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In
the early and mid 40s apart from singing stars
Noorjehan
and Suraiya,
if two female singers stood out the most it
was perhaps Rajkumari and Shamshad Begum. Interestingly
enough in those days Rajkumari was one singer
who was brought up on film music! Opposite her
hous e
was a cinema hall where she befriended the projectionist
who'd allow her to see the film standing on
a stool in the projection room! Rajkumari began
her career in the late 1930s as a singer actress
with Prakash Pictures. But the love of food
and a resulting weight problem forced her to
concentrate on playback singing only. Such was
her success that even before partnerships like
Mukesh - Raj
Kapoor or Talat Mehmood - Dilip
Kumar or Rafi
- Dilip Kumar were formed, heroines like Shobana
Samarth had stipulations in their contracts
that Rajkumari would sing for them! Her sweet
voice which was strong and not sharply high
pitched was used particularly well in her films
for Kedar Sharma where she often sang for Geeta
Bali.
Rajkumari
sang in an era when the rupee had value, petrol
cost 6 annas a gallon and she was paid the princely
sum of Rs 50 a song! With no name of the playback
singer indicated on the discs of the songs.
In fact the disc carried the film name of the
artiste on whom the song was picturised! It
was only as the 1940s dawned to a close that
playback singers got their credits on discs!
And it would still be a while before they were
given screen credit for their work as well.
Shamshad
Begum really became the first female playback
star. Making her debut on radio in Lahore in
1937, the Amritsar-born singer captivated the
hearts of listeners with the enchanting depth
of her voice. The then AIR Lahore helped her
in entering the world of movies as frequent
broadcasting of her songs induced music directors
to use her voice for film songs. Shamshad Begum
also recorded naats and devotional songs for
a couple of gramophone recording companies which
where then located in the Bakshi Market of Anarkali,
Lahore.
Lahore-based
composer Ghulam
Haider used her voice skillfully in some
of his earlier films, mostly in Punjabi. When
he shifted to Bombay in 1944, Shamshad Begum
went with him as a member of his team. In 1944,
when Mehboob
Khan launched his historical venture, Humayun,
Master Ghulam Haider used Shamshad Begum's voice
in the film. The song Naina Bhar Aaye Neer
captured the imagination on the country.
That
was the time when Amirbai Karnataki was considered
number one playback singer in Bombay. With the
introduction of Shamshad Begum in the film world
in Bombay, contemporary composers almost fell
over each other in booking her for the recording
of their songs leading to an extremely prolific
career till the mid to late 1950s. Music directors
like C. Ramchandra, SD
Burman and Naushad
used her as their prime female vocalist in the
early part of their careers.
1946
saw a young Bengali singer make her debut singing
two lines of a song in the film Bhakt Prahlad.
Giving playback for some children, she astonished
Music Director Hanuman Prasad and all present
in the recording studio with her rendering of
those two lines. A minor incident was to become
the genesis of a great musical career. Music
Director S.D. Burman making his beginnings in
Bombay with Filmistan Studio, heard those two
lines and used the singer's voice for heroine
Kamini Kaushal for his forthcoming film Do
Bhai. Disc Sales of the film rocketed to
new heights particularly the weepy song - Mera
Sundar Sapna Beet Gaya Beet Gaya. Geeta
Roy had arrived…
The
success of Do Bhai took Geeta Roy right
to the top and she ruled as the Film Industry's
premier playback female playback artiste from
1947 - 1949 moving from strength to strength.
Of all her contemporaries her musical training
was perhaps the sketchiest but what she lacked
in training and technique, she more than made
it with her ability to breathe life and emotion
into any song she was singing. Little wonder
then as she initially made her reputation as
a singer suited primarily for bhajans and weepy,
weepy sad songs. The peak of this phase came
really in 1950 with Jogan which saw 12
solos sung by her, most of them Meera Bhajans…
Even
as Geeta Roy rocketed to the very top with Do
Bhai, another woman was quietly trying to
make her name on the playback scene. Born in
1929 and given music lessons from the age of
five by her classical musician father and later
by Aman Ali Khan and Amanat Khan, she had to
take on the mantle of becoming breadwinner of
her family due to his untimely death in 1942.
She took to acting in Marathi and Hindi Films.
 She
even made her debut as a playback singer in
the Marathi film Kiti Hasaal in 1942
only for the song to be edited out! Her singing
debut in Hindi with Aap ki Seva Mein
in 1947 went unnoticed as her thin high-pitched
voice was against the order of the day favouring
heavy robust Punjabi voices like Noorjehan,
Shamshad Begum and Zohra Ambala. She was even
rejected by producer S. Mukherjee who vetoed
music director Ghulam Haider from using her
for his film Shaheed
(1948) saying her voice was too thin and
squeaky! Haider warned Mukherjee that this girl
would one day overtake Noorjehan and helped
her breakthrough withthe song Mera Dil Toda
from Majboor (1948). The song
sung in the presence of many prominent music
directors having come to hear Ghulam Haider's
discovery was finally okayed in the 32nd take!
Immediately after the recording however Naushad
and Husnlal-Bhagatram were the first to offer
her singing offers. 1949 saw the release of
four films primarily depending on her vocals
- Dulari, Andaaz,
Barsaat and Mahal.
All four huge musical hits…The Lata Mangeshkar
Magic had begun! Of the four, perhaps the film
to take Lata right to the top was Mahal.
Lata's songs in Mahal - Dil ne Phir
Yaad Kiya, Mushkil Hai Bahut Mushkil
were hummed across the nation but none so more
than Aayega Aanewala which was the turning
point in Lata's career. The song set the trend
for a suspense and ghost film to always have
a song that works as a leitmotif throughout
the film. It is said the recording began with
the mike placed in the center of a large hall
with Lata in the corner of the room. As the
prelude began she inched her way to the mike
singing Khamosh Hai Zamana… (an
early use of prelude before the actual song)
However Mahal also saw the old guard
more than holding its own against this sensational
new singer as Rajkumari sang perhaps the finest
song of her now coming to an end career in this
film - Ghabrake Jo Hum Sarko.
Such
was Lata Mangeshkar's impact that within a year
she had changed the face of the playback singer
as her highly trained high-pitched singing rendered
the nasal, basy voices of the day totally obsolete.
At least music directors had found the voice
that could stretch their creative experiments
to the fullest. The only two singers to survive
the Lata onslaught were Geeta Roy and to a certain
extent Shamshad Begum as Lata went on to conquer
all and sundry with her magical voice…
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