female voices in these, he was part of the Rabindrasangeet triumvirate that was both popular and respected and was referred as 'Hemanta-Kanika-Suchitra' and along with Debabrata Biswas, this quartet was and still continues to be most heard exponents of Tagore compositions. In the 1970s, Hemanta's contribution in Hindi films was nominal. He scored music for a handful of his home productions, but none of these movies were successful nor the music of them. In Bengal, however, he remained the foremost exponent of Rabindrasangeet. His non-film output was popular in the early part of the decade. In 1971, Hemanta debuted as a film director in for his self-produced Bengali movie titled Anindita. The movie didn't fare exceedingly well at the box office. In the early to mid-1970s, two major music composers in Bengal, Nachiketa Ghosh and Robin Chatterjee, who had worked closely with Hemanta since the early 1950s, died. Simultaneously, music composed by Hemanta for Bengali films like Fuleswari, Raag Anurag and Dadar Kirti established Hemanta as the major film music composer in the Bengal movie scene. In 1979, Hemanta re-recorded some of his earlier works with composer Salil Chowdhury from the 1940s and 1950s. This album, titled 'Legend of Glory, vol. 2' was a major commercial success, despite Hemanta's aged and slightly tired voice.



In 1980, Hemanta suffered a major heart attack (myocardial infarction) that severely affected his vocal capabilities, especially his breath control. He continued to record songs in the early eighties, but his voice was a shade of its rich baritone past. In 1984, Hemanta was felicitated by different organizations, most notably by the Gramophone Company of India, for completing 50 years in music. Ironically, that very year Hemanta released his last album with Gramophone Company of India – a 45 rpm extended play disc with four non-film songs. Over the next few years, Hemanta released non-film songs under various small-time labels that had cropped up in the nascent cassette-based music industry. Only a few of these were commercially successful. He composed music for a handful of Bengali movies and one Bengali and one Hindi tele-series. However, by this time he had become an institution, a beloved personality, and a courteous and friendly gentleman. His philanthropic activities included running a homeopathic hospital in memory of his late Father in their native village in Baharu, in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. In a television interview to noted elocutionist Gauri Ghosh, his wife Bela Mukhopadhyaya recalled that she never knew during his lifetime the number of families and persons he helped to put up financially or otherwise; only after he passed away that this truth gradually unveiled. He continued to feature regularly on All India Radio, Doordarshan (TV) and live programmes/concerts during this period.


In 1987, he was nominated for Padmabhushan which he refused politely, having already turned down the offer to receive Padmashree in the 1970s. In this year, he was publicly felicitated in Netaji Indoor Stadium in Calcutta for completing 50 years in musical journey, where, Lata Mangeshkar presented him with the memento on behalf of his fans and admirers.Despite his ageing voice, he became the Best Male Singer in 1988 for his rendition in the film "Lalan Fakir". In September 1989, he travelled to Dhaka, Bangladesh to receive the Michael Madhusudan Award. He performed a concert in Dhaka as well. Immediately after returning from this trip, he suffered a major heart attack (myocardial infarction) on 26 September and died at 11:15 pm in a nursing home in South Calcutta. Interestingly, even nearly two decades after his death, Gramophone Company of India releases at least one album by him every year, repackaging his older songs, because of the commercial viability of his songs. His legacy still lives on through the numerous songs he has recorded, music he has composed and through many male singers in Bengal and the rest of India who continue to imitate his singing style.

His Master's Voice-14

Noor Jahan or NoorJahan was the adopted stage name for Allah Wasai (September 21, 1926 – December 23, 2000) who was a legendary singer and actress in British India and Pakistan. Her career spanned seven decades. She was renowned as one of the greatest and most influential singers of her time in South Asia and was given the honorific title of Malika-e-Tarannum.


Born in a Punjabi family of musicians, Wasai was pushed by her parents to follow in their musical footsteps and become a singer but she was more interested in acting in films and graced the earliest Pakistani films with her performances. She holds a remarkable record of 10,000 songs to her singing credits in various languages of India and Pakistan including Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and Sindhi languages. Along with Ahmed Rushdi, she holds the highest record of film songs in the history of Pakistani cinema. She is also considered to be the first female Pakistani film director.

