Mubarak Begum

Mubarak Begum (5 January 1936 18 July 2016) was an Indian vocalist who sang in the Hindi and Urdu languages. She was a playback singer in Bollywood films during the 1950s and 1960s. She had also recorded and given public performances in a number of other genres, including Ghazal and Na`at.

Career Mubarak Begum started her career with light music recitals performed for All India Radio, India's national public radio station. Her career as a playback singer began in 1949, with the Indian Hindi-language film Aiye. It was the Indo-Pakistani composer Nashad (not to be confused with Indian composer Naushad) who gave Begum her first break. The first song she recorded for films was "Mohe Aane Lagi Angrayi, Aaja Aaja" (Aiye (1949). She also sang a duet with the then-upcoming Lata Mangeshkar in the same film. A well-recognized song in her career was "Kabhi Tanhaiyon Mein Yun", composed by Snehal Bhatkar for Kidar Sharma's film Hamari Yaad Aayegi (1961). "Hum haal-e-dil sunayenghe, sunyay ke na sunyay", with lyrics by Shailendra, and music by Salil Chowdhury (from Madhumati, 1958) "Ae dil bataa hum kahan aa gaye" (from Khooni Khazana, 1965) "Kuchh Ajnabi se aap hain" (from Shagun, 1964)

Begum's daughter, who had been suffering from Parkinson's disease, died in October 2015, after which Begum's own health took a serious downturn. In May 2016, the press reported that Begum was in hospital and that her family were unable to pay her medical bills. She lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Behram Bagh, in the Mumbai suburb of Jogeshwari, with her family, consisting of a son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. and by Indian newspaper DNA to be Rs. 3000/- ($45) per month; both figures are extremely paltry by Indian standards, and utterly inadequate for a person's sustenance. Begum was dependent on her son, Hussain Shaikh, who earned an uncertain income by freelancing as a chauffeur, and Begum was cared for by her daughter-in-law.