This BLOG is about the Past of Hindi Films Specially Black and White Cinema We will refresh your memories by bringing out forgotten or unseen songs and clippings of film scenes We will try to give you as much information as we gather from our research.
This Blog was started as a one-man’s passion for film history but has now become an addiction for many music lovers who are equally passionate about Hindi films
She arrived in Bombay (Mumbai) at the age of 23(Born on 11th July 1923), having run away from home, and knocked on composer Naushad Ali's door. She told him that she could sing and that she would throw herself in the ocean if he didn't give her a chance. He auditioned her, and hired her on the spot. She made her debut as a solo playback singer in Nazir's Wamiq Azra (1946). With the song "Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon Dil-e-Beqarar Ka" she became popular and became household name.In fact, a gentleman from Delhi was so mesmerized by her song "Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon", that he stayed with her in Bombay. They got married, and the couple had two daughters and two sons; her husband, whom she called Mohan, died in 1992. The success of Dard meant that she next received Mehboob Khan's Anokhi Ada (1948), which again had two hit numbers, "Kahe Jiya Dole" and "Dil Ko Lagake Humne Kuch Bhi Na Paya". This brought her into the league of highly rated playback singers.She reached her peak as a vocalist in director S.S. Vasan's Chandralekha (1948) made by Gemini Studios, Chennai. Her seven songs, which include hits such as "Saanjh Ki Bela" remain her most accomplished work in her singing career, though signing for the film also meant a breach of contract with producer-director Kardar, which led to her dwindling fortunes in the industry .Uma's career as a singer was short-lived. New singers entered the industry. It was impossible to keep pace with Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. "Rakhi"-brother Naushad used to compose songs to suit her range. But that could not have continued for long.
It was Naushad who encouraged her to start acting because he felt that she had a very bubbly personality and wonderful comic timing.He also knew that she was a great fan of Dilip Kumar he in fact asked Dilip Kumar to cast her in one of his films, and she appeared in Babul (1950) with him, which had Nargis as the lead actress; it is he who renamed her "Tun Tun" to suit her comic persona,the name stayed with her, and a comedic legend was born. She had a fan in Guru Dutt and acted in almost all his films. Her favourite role too was from Guru Dutt's Mr and Mrs 55 in which she played a Christian lady.She acted in nearly 200 films.She died on 23 November 2003 in Andheri, Mumbai, after a prolonged illness at the age of 80 and is survived by her four children and four grandchildren. In her career spanning five decades, she acted in Hindi/Urdu and other languages like Punjabi etc., pairing with top comedy actors of her times such as Bhagwan Dada, Agha, Sunder, Mukri, Dhumal, Johnny Walker and Keshto Mukherjee.She was last seen in Hindi films in Kasam Dhande Ki (1990). Owing to her popularity, the name Tun Tun has become synonymous with fat women in India.
Tun Tun. The name conjures up the image of a roly-poly, funny woman. She was christened thus by none other than Dilip Kumar. She was working with the thespian in her first film Babul which had Nargis in the romantic lead.Though today's generation know her as a commedian but I am giving her Tribute as a singer Tun Tun (11 July 1923 – 24 November 2003) was the screen name of Indian playback singer and actress-comedian, Uma Devi Khatri, who was called "Hindi cinema's first-ever Female comedian"She was born in a conservative North Indian family in a small village in Uttar Pradesh. After the untimely death of her parents while she was in her teens, she was raised by her brother and later by her uncle. At the age of 23 she came to Bombay to try her luck in singing. She made her debut as a solo playback singer, in Nazir's Wamiq Azra (1946).Soon she signed a contract with the producer-director A.R. Kardar, who used Naushad as music director, and went on make a place for herself amidst music stalwarts like Noor Jehan, Rajkumari, Khursheed and Zohrabai Ambalewali. She is known for her song "Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon Dil-e-beqarar ka" but she sang many immortal Songs like "Yeh Kaun Chala Meri Aankhon Mein Sama Kar", and "Aaj Machi Hai Dhoom Jhoom Khushi Se Jhoom", which she sang for actress Munawar Sultana in A.R. Kardar's Dard (1947), again under the music direction of Naushad; she also sang a duet, "Betaab Hai Dil Dard-e-Mohabat Ke Asar Se", with Suraiya. Success of Dard meant that she next received Mehboob Khan's Anokhi Ada (1948), which again had two hit numbers, "Kahe jiya dole" and "Dil ko lagake humne kuch bhi na paya". This brought her into the league of highly rated playback singers. She reached her peak as a vocalist in director S.S. Vasan's "Chandralekha" (1948) made by Gemini Studios, Chennai. Her seven songs, which include hits like, "Saanjh ki bela", remain her most accomplished work in her singing career. IMMORTAL SONGS SUNG BY UMA DEVI
Believe it or not , but
there is some kind of an unseen hand of Destiny that shapes Human life. In film
industry, one can see very strange cases. Some people gracefully retire, when
they are on Top of their careers and some have to retire because there is no
work for them. Some people join the industry in a department of their choice,
but Destiny changes their life and they end up working and succeeding in an
entirely different field of activity.
Some examples are, Guru Dutt (Choreographer to Actor/Director), Ashok Kumar (
Lab Technician to Actor), Mehboob Khan ( Extra actor to Producer/Director),
Shashi Kapoor Sr. ( actor to Professor of Maths in USA ), Ashraf Khan
(actor/singer to Sufi Saint), Mukund Rai Trivedi (Music composer to Mine
owner/Businessman) etc etc.
Uma Devi, who became
a singing sensation overnight with her ” Dard “-1947 song ” Afsaana likh rahi
hoon “, left singing and became a Comedy actress. What a turn of events to her Career!
There are a few other cases like Amirbai Karnataki, who left acting to
concentrate on singing, Singer Shyam who was forced to do only acting in later
life as there were no song assignment for him and Sailesh Mukherjee, who became
a hero in films-with a New name, Shrikant Gaurav- after leaving singing/composing.
Tun Tun. The name
conjures up the image of a roly-poly, funny woman. She was christened thus by
none other than Dilip Kumar. She was working with the thespian in her first
film Babul which had Nargis in the romantic lead. And the impact that she made with
her debut was so “heavy” that Tun Tun emerged an overnight star. She was indeed
Hindi cinema’s first-ever comedienne and roles were specially written for her.
She did not make a special pair with any one comedian but she was paired with
everyone from Bhagwan Dada, Agha, Sunder, Mukri, Dhumal, Johnny Walker to
Keshto Mukherji.
The funny thing was
that while all other heroines were on a constant diet, watching what they ate,
Tun Tun made it a point to carry a dabba with her all the time, nibbling at
junk food and mithai every minute she was on the sets. “I had to maintain
myself,” she often joked.
But Tun Tun, whose real name was Uma Devi, did
not join the film industry to become an actress. She was born on 24-12-1926 in
a poor Khatri family, in the village Alipur, near Mathura in U.P. She wanted to be a singer. In
fact, even as a child she only dreamt of becoming a singer. And not just that,
she, at the age of eight, had some great, almost impossible dreams. If and when
she would sing, it had to be for Naushad only! She would not sing for any
lesser music-director. Naturally, she had to struggle very hard to realize her
dream.
Orphaned as an
infant, Uma was raised by her chaacha in an obscure village near Mathura. Girls were not
sent to school as a matter of course. Consequently, as a child Uma would climb
on imli trees, play on farm yards and listen to film songs on the radio. She
would listen to the names of the singers and music directors being announced on
the radio and dream of hearing her name on the air waves.
However, a major
hurdle stood in the way. Singing was taboo in her orthodox North Indian
household. She began practicing singing on the sly. Ramlila and film songs were
her source of inspiration. She taught herself to read and write Hindi and later
picked up a smattering of Urdu and English to get by in showbiz.
Luckily for Uma, her
friend from Delhi
came to her village. She was educated and had connections in the Bombay film industry. She
wrote to her director friend in the tinsel-town to help Uma. In 1946, all of
13, Uma boarded the train to Bombay
without informing her chaacha. In Bombay
she struck up an instant friendship with actor-director Arun Ahuja and his
singer-wife Nirmala Devi (Govinda’s parents). They introduced her to various
music directors.
One of them was Allah
Rakha who agreed to give her one song in the film, the others being sung by
Mallika Pukhraj. Thus, Uma Devi sang “Hai do dil milte milte reh gaye…” and got
paid Rs 200, a princely sum those days.
The quest for Naushad
continued. Finally, A.R. Kardar, who was looking for fresh female voice for his
heroine, viz Munawwar Sultana, introduced her to Naushad. She told him if he
did not give her a chance, she would jump into the sea, which happened to be
right across the bungalow where they were. The great music director asked the
chubby Uma what was the “sur” she sang in. Uma was blank. She asked him to
listen to her and decide. After listening to her for 10 minutes, Naushad gave
the nod. A contract was signed and Uma was enrolled at Kardar Productions. She
was paid Rs 500 as advance and arrangements were also made for her stay at the
official guest house where the staff stayed.
Uma sang “Afsana likh
rahi hoon, dil-e-baqarar ka, aankhon mein rang bhar ke tere intezar ka”… for
Munawwar Sultana. The song floored the nation and established her as a
front-ranker in the era of Noor Jahan Shamshad Begum and Mallika Pukhraj (Lata
Mangeshkar had not yet arrived on the scene). She became Naushad’s favorite
singer and he would reserve at least two songs for her in each of his films.
Uma Devi’s “Kahin
jiya dole…” and “Dil ko lagaya humne…” from Anokhi Ada cemented her popularity.
She was offered Chandralekha by director S.S. Vasan of Madras. She had to sing seven classical songs
for music director S.S. Rajeshwarrao. Uma realized these were beyond her
capabilities. However, Rajeshwarrao worked hard on her and helped her sing the
compositions.
A song from unreleased film Bidhaata (1940)"Hum Dard Liye Baithe"
Uma’s career as a
singer was short-lived. New singers entered the industry. It was impossible to
keep pace with Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. “Rakhi”-brother Naushad used to
compose songs to suit her range. But that could not have continued for long.
Her luck changed when
she went to Madras
in 1948,to sing in S.S. Vasan’s ” Chandralekha”-48. In doing so, she broke the
contract conditions, laid down by the Kardar studios, for which she was singing
in Bombay.
Director A.R.Kardar was so furious that he ensured that no singing assignments
came her way. Still she sang in almost 12 films in 1949, before work stopped.
There was a gap in her career.
When she resumed in
1950, the singing scenario had changed drastically with new singers and she was
forced to take up acting to survive. As a comedy actress she was extremely
successful. As a singer she sang about 120 songs in 42 films. Even after
becoming actress, she did sing in some films, but except in Deepak-(1952),all
were duets ,trios or chorus songs. Her last song was in ‘Premi Gangaram’-1978
It was time to change
tracks. Naushad advised her to switch to acting. He felt she would make an
excellent comedienne for she had a natural flair for the funny stuff.
Once again, Uma
wanted the best. She said she wanted a role opposite Dilip Kumar. Naushad
couldn’t stop laughing, but he talked to Dilip. A role was created for Uma and
she got her first film Babul in 1950. A scene required her to chase Dilip
around a charpai (cot), but she ran so fast that she would leave the hero
behind. Ultimately, after repeated takes, she pulled him in front of her. But
in the process she fell on the charpai and Dilip fell on her. The shot was
canned and they retained the shot. The credits announced her name as Uma Devi,
but they decided to give her a screen name. It was Dilip Kumar’s idea to call
her Tun Tun.
Tun Tun did many
films later. She had a fan in Guru Dutt and acted in almost all his films. Her
favourite role too was from Guru Dutt’s “Mr and Mrs 55” in which she played a
Christian lady.
Having more or less
left films, Tun Tun, alias Uma Devi, led a retired life in a middle-class
residence at Andheri, Mumbai. She spent her time playing with her grandchildren
or listening to her favourite songs on All-India Radio. It was, after all,
listening to the radio that got her attracted to the film industry in the first
place.
Uma Devi aka Tun Tun
died on 24-11-2003,after a long illness.