In 1957, Jahan was awarded the President's Award for her acting and singing capabilities. Noor Jahan was born into a Muslim family in Kasur, Punjab, British India and was one of the eleven children of professional musicians Madad Ali and Fateh Bibi. Wasai began to sing at the age of five or six years old and showed a keen interest in a range of styles, including traditional folk and popular theatre. Realising her potential for singing, her mother sent her to receive early training in classical singing under Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan who was also a native of Kasur. He instructed her in the traditions of the Patiala Gharana of Hindustani classical music and the classical forms of thumri, dhrupad, and khyal. At the age of nine, Wasai drew the attention of Punjabi musician Ghulam Ahmed Chishti, who would later introduce her to stage in Lahore. He composed some ghazals, naats and folk songs for her to perform, although she was more keen in breaking into acting or playback singing. Once her vocational training finished, Wasai pursued a career in singing alongside her sisters in Lahore and would usually take part in the live song and dance performances prior to screenings of films in film theatres.


The family moved to Calcutta (now Kolkata) in hope of developing the movie careers of Wasai and her sisters. During their stay in Calcutta, the renowned singer Mukhtar Begum, encouraged Wasai and her two older sisters to join film companies and recommended them to various producers. She also recommended them to her husband, Agha Hashar Kashmiri, who owned a maidan theatre (a tented theatre to accommodate large audiences). It was here that Wasai received the stage name Baby Noor Jahan. Her older sisters were offered jobs with one of the Seth Sukh Karnani companies, Indira Movietone and they went on to be known as the Punjab Mail. Wasai would later adopt Mukhtar Begum's way of performance and sari attire.


In 1935, K.D. Mehra directed Pind di Kuri in which Jahan acted along with her sisters. She next acted in a film called Missar Ka Sitara (1936) by the same company and sang in it for music composer, Damodar Sharma. Baby Noor Jahan also played the child role of Heer in the film Heer-Sayyal (1937). After a few years in Calcutta, Noor Jahan returned to Lahore in 1938. In 1939, Ghulam Haider composed songs for Jahan which led to her early popularity. She then recorded her first song Shala Jawaniyan Mane for Dalsukh M. Pancholi's movie Gul Bakavli. In 1942, she played the main lead opposite Pran in Khandaan. It was her first role as an adult, and the film was a major success. Khandaan's success saw her shifting to Bombay, with director Syed Shaukat Hussain Rizvi. She shared melodies with Shanta Apte in Duhai (1943). It was in this film that Noor Jahan lent her voice for the second time, to another actress named Husn Bano. She married Rizvi later the same year. In 1945 Jahan played the lead role, alongside Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, in the movie Bari Maa.


In 1945, she achieved a milestone, when she sung a Qawwali with Zohrabai Ambalewali and Kalyani which was "Aahen Na Bhareen Shikave Na Kiye". This was the first ever Qawwali recorded in female voices in South Asian films. Noor Jahan's last film in India was Mirza Sahibaan (1947) which starred Prithviraj Kapoor's brother Trilok Kapoor. Noor Jahan sang 127 songs in Indian films and the number of talking films she made from 1932 to 1947 was 69. The number of silents was 12. Fifty-five of her films were made in Bombay, eight in Calcutta, five in Lahore and one in Rangoon (now Yangon), Burma.

After quitting acting she took up playback singing. She made her debut as a playback singer in 1960 with the film Salma. Her first initial playback for a Pakistani film was for Jan-e-Bahar (1958), in which she sang the song Kaisa Naseeb Layi Thi, picturised on Musarrat Nazir. She received many awards, including the highest Pakistani honour in entertainment, Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (The Pride of Performance) in 1966, Pakistan's top civil award. She sang a large number of duets with Ahmed Rushdi, Mehdi Hassan, Masood Rana, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Mujeeb Aalam.


