![]() There is pain in Ek tera sahara (Shama, 1946), innocence in Main to odhun Nayyar likened her vocals to the resonance of a brand new silver coin. ![]() It did not matter to her that she sang the item song Ek do teen (Awara, 1951) after doing all the heroine numbers for Raj Kapoor in Aag. After pushing the careers of heroines Ramola, Mehtab, Nargis, Kamini Kaushal, Nalini Jaywant, Vyjayantimala and others to superstardom by singing for them, she unhesitatingly “playbacked" for child actors Jagdeep (Dard, 1947), Parikshit Sahni (Deedar, 1951) and heroes Shammi Kapoor (Bluff Master, 1963), Mehmood (Johar Mehmood in Hong Kong, 1971) and Biswajeet (Kismat, 1968). Shamshad Begum never let success go to her head. Even her record albums did not have her image as the music company HMV itself did not have her photo. She never allowed herself to be photographed. ![]() ![]() She led a simple and sober life, away from the public eye. Recording nearly 2,000 tracks in her lifetime, she did not market herself, and did not want to record songs till her last breath. From commanding the highest fees of ₹ 2,000 per song in the 1950s (her contemporary Lata Mangeshkar earned ₹ 300), she moved from the monopolization era towards semi-retirement at the peak of her popularity in the 1950s. She chose to live life on her terms, away from the glamour of filmdom for the past four decades. Nayyar have sung chorus in my songs in their struggling days," the publicity-shy artiste once told me.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |