Bollywood Singer Shamshad Begum Dies at 94

Mustafa Quraishi/Associated Press Shamshad Begum, right, being presented with the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honor, by then president Pratibha Patel in New Delhi on March 31, 2009.

Shamshad Begum, a legendary Bollywood singer, has died in Mumbai after a prolonged illness, her family said Wednesday. She was 94.

Born into a traditional Punjabi family on April 14, 1919, in Amritsar, Mrs. Begum, who died Tuesday, started singing folk songs during religious functions and family weddings at age 10 and made her debut on Peshawar Radio in Lahore on December 16, 1947.

Her voice captivated an entire generation of Bollywood music lovers, and she worked for decades with the top music directors of Bollywood, including Naushad Ali, Anil Biswas and C. Ramchandra, who seemed to involve her in nearly every project they did. A “playback singer,” she was the woman behind the high, melodic voice to which scores of Bollywood actresses lip-synced and danced from the 1930s till the 1970s.

While she may be best known for singing the first “Western-sounding” song in Hindi cinema, “Meri jaan meri jaan … Sunday ke Sunday,” fans had their own favorites, songs that could resonate in lonely hearts and joyous souls alike.

Here are five of her top songs with five different music directors, which laid a strong foundation for Hindi film music:

My favorite of Mrs. Begum’s songs from director C. Ramachandra’s films was “the telephone song,” or “Mere piya gaye Rangoon,” from the 1949 film “Patanga,” which shows the lead couple singing to each other on the phone, as the man is in Rangoon (now Yangon, Myanmar).

Mr. Ali said in the early 1960s about her singing: “I found that her voice was like a sharp-edged knife. It used to rush straightaway through the heart of the listener.” This Ali-Begum collaboration, “Chhod Babul ka Ghar” or “Leaving my father’s home behind, I am compelled go to my husband’s,” is a testimony to that.

The music director Ghulam Haider, who also discovered playback singers like Noorjehan, Mohammad Rafi, Surinder Kaur and Lata Mangeshkar, was credited with discovering Mrs. Begum as well. The song “Sawan ke Nazaarein Hain” was from one of the biggest hits of 1941, “Kazanchi.”

Mrs. Begum also helped propel the careers of new music directors who went on to become legends, like Madan Mohan and O.P. Nayyar. When Mr. Nayyar entered the industry, he pleaded with Mrs. Begum to sing his songs, he confessed in an interview to a film journal in 2009. He was right to beg: “Kabhi aar Kabhi Paar” made him a film industry name.

Mrs. Begum sang 23 songs for Mr. Mohan. “Jo Tum Karo Mein Kar Saktaa Hoon Badhke” from “Ada,” based on the American song “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better,” is the most famous. However, I think the best “fun” song that Kishore Kumar and Mrs. Begum sang for Mr. Mohan was “Omadam” â€" which had the line ‘Kal Ki Kisne Dekhi Mr, Aaj Bana De Rum,” or, loosely, “Let’s down rum today without too much concern about what is to come.”

Shamshad Begum followed that philosophy personally as well. She was known as a happy-go-lucky person who showered affection on her colleagues and friends. Hindi film music lovers will remember her fondly for years to come.