She had a great understanding and friendship with many great singers of Asia, for example with the late great Alam Lohar and many more singers also. In the 1990s Jahan also sang for then débutante actresses Neeli and Reema. For this very reason, Sabiha Khanum affectionately called her Sadabahar (evergreen). Her popularity was further boosted with her patriotic songs during the 1965 war between Pakistan and India. Jahan visited India in 1982 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Indian talkie movies, where she met Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi and was received by Dilip Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar in Mumbai.

In 1986, on a tour of North America, Jahan suffered from chest pains and was diagnosed with angina pectoris after which she underwent a surgery to install a pacemaker. In 2000, Jahan was hospitalised in Karachi and suffered a heart attack. On December 23, 2000 Jahan died as a result of heart failure. Her funeral took place at Jamia Masjid Sultan, Karachi and she was buried at the Gizri Graveyard near the Saudi Consulate in Karachi.

His Master's Voice-13

Talat Mahmood (February 24, 1924 – May 9, 1998) was a popular Indian playback singer and film actor. A recipient of the Padma Bhushan in 1992, he had a unique style of singing. He was famous for singing ghazals. Talat Mahmood was born in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, to Manzoor Mahmood. Talat showed his musical leanings from a very young age and would enjoy sitting through all-night music soirees listening patiently to some of the biggest names in classical Indian music then. Coming from a conservative Muslim background, singing was not encouraged. Talat had to choose between working in films and staying at home. Despite his parental objection he opted for the former, though his family accepted the fact only about a decade later when he gained respect in the industry.


Talat apprenticed classical music under Pandit S.C.R. Bhat at Marris College of Music, presently Bhatkhande Music University, Lucknow some time in the 30s. He started his career purely as a ghazal singer in 1939. Talat Mahmood began his singing career at the age of 16 in 1939 when he began singing the Ghazals of Daag, Mir, Jigar etc. on All India Radio, Lucknow. His voice had a quality distinct from all the other singers. HMV was quick to notice this and offered Talat his first disc in 1941 Sab din ek samaan nahin tha, Bun jaoon ga kya se kya main, Iska to kuch dhyan nahin tha.


His reputation as a ghazal singer was not limited to his hometown of Lucknow, but it reached the city that proved to shape his destiny - Calcutta. The then famous ghazal singers were Ustad Barkat Ali Khan, K.L. Saigal and M.A. Rauf. The classical songs he sang were " Sapnon Ki Suhaani Duniyaa Ko " for film Shikast and " Laage Tose Naina " for Chaandi Ki Deewar. In 1944 came the hit Tasveer teri dil mera behela nah sake gi. Its popularity was so phenomenal and unrivalled that even today it remains one of the top selling non-film discs[citation needed]. This disc brought Talat the fame throughout India and soon he was beckoned by the Calcutta film industry. Talat made cameo appearances and starred in about 16 movies, for both the Calcutta (film hub of the 1940s) and Bombay Film Industry. The three movies in which he starred were regional hits in Calcutta. Initially, in Calcutta, he recorded a lot of Bangla songs under the assumed name "Tapankumar". Several of his Bangla numbers were super hits in Bengal and still aired on All India Radio old song reminisces. In 1949 Talat moved to Bombay, to sing for the Bombay film industry. His name and fame had already preceded him and soon he was flooded with offers. His big break came with the song Ae dil mujhe aisi jagha le chal jahan koi na ho composed by music director Anil Biswas for the soundtrack of the movie Arzoo. The song proved to be extremely popular.


Talat was considered a handsome man and a good singer, which prompted movie producers to try him as an actor. Talat acted in over a dozen films with top actresses of the time like Nutan, Mala Sinha, Suraiya and others. Later he decided to give up acting to concentrate on singing. The advent of rock-n-roll in the late 1960s sidelined singers like Talat. As long as he was top box-office draw, the movie producers insisted on including his songs in their movies. Talat's velvety vocals posed a special challenge to the music-composers, most of whom leaned towards the deep baritones of Mohammad Rafi and Mukesh. The resultant demise of his movie career led to the decline of his singing career. At the same time, the social changes and happiness brought about by increasing prosperity in India meant that blue mood ghazals and heart-rending ballads were not popular any more. Talat continued to record good songs, but less in number. His last soundtrack recording, in 1985, is the song "Mere Shareek-e-Safar", a duet sung with Miss Hemlata, from the movie "Wali-e-Azam" composed by Chitragupt and written by Ahmed Wasi.


However, Talat who was the first Indian singer to go on foreign concert tours in 1956 to East Africa found eager fans awaiting his arrival in other foreign countries. Jam packed audience in the United States, the UK, West Indies and other countries awaited his arrival enthusiastically. He performed in famous Royal Albert Hall in London, Madison Square Garden in the States and Jean Pierre Complex in the West Indies. He continued singing in the packed auditoriums until 1991 when he toured Holland. Talat sang about 800 songs in his long career. His songs are still popular among the music lovers as they were in the days these were released. People, who were close to Talat, describe his nature as a quiet one. He is often remarked as a decent man, and his velvety and silky voice also reflected that decency and sense of calmness. Music directors, who worked with him, claimed that while listening to him, one would develop the feeling that Talat was a soft-hearted man. Dilip Kumar termed Talat as "a perfect gentleman". Talat sang approximately 800 songs spread over 4 decades spanning between the 40s and 80s. Some of the most popular work of Talat is available even today.

His Master's Voice-12

Shamshad Begum (April 14, 1919 – April 23, 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 6000 songs in Hindi and the Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and Punjabi languages. 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.


Begum was born in Amritsar, Punjab on April 14, 1919, the day after the Amritsar Massacre. Her father was Miya Hussain Baksh. She fell in love with Ganpat Lal Batto, a lawyer, in 1932 and, despite family objections, married him at the age of 15 in 1934. She had one daughter, Usha Ratra, who is married to Lieutenant Colonel Yogesh Ratra. Begum's husband died in 1955 in an accident. Since her husband's death, Begum has lived with her daughter and son-in-law in Mumbai, recently at Hiranandani Gardens in the Powai district. In around 2004, 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 had died in 1998 was Saira Banu's (Dilip Kumar's wife) grandmother with the same name.!


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. Her singing ambitions, which she held from 1929, met with opposition from her family. In 1931, when she was twelve, her uncle, who enjoyed qawwalis and ghazals, secretly took her to Jenophone (or Xenophone) Music Company for an audition with Lahore-based musician and composer, Ghulam Haider. Begum said in an interview, "I sang Bahadur Shah Zafar's (the poet-ruler) ghazal Mera yaar mujhe mile agar." An impressed Haider gave her a contract for twelve songs, with facilities provided to top singers. It was Begum's paternal uncle who convinced her father, Miya Hussain Baksh, to allow her to sing. When she won a contract with a recording company, her father agreed to let her sing on the condition that she would record in a burka and not allow herself to be photographed.[6] She earned 15 rupees per song and was awarded 5,000 on the completion of the contract on Xenophone. Xenophone was a renowned music recording company, patronised by the rich, and her popularity grew in elite circles in the early 1930s.



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. Begum also recorded naats and devotional music for a couple of gramophone recording companies. Her crystal-clear voice caught the attention of sarangi maestro Hussain Bakshwale Saheb, who took her as his disciple.



Haider used her voice skillfully in some of his earlier films such as Khazanchi (1941) and Khandaan (1942). By 1940, Begum was already well established on radio. The song "Cheechi Wich Pa ke Chhalla" from Yamla Jatt of 1940 became a huge hit and popularised Pran, singer Begum and composer Haider. Haider continued to compose hit songs which Begum sang for films including Zamindar, Poonji and Shama. Director Mehboob Khan 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. She had no known Pakistani connection post 1947. 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 1957-1968.


