Bhadrachalam was significant to devotees of Rama for the reason that Lord Rama is said to have stayed near the Parnasala there with Sita and Laksmana during his said Vanavasa. One day, he visited the Sreerama Temple of Bhadrachalam and was disturbed by the dilapidated state of the same. As an official, he did his duties earnestly and collected revenues due to the Sultan. Mukhtar, in the pre-independence era.In this episode, I would like to talk you about a great devotee of Lord Sreerama, Bhadrachala Ramdas, who loved his Lord, more than himself and his kith and kin and got himself into serious trouble of going to jail and remained there for almost the same period his own Lord had to undergo ‘Vanavasa’, much to the grief of his father, King Dasaradha to fulfill a promise to his second wife, Kaikeyi for saving the King once when he was in distress! How that would have happened, is a matter of surprise, isn’t it? Well, Gopanna, before he became our great Ramadas, got an appointment as a Tahasildar (Revenue collector) by the recommendation of his uncle, who was a big official in the court of Sultan Quitab Shah of the then Hyderabad State. Begum was soon singing for other composers including Rafiq Ghaznavi, Ameer Ali, Pt Gobindram, Pt Amarnath, Bulo C. Director Mehboob Khan used Begum’s voice in Taqdeer (1943), where he introduced Nargis as the heroine. Haider continued to compose hit songs which Begum sang for films including Zamindar, Poonji and Shama. The songs "Cheechi Wich Pa ke Chhalla", "Mera Haal Vekh Ke" and "Kankaan Diyaan Faslaan" from Yamla Jatt of 1940 became a huge hit and popularised Pran, singer Begum and composer Haider. By 1940, Begum was already well established on radio. Haider used her voice skillfully in some of his earlier films such as Khazanchi (1941) and Khandaan (1942). Her father was not convinced at first but later gave in as Shamshad wanted to come to Mumbai. Mehboob Khan brought Shamshad Begum to Mumbai after telling her husband ‘I will take her to Mumbai and give her a flat, car, conveyance and even if four to six people accompany her, it’s fine.
Her crystal-clear voice caught the attention of sarangi maestro Hussain Bakshwale Saheb, who took her as his disciple. Begum also recorded naats and devotional music for a couple of gramophone recording companies. The then AIR Lahore helped her to enter the world of movies as they frequently broadcast her songs, which induced music directors to use her voice for their films. She never posed for photographs, and few people saw her picture between 1933 and the 1970s.īegum sang for AIR through her musical group ‘The Crown Imperial Theatrical Company of Performing Arts’, set up in Delhi. Begum promised her father that she would never appear before the camera. Her father became angry when he found out and warned her that she would not be allowed to sing if she continued to harbour a desire to act.
Begum readily agreed, gave a screen test and was selected. Producer Dilsukh Pancholi wanted her to act as well in a film he was producing. Her popular breakthrough came when she began singing on All India Radio (AIR) in Peshawar and Lahore from 1937. Though she had won the Xenophone audition without taking any formal music training but after that both Ghulam Haider and later Hussain Bakshwale Sahab improved her singing skills between 1937-1939. It was from Hussain Bakshwale Sahab and later Ghulam Haider who improved her singing skills. Xenophone was a renowned music recording company, patronised by the rich, and her popularity grew in elite circles in the early 1930s. She earned 15 rupees per song and was awarded 5,000 on the completion of the contract on Xenophone. When she won a contract with a recording company, her father agreed to let her sing on the condition that she would record in a burka and not allow herself to be photographed. It was Begum’s paternal uncle Aamir Khan who convinced her father, Miya Hussain Baksh, to allow her to sing. Begum said in an interview, "I sang Bahadur Shah Zafar’s (the poet-ruler) ghazal Mera yaar mujhe mile agar." An impressed Haider gave her a contract for twelve songs, with facilities provided to top singers. In 1931, when she was twelve, her uncle, who enjoyed qawwalis and ghazals, secretly took her to Jenophone (or Xenophone) Music Company for an audition with Lahore-based musician and composer, Ghulam Haider. Her singing ambitions, which she held from 1929, met with opposition from her family.
At 10, she started singing folk-based songs at religious functions and family marriages. Impressed by the quality of her voice, she was made head singer of classroom prayer. Begum’s talent was first spotted by her principal when she was in primary school in 1924.