Bollywood Home » Singers » Shamshad Begum Shamshad Begum was a legendary singer during the black and white era of Hindi cinema. However, the magic of her nasal voice even mesmerize music lovers of today. However not only her songs have made her famous but Shamshad Begum's relations also made her famous. She was the mother of famous Bollywood heroine Naseem Bano and the grandmother of Saira Bano.

Shamshad Begum belongs to the genre of the first playback singers of the time. She began her singing career with live performances on stages as well as on the Peshawar Radio. Her first performance for the Lahore Radio was on December 16, 1937 and she captivated the heart of the listeners with her beautiful classical voice. The company for which she used to work when she was in Delhi was 'The Crown Imperial Theatrical Company of Performing Arts'. For them she also used to do live stage performances and at that time she was a disciple of famous sarengi player Ustad Hussain Baksh-wale Saheb.



In the 1930s she went to Mumbai to try out her luck in Bollywood films. Her voice immediately became favorite of the music directors of Bollywood such as S.D. Burman, O.P. Nayyar, Ram Ganguly and Naushad Ali. Throughout her singing career she had sang maximum song composed by Naushad and O.P. Nayyar. These two music directors used her voice to the maximum effect possible. Famous composer C. Ramchandra for whom she sang the song 'Meri Jaan .. Sunday ke Sunday', once compared her voice with that of "temple bell".

From the 1940s to the mid 1960s, Shamshad Begum remained a craze because of her nasal voice which made stand apart from the other singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt and the others. The greatest achievement for Shamshad Begum is that most of her songs were hits not only at that time but also for years to come. A super hit song rendered by her is from the 1960 film 'Kismat' which is "Kajra Mohabbatwala Aankhon Mein Aisa Dala". Another hit given by her is a duet with Kishore Kumar from the film "Naya Andaz" which is "Meri Neendon Mein Tum Meri Khwabon Mein Tum".

Some evergreen songs of Shamshad Begum include the song "Teri Mehfil Mein Kismat Azmakar" in the film "Mughal-E-Azam", "Kabhi Aar Kabhi Paar" from the film "Aar Paar", "Holi Aayi Re Kanhai" in the film "Mother India".

The songs of Shamshad Begum have kept her alive till date among the music lovers.

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