Milte hai aankhen dil hua diwana (with Talat Mahmood) The next year saw the composer bring his current favourite and the new-singer-who-was-to-become-his-muse together, along with singer Mohantara Talpade for a qawwali - Khushiyan manaye kyun na hum from Khidki (1948).ĥ. It was for C Ramchandra that she sang her first 'westernised' song - the swinging Meri jaan, meri jaan, Sunday ke Sunday in Shehnai (1947). And since she gave interviews but rarely, there was never any controversy of sorts. It is assumed that Lata had a big hand in C Ramchandra's neglect of his once-favourite singer, but Shamshad Begum has never complained. It is well-known that 1949 (and Barsaat) was the year which saw the beginning of the Lata Mangeshkar wave. In fact, she was his favourite singer until Lata Mangeshkar came along. Apart from Naushad, it was for C Ramchandra that she sang the maximum number of songs (61 songs, 25 films).
Lyrics: Rajinder Krishen Shamshad's collaboration with C Ramchandra began in 1946, and continued for another decade. O dil waalo dil ka lagaana (with Chitalkar) Guess who sings for Nargis?) Here, Shamshad lends voice to Cuckoo, while Lata sings for the heroine, Nargis.Ĥ. Shamshad but rarely, and seldom for the 'heroine', so also, Naushadīegan to use Shamshad for either the 'vamp' (Nigar in Mughal-e-Azam) or the second lead (Munawar Sultana in Babul. Lata won the prize by singing two Shamshad Begum solos from the movie. Together for Khidki, it was Naushad who gave the two some of their most popular duets (the iconic Teri mehfil mein kismet aazmakar from Mughale-e-Azam/1960 and Kisi ke dil mein rehna thafrom Babul/1950).įew people know that Lata had once won a Khazanchi competition - the film's music was a rage, and in 1941, a competiton was held in Pune to see who could sing two songs from the film. Numbered 28 in all), and if it was C Ramchandra who first got the two Dar na muhobath kar le (with Lata Mangeshkar)Īnd Shamshad had sung but a handful of songs together (their duets He and his wife, Umrazia Begum, were very attached to her.ģ. He was her 'Guru', and until he migrated to Pakistan following the partition, he not only mentored her, but closely monitored her career. Chal Chal Re Naujawan, Humayun, Phool, Bairam Khan and Shama followed, each one with a a plethora of melodious numbers. When Ghulam Haider moved to Bombay in 1944, Shamshad was only too happy to work with him again. Ghulam Haider had previously composed music for a Punjabi film called Yamla Jat (1940) in which the young Shamshad sang for the heroine Anjana, while Noor Jehan sang for herself.
Khazanchi (1941) was her first Hindi 'film' recording. Her father finally agreed, but not before imposing many conditions that his obedient daughter followed. He knew her from her Lahore days in fact, was the man who 'discovered' her, and convinced her father, a conservative man, to let her sing. If ever Shamshad Begum had a mentor, it was Master Ghulam Haider. Gori chali piya ke desh (with Zohrabai Ambalewali) Her hero? Motilal, older by more than 20 years.Ģ. The film was the 'adult' debut of Nargis, born Fatima Rashid, and already famous as child actor Baby Rani. It was a triumph of sorts - Shamshad came, sang, and conquered.
He also gave in to her father's demands that she not be photographed, that he provide her with a house and car - all of which, Mehboob Khan fulfilled. It was Mehboob Khan who coaxed her into moving. Already a well-known name in her hometown, Lahore, then the hub of the film industry, she didn't want to move to Bombay. If it hadn't been for Mehboob Khan, the Hindi film industry would never have known Shamshad Begum.