Replug: Mubarak Begum spoke about living in poverty, being stifled out of Bollywood and more

Legendary Singer Mubarak Begum passed away on Monday at her residence in suburban Jogeshwari here after a prolonged illness in her Jogeshwari residence. She was 80. 

Mubarak Begum is remembered for singing scores of songs, duets and ghazals for Bollywood, mainly during the 1950s-1970s.  In an interview to PTI in 2009, she speaks about living in poverty, having her work by famous singers of that time and more.

Mubarak Begum's was a voice that enthralled millions, a voice, which she claims, was stifled by her contemporaries in the Hindi film industry. "I don't want to name them. Everyone knows them. They snatched away work from me, ensuring that no music director or film-maker ever gave me any," Mubarak Begum said.

The 70-year-old singer lives in penury in a small house of Behrampauda area in western suburb Jogeshwari, with an ailing daughter and a son who drives a taxi. "It's a struggle to take care of the grocery, phone and electricity bills," she added.

A singer long forgotten by the film fraternity, she mesmerised an entire generation of music lovers with her immortal numbers like 'Mujhko apne gale lagaa lo', 'O mere humrahi' from the film Humrahi and 'Bemurrawwat bewafa begana dil' from Susheela. Widely appreciated in the '50s and the '60s, Mubarak Begum did not attain pole position in the Hindi mainstream movies. "Music composers wanted to give me work but these singers, who later became globally famous, ensured I did not get work as it would have meant competition," she said.

"I had no godfather in the film industry. Mukesh had Raj Kapoor, Mahendra Kapoor had BR Chopra... there was no one for me," she said. After all these years, does she bear a grudge against her contemporaries, who "ruined" her career? "I trust that Allah rewards those who do good and punishes those who snatch other people's livelihood," she said. "They (her detractors) told the music composers, if you let Mubarak Begum sing, we will not work for you."

The versatile singer, whose numbers like 'Kabhi tanhaiyon mein yun hamari yaad aayegi...' had music aficionados wanting for more, says the film fraternity has turned a blind eye to her plight.

Her daughter Shafaq Banu, 41, is bedridden with advanced stage of Parkinson's disease. "It is a tough task arranging for her medicines or run household expenditure. I have a constant back-ache and waist pain for which I need to take medicines regularly," Mubarak Begum said.

Born in Sujangarh, Churu in Rajasthan, the singer spent childhood in Ahmedabad and Vadodara before her father, a fruit vendor, noticing her singing talent, decided to shift to Mumbai. "My father thought I would get work here. In Mumbai, initially I sang 'ghazals' for the All India Radio and music composers took note. I started getting work," she recalled.

Actor-politician late Sunil Dutt helped her get a house. "I went to meet Dutt saab. He did not know me although I had sung in the 1955 Sohrab Modi film Kundan, in which he acted. After someone told him about me, he was delighted and said 'I sang very well and that I preceded even Lata Mangeshkar in the industry,'" she said. "Then Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh sanctioned this house (in Jogeshwari) to me seven years ago from the chief minister's discretionary quota for artistes and I moved into it four years ago after selling our old house at Grant Road," Mubarak Begum said. "I had no money to pay for the (new) house. Lyricist Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi raised the money."

"When I recorded songs, we got between Rs150 to Rs500 per film," she said. "I must have recorded between Rs500 to Rs1,000 songs, including in Hindi, Gujarati and also Rajasthani folk songs," she added. "There are some ardent fans who keep calling me for some functions. I recently went to Jaipur where everyone recalled my career." What does she think of today's Hindi film music? "Today, there are no songs... it's all a tamasha (farce)," the singer said, adding she doesn't listen to the latest music churned out in Bollywood. "What keeps me engrossed are the 'saas-bahu' serials on TV," said the singer.

The article has been updated on July 19,  2016.