Hamida Banu was an Indian classical singer and playback singer as well a ghazal singer in Cinema of India in 1930s till 1960s.

Early life

Hamida was born on 19 October in 1928 at

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 ...

during

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 ...

. Hamida and her younger sister loved singing and then a person advised her that she should move 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 ...

and try singing in films. Hamida and her family then moved to Bombay but she couldn't find work so then her family went to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

there she started to act and sing in stage dramas and theatre plays at

Prithvi Theatre Prithvi Theatre is one of Mumbai's best known theatres. It was built by Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kapoor in memory of Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi's father, who had dreamt of having a "home" for his repertory theatre company, Prithvi Th ...

. She was spotted by

Prithviraj Kapoor Prithviraj Kapoor (born Prithvinath Kapoor; 3 November 1906 – 29 May 1972) was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and establish ...

, he liked her singing and he had her sing in his plays. She met

Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor (pronunciation: �aːd͡ʒ kəpuːɾ born Shrishti Nath Kapoor; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered one of th ...

in a stage play and he told her that she had a good voice and should act in films then she acted in few films. She and Shashi Kapoor worked together in stage plays and dramas which were written by

Agha Hashar Kashmiri Agha Hashar Kashmiri (born Muhammad Shah, 3 April 1879 – 1 April 1935) was an Urdu poet, playwright and dramatist. A number of his plays were Indian Shakespearean adaptations. Early life He started to show interest in stage dramas and mo ...

Career

Hamida also sang ghazals and geets at stage plays and later she started singing ghazals in films. Then she started singing at All India Radio. Later actor

Bhagwan Dada Bhagwan Dada (1 August 1913 – 4 February 2002), also credited and mononymously known as Bhagwan, was an Indian actor and film director who worked in Hindi cinema. He is best known for his social film '' Albela'' (1951) and the song "Shola J ...

recommended her to director C. Ramchandra later she sanged ''Kaun Gali Ka Chhora Pukare'' in film '' Sanjog'' the song was composed by

Naushad Naushad Ali (25 December 1919 – 5 May 2006) was an Indian music director for Hindi films. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and foremost music directors of the Hindi film industry. He is particularly known for popularising the ...

. Then she worked in films ''

Raunaq ''Raunaq'' is a 1944 Bollywood film directed by Dwarka Khosla and starring Chandraprabha, Noor Mohammad Charlie (billed as Charlie), Chandra Mohan, Motilal and Subarnalata Subarnalata. It was released in 1944 Events Below, the events ...

'' (1944), ''Nagma-E-Sahara'' (1945), ''Amar Raj'' (1946), '' Duniya Ek Sarai'' (1946) ''Zevaraat'' (1949), ''Chor'' (1951), ''Rajput'' (1951). In 1945 she and

Suraiya Suraiya Jamal Sheikh (15 June 1929 – 31 January 2004), popularly known by the mononym Suraiya, was a popular actress and playback singer in India's Hindi-language films. She was active from 1936 to 1963, and was the most celebrated actress ...

sanged a deut song in film ''Main Kya Karoon''. In 1948 she did playback singing in film ''Parai Aag'' in which she sanged ''Kuch Bhi Na Kaha'' the song was composed by Ghulam Mohammed. In 1951 she worked with

Geeta Dutt Geeta Dutt (born Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri; 23 November 1930 – 20 July 1972) was an Indian playback singer and a famous Hindi and Bengali classical artist, born in Faridpur before the Partition of India. She found particular prominence as a ...

by singing a duet song in ''Rajput'' later she did playback singing in film ''Bikhare Moti'' by singing ''Dono Hain Majboor Pyare'' the song was composed by Ghulam Mohammed. In 1956 she moved 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 there she worked at Radio Lahore Pakistan later she started singing songs on musical programs that aired on PTV. In 1967 she worked as a producer in film ''Pyar Ki Baazi'' and then in 1971 she worked as producer in film ''Gehra Raaz''. In late 1971 she retired and went to live with her son at

Personal life

Hamida was married and she had one son.

Death

She died on 9 November 2006, at

Filmography

Television shows

Film

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banu, Hamida 1928 births 20th-century Indian women singers 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Pakistani women singers 20th-century Indian women classical singers 20th-century Pakistani singers Singers from Lahore Punjabi-language singers 2006 deaths Hindi-language singers Urdu-language singers Radio personalities from Lahore Indian musical theatre actresses Pakistani classical singers Actresses in Hindi cinema 20th-century Indian actresses Pakistani ghazal singers 21st-century Pakistani singers Indian stage actresses Indian women classical singers Women ghazal singers Bollywood playback singers Indian women playback singers