Amirbai Karnataki

Amirbai Karnataki ( – 3 March 1965) was a famous actress/singer and playback singer of the early Hindi cinema and was famous as Kannada Kokila. Mahatma Gandhi was an ardent fan of her song Vaishnav Jan To. Of all of her five sisters, Amirbai and her elder sister, Gauharbai, earned fame and fortune. Amirbai completed her matriculation and went to Bombay at the age of 25 in 1931.

Career Amirbai was a talented singer and actress, who was fluent in Kannada (mother tongue) and Gujarati languages. "Mahre Te Gaamde Ek Vaar Aavjo" is one of her famous Gujarati songs from the film Ranak Devi (1946), with music composer Avinash Vyas. A representative from His Master's Voice was so impressed by her singing talent that he made her sing a Qawwali, which became very popular. This qawwali song was for the film Zeenat (1945) by film producer-director Shaukat Hussain Rizvi. She sung her most famous duet song with Lata Mangeshkar "Gore Gore O Banke Chhore" Film: Samadhi. Her elder sister, Gauherbai, was an actress and helped Amirbai get a role in the film Vishnu Bhakti in 1934.