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By the end of 1940s, Shamshad had sung playback in over 170 films. With Shehnai (1947) and Mela (1948), she became a household name. In the same year, she also sang for Filmistan’s Ashok Kumar- Naseem Banu starrer Chal Chal Re Naujawan (1944), which established her as one of the best-known playback singers of her era. Unfortunately, though she recorded the music for the film, the records subsequently released included the singer Rajkumari’s voice. Her eight songs for the film were mostly hits, and soon after she sang for Panna (1944). Soon, word of her fame reached Bombay, and the filmmaker Mehboob Khan extended an invitation for her to lend her mellifluous voice to his film Taqdeer (1943), which was also Nargis’s first film as a heroine. While still in Lahore, she sang for films like Khandaan (1942), Zamindar (1942), Poonji (1943) and Nishani (1942). Her songs Ek kali naazon ki pali and Sawan ke nazaare hain from the film proved to be very popular. Seeing the resounding success of the songs Shamshad Begum voiced, Pancholi asked her to sing for her first Hindi film, Moti B. The film, also the actor Pran’s debut, proved to be a silver jubilee hit film. Pancholi of the banner Pancholi Arts in Lahore, and he gave her a break in the Punjabi film Yamla Jatt (1940), for which she sang a total of eight songs. Shamshad Begum’s remarkable talent was noticed by Dalsukh M. By 1930, playback singing had been integrated into films. Within the next two years, she was travelling between Lahore, Lucknow and Delhi to sing for the radio. In 1937, when Shamshad Begum received an opportunity to sing for the radio, she travelled to Peshawar. Her strict parents did not allow her to accept these, and she was married at the age of 16. However, playback singing was still not in vogue, and Shamshad, among others, received offers to become a singer-actor. The song was so well-received that Shamshad could not continue her schooling beyond the fifth grade and had to dedicate all her time to her singing commitments.Īfter 1935, films had started recording sound. Her first hit song was Haat joda pakhiyaan da kasam khuda ki. Under his supervision, a number of private non-film records voiced by Shamshad were released and gained some popularity. She was immediately accepted, and Ghulam Haider set about training her more formally. Shamshad Begum auditioned for him, singing parts of the ghazal Mera yaar mujhe mile agar written by Bahadur Shah Zafar. At the time, the legendary Ghulam Haider was working at the company as their sole music composer. When she was 12 years old, she accompanied her uncle to the Xynophone Company, which used to make records. She hardly realized when she started singing, even though her relatives would visit her house to hear her recite naatein during the month of Ramzaan.
Punjabi songs by shamshad begum how to#
She did not receive any formal training in music, instead learning how to sing from repeating songs she heard on the gramophone. Her father was a contractor of housing, and she was the fifth among eight siblings. Shamshad Begum was born on 14 April 1919 in Lahore. Soon after, however, one of the voices behind the famous Mere piya gaye Rangoon ( Patanga, 1949) disappeared from the world of films into obscurity. In 1969, she appeared at Mumbai’s Shanmukhanand Hall for the first time, creating a public frenzy among her many fans dying for a glimpse. Though she lent her voice to the screen for over three decades, she was rarely seen in public, and did not like her photographs being taken. Notoriously shy and in possession of a jealously guarded, lovely voice, Shamshad Begum was known throughout her career for distancing herself from all kinds of publicity.
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