Zeenat Begum (born Shamim Akhtar; 11 November 1931 11 December 2007), sometimes known as Zeenat, was a Pakistani singer. She was known as ''The Queen of Yesteryear'' for singing songs in films and on radio.

Early life

Zeenat Begum was born Shamim Akhtar in 1931 on November 11th at

Malerkotla Malerkotla is a city and district headquarters of Malerkotla district in the Indian state of Punjab. It was the seat of the eponymous princely state during the British Raj. The state acceded to the union of India in 1947 and was merged with ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

Music career

Zeenat Begum was a courtesan (kothewali) and a renowned classical singer. She was discovered by Pandit Amar Nath around 1937. Her first success as a playback singer came in 1942 when she sang for Govind Ram's Punjabi film Mangti (1942) and she also made her debut as an actress in the film. The film was marked as the first Golden jubilee film produced in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

. Her first

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

film was ''Nishani'' (1942). She sang for other notable films including '' Panchhi'' (1944), '' Shalimar'' (1946), ''Shehar se Door'' (1946) and ''Daasi'' (1944). Zeenat Begum migrated from Lahore to

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

in 1944. She sang for several music directors in Bombay, including younger brothers of Pandit Amar Nath – Pandit

Husnlal Bhagatram Husn Lal and Bhagat Ram were the first legendary music directors duo in Bollywood. They are two brothers, Husn Lal (8 April 1920 – 28 December 1968) and Bhagat Ram (1914 – 29 November 1973). Husn Lal was also a renowned violinist, vocalist ...

, Master Ghulam Haider, Pandit Gobind Ram etc. The last film she sang for in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

was ''Mukhda'' (1951). She migrated to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and joined

Radio station and worked there until the late 1950s. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, many new playback singers arrived in Pakistan which affected the playback singing career of Zeenat Begum. Though she remained a prominent singer of Radio Lahore in 1950s and 1960s.

Personal life

Zeenat married Abdul Jabbar, they later divorced in 1955. Later she married Saqlain Rizvi and they had one child together.

Death

She died on 11th December 2007 in

, Pakistan.Profile of Zeenat Begum on pakmag.net website
Retrieved 19 April 2019

Filmography

Film

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Begum, Zeenat Indian women classical singers Pakistani women singers Pakistani classical singers Pakistani playback singers Pakistani radio personalities Indian women playback singers Indian courtesans 2007 deaths Punjabi women Singers from Lahore Punjabi-language singers Radio personalities from Lahore Punjabi people Bollywood playback singers 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian women singers 1931 births 20th-century Pakistani actresses 20th-century Pakistani women singers People of British India 21st-century Pakistani women singers Pakistani film actresses 21st-century Pakistani actresses