Begum sang extensively for composers including Naushad, O. P. Nayyar, C. Ramchandra and S. D. Burman from 1946 to 1960. Naushad acknowledged in an interview that he was indebted to Begum in reaching the top, as she was famous before he became known in the late 1940s; after his tracks sung by her became highly popular, his talent was recognised. It was Begum's solo and duet songs sung for Naushad in the late 1940s and early 1950s which made Naushad famous. After Naushad became successful he recorded songs with new singers as well in the early 1950s, but kept working with Shamshad in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Naushad chose his favourite singer Begum once again to sing four out of the twelve songs in Mother India. Begum is credited with singing one of the first Westernised songs, "Meri jaan...Sunday ke Sunday" by Ramchandra. She kept getting more offers to sing songs and was the highest paid female singer from 1940 to 1955 and again post Mother India in 1957 to 1964. In 1949, music directors S. Rajeshwara Rao, M. D. Parthasarathy and Balakrishna Kalla asked her to sing "Jaiyo Jaiyo Shipayon Bazar" for P. Bhanumati in the film Nishan, produced by Gemini Films of Madras, which became highly popular.


Although Burman started composing Bengali music in 1937, he achieved national fame with tracks sung by Begum in Hindi films.[8] Burman was not well established as a music director in Hindi films until 1946; he then asked Begum to sing in his debut Hindi film as music director, Shikari (1946), with the song, "Kuch Rang Badal Rahi". In 1949, came Shabnam, in which Burman asked her to sing duets named "Pyar Main Tumne" and "Kismat Bhi Bhichadna" with Mukesh, which became popular. Shabnam was Burman's biggest hit to that date with Filmistan, and was especially noticeable for its multilingual song "Yeh Duniya Roop ki Chor", sung by Begum and acted by Kamini Kuashal, which became another hit.[9] Burman subsequently asked her to sing tracks in Bazar (1950), Mashal (1950), Bahar (1951), Shahenshah (1953), Miss India (1957), and other films. The song "Jaam Tham Le" from Shahenshah was a trendsetter for Burman compositions.



Begum had met Nayyar during her radio stint in Lahore, when he worked as an office boy delivering cakes for the lead singers. In 1954, when Nayyar got a break as a composer, he approached Begum to record songs for Mangu. Nayyar described her voice as resembling a "temple bell" for its clarity of tone. He worked with her until the late 1960s and gave her many hit songs, including "Ab To Jee Hone Laga" from Mr. & Mrs. '55, "Main Jaan Gayi Tujhe" from Howrah Bridge, "Zara Pyar Karle" from Mangu (1954), "Saiyan Teri Ankhon Mein" from 12' O Clock (1957), "Thodasa Dil Lagana" from Musafirkhana, and many others. Several of her songs from this period remain extremely popular, including those acted by Nigar Sultana, such as "Teri Mehfil Mein" from Mughal E Azam and "Mere Piyan Gaye" from Patanga (1949), as well as "Saiyan Dil Mein Aana Re", acted by Vyjantimala, and "Boojh Mera Naam Hai", acted by Minoo Mumtaz. "Milte hi aankhen dil hua" from Babul (1950) had a romantic duet with Talat Mahmood, acted by Dilip Kumar and Munawar Sultana, which also became popular. Her duet with Rafi, "Chhala Deja Nishani" from Bazar (1949) became a mega-hit.


In the late 1940s, Madan Mohan and Kishore Kumar sang as chorus boys for her songs at the Filmistan Studio. Bergum promised at this time that she would sing songs composed by Mohan once he started his career as a music director and would accept a lower fee. She also predicted that Kumar would become a great playback singer. She later recorded duets with Kumar, including "Gori ke Nainon Mein Nindiya Bhari" from Angarey (1954) and "Mere Neendon Me Tum" from Naya Andaz. After her husband's accidental death in 1955, Begum became a recluse and stopped accepting singing assignments, including recordings, for a year. The songs released between 1955 and early 1957 continued to be popular, including songs from films such as C.I.D., Naya Andaz, Baradari, Mr. & Mrs. '55 and other hits.


