Tun Tun

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Tun Tun escaped from her village and came to Mumbai to become singer Tun Tun lost her parents when she was in her teens. Her brother and uncle raised her. As she grew she developed a passion for singing and would keep glued to radio listening songs of music director Naushad. Her obsession for Naushad grew so passionate that one day she escaped from her village and came to Mumbai in search of Naushad. She was 13 years old and wandered in the alien city of Mumbai hunting Naushad from one film studio to another. Finally she got the address of Naushad’s residence and she reached his house. A wonderstruck Naushad was taken aback by the strange guest. But Tun Tun threatened Naushad that if he kicked her out, she would commit suicide in the Arabian Sea, opposite to his bungalow. Naushad gave her opportunity to sing and when Tun Tun sung, Naushad was overwhelmed by her melodious voice and thus began Tun Tun’s career as singer.

Tun Tun married a man who became her devotee after hearing the song Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon Dil-e-beqarar ka………….. Her super hit song Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon Dil-e-beqarar ka … not only won Tun Tun a place of pride among top playback singers like Noor Jehan, Rajkumari, Khursheed and Zohrabai Ambalewali in Bollywood but the song also won her husband. Its reported Mohan, her husband, became her fan and came from Delhi and stayed in Mumbai for many days to cajole Tun Tun to marry him. She married him and with him she had two son and two daughters.

Naushad offered Tun Tun job of singer at A.R. Kardar Production Naushad had good contacts with many film production companies hence he put a word of recommendation to film maker A.R. Kardar , who hired Tun Tun as a singer in his film company A.R. Kardar Production. Tun Tun began her career with the solo song in Nazir's Wamiq Azra (1946). As singe she was known as Uma Devi. Though the song was not huge hit but with her next film Dard (1947), Tun Tun created sensation. Her song Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon Dil-e-beqarar ka … became a national craze and till date, music lover go gaga at this immortal classic song. Besides this song other songs from the like Yeh Kaun Chala Meri Aankhon Mein Sama Kar…. and Aaj Machi Hai Dhoom Jhoom Khushi Se Jhoom……. Etc were also hit. After Dard she was flooded with offers like Mehboob Khan's Anokhi Ada (1948), which had hit numbers Kahe jiya dole…… and Dil ko lagake humne kuch bhi na paya……. S.S. Vasan's Chandralekha (1948) made by Gemini Studios, Saanjh ki bela………… Filmmaker A.R. Kardar sued Tun Tun for breach of contract Though Tun Tun was having a great career as singer but she was put in tight corner when filmmaker A.R. Kardar sued her for breach of contract as she was working for A.R. Kardar and had violated the contact by working in outside film companies. This ruined her singing career and she quit Bollywood and settled a married life. Tun Tun ruled the 50’s to 90’s as no.1 comedian After Babul became a hit, Tun Tun became Indian Cinema’s First comedienne or lady comedian. She became a common feature in top film stars films like Dilip Kumar – She worked with him in many films like Deedar , Udan Khatola, Kohinoor, Ganga Jumna, Dil Diya Dard Liya etc. Similarly she was Guru Dutt’s favorite and did most of his films like Aar Paar (1954), Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955), Pyaasa (1957), CID etc She worked with every top stars of Bollywood like Raj Kapoor - Shree 420, Dev Anand - Bombai Ka Babu, Shammi Kapoor - Professor, Kishore Kumar - Half Ticket, Rajendra Kumar - Talash, Dharmendra in Phool aur Pather, Rajesh Khanna - Do Raaste, Jeetendra – Himmat and even Amitabh Bachchan in Namak Halaal. She had a great tuning with many comedians like Mehmood, Bhagwan Dada, Agha, Sunder, Mukri, Dhumal, Johnny Walker, Keshto Mukherjee and others. Her last Hindi film was 'Kasam Dhande Ki' (1990).