When Haider shifted to Bombay, Shamshad too left Lahore for the city of dreams as part of his group. We start with a landmark song of Khazanchi – a duet by Shamshad and Haider himself in a situation that became a cliché in itself – a group of girls on cycles, a group of boys on cycles and by end of the song, wham! They bang into each other and boy meets girl! Talk about the Big Bang theory! Hindi film music would never be the same again. However, Shamshad’s career really took off the following year with Khazanchi (1941), where her throaty vocals (OP Nayyar equated the clarity in her voice with tinkling temple bells) helped Ghulam Haider create a catchy musical score incorporating the dholak and Punjabi beats. He gave her a break in films with the Punjabi film, Yamla Jat (1940). It was music maestro Master Ghulam Haider who discovered Shamshad, who used to sing on All India Radio, Lahore and Peshawar from 1937 onwards. As every music director worth his salt wanted Shamshad to sing for him, it is said she charged an astronomical (then) Rs 1000 a song in the 1940s! She is also perhaps the most re-mixed artiste in recent times.
Well before the advent of Lata Mangeshkar, she made a name for hersef, first in Lahore and then subsequently in Bombay. Shamshad Begum, born on Apin Lahore, was arguably the first ever playback singer to become a star in her own right.
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