The well-known later playback singer, Lata Mangeshkar, started to sing when Begum was at the peak of her career, and Begum's break after her husband's death boosted Mangeshkar's career, helping her to be offered high-quality songs. In the early careers of Mangeshkar, as well as her younger sister, Asha Bhosle, between 1944 and 1956, they had often been asked by producers and music directors to imitate Begum's style of singing, because producers could not afford Begum's fees. In their first song together, Mangeshkar was a part of the chorus while Begum was the main singer. From 1949 to 1960, beginning with the song "Dar Na Mohabbat Karle" from Andaz (1949), Mangeshkar and Begum have sung many duets together, with the most famous being "Pyar Ke Jahan Ki" from the 1949 film Patanga, "Bachpan Ke Din" from 1951's Deedar; their last song together was Mughal-e-Azam's song "Teri Mehfil Mein Qismat" in 1960. Begum has sung songs together with Mangeshkar and Bhosle, including "Mubarak Ho Woh Dil Jisko" from Benazir (1964).


After her husband's death, Mehboob Khan approached her 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. From 1960, her songs started to be mimed by actresses other than the heroine. From 1965, songs for her in films started getting reduced and she then declared a self-imposed retirement. Some composers continued to ask her to sing songs for films, including Daku Mangal Singh, Upkar, Kismat (1969), Heer Ranjha (1970), Johar Mehmood in Hong Kong (1971), Teri Meri Ik Jindri (1975) and Main Papi Tum Bakhshanhaar (1976). Her song "Kajra Mohabbat Wala" from the 1969 film Kismat remains popular.


From the late 1980s, Begum started giving occasional interviews. Her final interview was in 2012. In 2009, she was conferred with the prestigious O. P. Nayyar award for her contribution to Hindi film music. She was also conferred the Padma Bhushan in 2009. Begum died at her Mumbai residence on the night of April 23, 2013 after a prolonged illness. She was 94. She was cremated in a small, dignified ceremony. Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said, "The film industry has lost one of its most versatile singers. Shamshadji's style of singing set new benchmarks. Her melodious voice with powerful lyrics gave us songs that have remained popular even today."[17] Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said "She was an artist of extraordinary talent and abilities, and the songs she has left behind in her long career, which she started with AIR in 1937, will continue to enthral music lovers. Her daughter Usha Ratra said "She kept herself away from glamour of the industry despite being one of the top singers of her era as she did not like limelight. My mother used to say that artistes never die. She wanted to be remembered for her songs.

His Master's Voice-11

Kundan Lal (K.L.) Saigal (11 April 1904 – 18 January 1947) was an Indian singer and actor who is considered the first superstar of the Hindi film industry, which was centered in Calcutta during Saigal's time, but is currently centered in Mumbai. Saigal was born at Jammu where his father Amar Chand was a tehsildar at the court of the Raja of Jammu & Kashmir. His mother Kesar Bai was a deeply religious lady who was very fond of music. She used to take her young son to religious functions where bhajan, kirtan and shabad were sung in traditional styles based on classical Indian music. Saigal was the fourth-born child of five and his formal schooling was brief and uneventful. As a child he occasionally played Sita in the Ramlila of Jammu. Saigal dropped out of school and started earning money by working as a railway timekeeper.


Later, he worked as a type writer salesman for the Remington Type writer Company, which allowed him to tour several parts of India. His travels brought him to Lahore where he befriended Meharchand Jain (who later went on to start the Assam Soap Factory in Shillong) at the Anarkali Bazaar. Meharchand and Kundan remained friends when they both moved to Calcutta and had many a mehfil-e-mushaira. In those days Saigal was a budding singer and Meharchand encouraged him to pursue his talent. Saigal often remarked that he was what he was because of Meharchand's encouragement and early support. He also briefly worked as a hotel manager. Meanwhile, his passion for singing continued and became more intense with the passage of time.


