Shamshad Begum, born on April 14, 1919, in Lahore, British India (present-day
Pakistan), was an Indian singer known for being one of the first playback
singers in the Hindi film industry. Her talent was recognized in primary school,
leading to her becoming the head singer of classroom prayer. In 1931, at age
twelve, Begum's uncle took her to Jenophone Music Company for an audition with
Ghulam Haider, who gave her a contract for twelve songs. She sang over 6,000
songs in various languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil,
and Punjabi, with 1287 being Hindi film ...