| Back |
In 2001,another star fell from the firmament and faded into the void. Old time singer/actress Irshad Begum a.k.a. Khurshid Begum, a notable singer-actress of the `40s, whose songs from Bhakta Surdas (1942) and Tansen (1943) still linger in the memory of film music buffs died on April 18, 2001 after a prolonged illness. She started her film career way back in the late thirties. Between 1940 to 1947, Khursheed was one of the four leading female singing stars in undivided India (the other three being Kanan Devi, Shanta Apte and Noor Jehan). Those were the days when actors used to be under long-term contracts with film companies or studios. Similarly, Khursheed was on the regular payroll of Chandulal Shah's Ranjeet Movietone Studios, then known to be a veritable factory of box office hits, and her leading men included Saigal, Motilal, Isharilal and Jairaj.
Soon after partition she migrated to Pakistan with her husband and manager Lala Yaqub, an occasional actor and member of the Bhatti Gate group. She settled down in Karachi, where she did only two movies, Mandi and Fankar, both released in 1956. Mandi attracted some attention because of Khursheed, but because of poor direction and other technical shortcomings, neither the singer Khursheed nor the music director Rafique Ghaznavi's musical score could click at the box office. Fankar was produced by Robert Malik, a teacher at a Christian Mission High School. This film also didn't fare well at the box-office . Frustrated by her predicament, she left her spouse and married a genuine admirer Yusuf Bhaimia, who was in the shipping business. After retiring from films, she made philanthropy the mainstay of her existence. Since then she refused to give interviews or even talk about her film career. She was 79 when she passed away.
She appeared in almost 15 films produced by Ranjeet. Of these, some of the more significant ones were Holi, Musafir, Shaadi, Beti, Nurse, Mumtaz Mahal, Moorti and, of course, the unforgettable Bhakt Surdaas and Tansen.
Song list provided by Ummer Siddique
Solos
Song
|
Film
|
Year
|
Music Director(s)
|
Nainoun sai naina milake
|
Beti
|
1941
|
Gyan Dutt
|
Ghir ghir ghan mein ghour ghata chahie
|
Beti
|
1941
|
Gyan Dutt
|
Pehlai jo mohabbat sai inkaar kiya hota
|
Pardesi
|
1941
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Panchhi bawra pagla chanda sai preet lagaye
|
Bhakt Surdas
|
1942
|
Gyan Dutt
|
Madhur madhur ga re manwa
|
Bhakt Surdas
|
1942
|
Gyan Dutt
|
Suno suno mora man kuch boley
|
Chandni
|
1942
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Dukhia jiara
|
Tansen
|
1943
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Ghata ghanghour ghour shor machaye moor
|
Tansen
|
1943
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Barso re barso re kaley badarwa
|
Tansen
|
1943
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Ab raja bhaye more balam woh din bhool gaye
|
Tansen
|
1943
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Mohabbat mein saara jahaan jal gaya hai
|
Shahenshah Babar
|
1944
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Na bhoolein gai tujh ko
|
Shahenshah Babar
|
1944
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Dil lagane mein kuch maza hei nahin
|
Shahenshah Babar
|
1944
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Bulbul aa to bhi ga (with chorus)
|
Shahenshah Babar
|
1944
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Jala patanga tou ismein qasoor kis ka hain
|
Mumtaz Mahal
|
1944
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Itna bhi na woh samjha kai gaye
|
Moorti
|
1945
|
Bulo C. Rani
|
Ambwa pai koyal boley, kaliyoun pai bahnwarey doley
|
Moorti
|
1945
|
Bulo C. Rani
|
Bansi waley shyam bansariya baja ja
|
Prabhu ka Ghar
|
1945
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Aaj mohe sajan ghar jana
|
Manjhdhar
|
1947
|
Ghulam Haider
|
Duets
Song
|
Co- Singer(s)
|
Film
|
Year
|
Music Director(s)
|
Jis jogi ka jog liya
|
K.L. Saigal
|
Bhakt Surdas
|
1942
|
Gyan Dutt
|
More balapan kai saathi chaila
|
K.L. Saigal
|
Tansen
|
1943
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Chandni raat aur tarey khiley houn
|
K.L. Saigal
|
Tansen
|
1943
|
Khemchand Prakash
|
Badaria baras gai us paar
|
Mukesh, Hamida Bano
|
Moorti
|
1945
|
Bulo C. Rani
|