In the early 1930s, classical musician and music director Harishchandra Bali brought K.L. Saigal to Calcutta and introduced him to R. C. Boral. R.C. Boral took an instant liking to his talents. Saigal was hired by B. N. Sircar's Calcutta-based film studio New Theatres on a contract of Rs. 200 per month. There he came into contact with contemporaries like Pankaj Mullick, K. C. Dey and Pahari Sanyal. Meanwhile, Indian Gramophone Company had released Saigal's record containing a couple of Punjabi songs composed by Harishchandra Bali. In this way, Bali became Saigal's first music director. The first film in which Saigal had a role was the film Mohabbat Ke Ansoo, followed by Subah Ka Sitara and Zinda Laash, all released in 1932. However, these films did not do very well. It was in 1933 that his four bhajans for the film Puran Bhagat created a sensation throughout India. Other films that followed were Yahudi Ki Ladki, Chandidas, Rooplekha and Karwan-e-Hayaat. As a youngster, Lata Mangeshkar is alleged to have said that she wanted to marry K.L. Saigal after seeing his performance in Chandidas. In 1935, Saigal played the role that would come to define his acting career: that of the drunken title character in Devdas, based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel of the same name and directed by P.C. Barua. His songs in the film, Balam Aaye Baso Moray Man Mein and Dukh Ke Ab Din Beetat Naahi, became popular throughout the country.



Saigal picked up Bengali very well and acted in seven Bengali films, produced by New Theatres. Rabindranath Tagore first heard Saigal before giving consent for the first time to a non-Bengali singing his songs. Saigal endeared himself to the whole of Bengal through his 30 Bengali songs. Saigal's association with New Theatres continued to bear fruit in the successful films Didi (Bengali), President (Hindi) in 1937, Saathi (Bengali), Street Singer (Hindi) in 1938, and Zindagi in 1940, with Saigal in the lead. There are a number of songs of this era which form the rich heritage of film music in India. Also, in Street Singer, Saigal rendered the song Babul Mora Naihar Chhooto Jaye live in front of the camera, even though playback was becoming the preferred method of singing songs in films.


In December 1941, Saigal moved to Bombay to work with Ranjit Movietone. Here he acted and sang in a number of successful films. Bhakt Surdas (1942) and Tansen (1943) were hits during this period. The latter film is still remembered for Saigal's performance of the song Diya Jalao in Raga Shuddha Kalyan; in the same movie, he also sang "Sapta Suran,Tin .. Gaa-o Saba Guni Jan". In 1944, he returned to New Theatres to complete Meri Behen. This film contained the songs Do Naina Matware and Ae Qatib-e-Taqdeer Mujhe Itna Bata De.


By this time, alcohol had become a predominant factor in Saigal's life. His dependence on alcohol had begun affecting his work and his health. It was said that he could only record a song after being fortified with liquor. He survived ten years of drinking; however, his alcoholism was too advanced for even a single attempt at abstinence, and Saigal died in his ancestral city of Jalandhar on 18 January 1947, at the age of 42. However, before his death, he was able to churn out three more hits under the baton of Naushad for the film Shahjehan (1946). These are Mere Sapnon Ki Rani, Ae Dil-e-Beqaraar Jhoom and Jab Dil Hi Toot Gaya. Parwana (1947) was his last film, released after his death, in which he sang under the baton of Khawaja Khurshid Anwar. The four songs which Saigal sang in Parwana are: Toot gaye sab sapne mere, Mohabbat mein kabhi aisi bhi haalat, Jeene ka dhang sikhaae ja, and Kahin ulajh na jaana. Saigal was survived by his wife Asha Rani (whom he married in 1935); three children, a son and two daughters: Madan Mohan, Nina (born 1937) and Bina (born 1941); and an adopted child, his elder brother's daughter, Durgesh Nandani, whom he adopted when he was still single.



In a career of fifteen years, Saigal acted in 36 feature films 28 in Hindi, 7 in Bengali, and 1 in Tamil. In addition, he acted in a short comedy Hindi film, Dulari Bibi (3 reels), released in 1933. In 1955 B.N. Sircar released a documentary film based on the life of K.L. Saigal, Amar Saigal. In the film, G. Mungheri performed the title role of Saigal. The film contained 19 songs lifted from Saigal's films. In all, Saigal rendered 185 songs which includes 142 film songs and 43 non-film songs. Of the film songs, there are 110 in Hindi, 30 in Bengali and 2 in Tamil. There are 37 non-film songs in Hindi, and 2 each in Bengali, Pashto,[4] Punjabi and Persian. His non-film songs comprise bhajans, ghazals and hori. He has rendered the creations of poets such as Ghalib, Zauq, and Seemab. Saigal's distinctive singing voice was idolized by the first generation of post-independence Hindi Film playback singers, including Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, and Kishore Kumar.

His Master's Voice-10

Paliyath Jayachandran, popularly known as P. Jayachandran (Malayalam: പി.ജയചന്ദ്ര൯), (Tamil: பி.ஜெயசந்திரன்) is a South Indian playback singer from Kerala. Jayachandran was born in 'Bhadralayam', Ravipuram, Ernakulam, and later his family moved to Irinjalakkuda. His father Ravivarma Kochaniyan Thampuran of the Cochin Royal Family was a learned musician, though not a professional singer. His mother Subhadra Kunjamma Paliyam Swarupam was also a great music lover who encouraged Jayachandran to learn the notes of Mridangam at a very young age and with her support he could attain dexterity with the Mridangam. He began to sing devotional songs in churches at the age of 8.

Jayachandran graduated from Christ College, Irinjalakuda. He was a student of the Irinjalakuda National School from where he received many prestigious prizes for playing the Mridangam and light music in the State School Youth Festival Jayachandran met Yesudas in 1958 when he participated in the state youth festival. Yesudas won the Best Classical Singer award and Jayachandran got the best Mridamgist award in the same year. He has won one National Award, four Kerala State Awards and four Tamil Nadu State Awards. He has recorded songs in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi languages. Jayachandran is also affectionately called the Bhava Gayakan.

Jayachandran got his first state award in 1972 for the song Neelagiriyude ('Suprabhaatham')... for the film Panitheeratha Veedu. Its music was done by M. S. Viswanathan. The year 1978 brought him another state award. The song was Ragam Sreeragam for the film Bandhanam and the music director was M. B. Sreenivasan. He received a prestigious national award in 1985 for Sivasankara Sarva Saranya Vibho..., a Gurusthuthi song for the film Sree Narayana Guru music by G. Devarajan . The song Prayam Nammil.. from the film Niram brought him a third state award in 1998. In 1975, he sang for the Malayalam movie Penpada (with music by R. K. Shekhar)a song Velli then Kinnam Pol, regarded as the first composition of 9 year old Dileep Shekhar, now known as A. R. Rahman Legendary Music Composer.

Jayachandran has to be mentioned as one of the important person enriched by the music Maestro Ilayaraja. He sang a lots of tamil hits for him. His famous and ultimate songs are "raasaathi unna" "kaathirundhu kaathirundhu" from Vaidhegi kaathirundhaal, "mayanginen solla thayanginen" from Naaney raaja naaney mandhiri, "vaalkaiye vesham" from Aarilirundhu arubathu varai, "poova eduthu oru" from Amman kovil kizhakaaley, "Thaalaattudhey vaanam" from Kadal Meengal... and much more... He got the first Asianet award and the Arabian award for the same song in the same year. Its music was done by Sree Vidyasagar. In 1994, he received the Tamil Nadu state Government award for the best singer for the song, Kathazham Kattuvazhi... for the film KizhakkuCheemayile. A. R. Rahman composed the music. As a recognition for his contribution to Tamil film music, he was honoured with the Kalaimamani award of the Tamil Nadu Government.

Despite his popularity, he was later sidelined by the music composers for reasons not known to the public.He was as important a singer in the 70s and 80s in the Kannada, Tamil and the Malayala films as S.P.Balasubramaniam and K.J.Yesudas. Jayachandran was honoured with the Swaralaya Kairali Yesudas award at the beginning of 2001, which he was the first person to receive. The motive behind this award is to choose the best from the singers and lyricists within a span of 30 years. He has sung nearly 1000 songs for Malayalam movies over the years according to the MSI information database. Jayachandran, for the first time, sang in Hindi in 2008, for the movie ADA...A Way of Life along with Alka Yagnik, music scored by A. R. Rahman.

Kannada music lovers still do humming his numbers like "Jeevana Sanjeevana" "Olavina Udugore" 'Chanda Chanda".Etc. he was adored by great director Puttanna Kanagal, thus many of his kannada melodies can found in his movies. obviously, they were composed by tune master Vijayabaskar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIhDa3z2Ros