Her voice tugs at your heartstrings and makes lovers drown in waves of anguish and longing, says SHAILAJA GANGULY of legendary singer, BEGUM AKHTAR, after watching ‘Ammi Akhtari’, a play on her life and music
Even if Percy Bysshe Shelley had not said “The sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought,” all of us know that the song which haunts, tugs at your heart-strings and makes lovers drown in waves of anguish and longing is आवाज दे कहाँ है or मेरा सुंदर सपना बीत गया and certainly not चिकनी चमेली or मेरा प्यार हुक्का बार…
Now if you are one among the innumerable die-hard fans of Akhtari Bai Faizabadi or Begum Akhtar as she is better known, then you will be humming ऐ मुहब्बत तेरे अंजाम पे रोना आया or कोयलिया मत करो पुकार for the repertoire of this uncrowned queen , this Malka-e- ghazal abounds in dadras, thumris and ghazals of course, which ‘celebrate’ the ache and pain of many a lonely and besotted heart.
She had her first concert at age 15, and back then, she was the only woman to break away from mehfils and sing on a concert-stage, and was even lauded by Sarojini Naidu. That besides, she was the winner of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Padmabhushan, and even became a singer-actor in films such as Ek Din Ka Badshah, and Roti. These are just a few of some of the limelight moments of this feisty and soul-stirring singer.
But like many Indian women constantly crushed by a male-dominated social framework, it were obviously the downs and hollows in her life that lent unsurpassed emotive richness to her renditions, even as they transformed her into a woman of substance who could triumph over circumstance and break free from the fetters that threatened to break her resolve and cripple her outstanding talent.
Abandoned early on by a father, betrayed by ostensible “well wishers” and then suppressed for a while by a possessive husband, all these were part of the obstacle race in the life of a winner who would not be put down.
It is only recently that in a play Ammi Akhtari currently running in Mumbai and in which Padmini Kolhapure plays Akhtari Bai, while her sister Tejaswini plays her close disciple, Sukhi and for some inscrutable reason Talat Aziz and not a female singer renders her much-loved gems, that l learnt to my horror that Begum Akhtar’s adopted daughter Shamim was actually a child she had given birth to (alas, thanks to yet another of the snake-in-grass’ variety of people who surrounded her when she was barely 13! The irony is that Shamim was first presented to the world as Begum Akhtar’s sister. Talat Aziz sings thirteen of her ghazals in the play, bringing her magical voice alive for many of her fans.
Today, October 30 marks the death anniversary of this much-adored, unforgettable singer, who still holds sway in many hearts.
Shailaja Ganguly is a journalist, writer, voiceover artiste, anchor for classical music and dance by India’s best, and a fitness fiend who loves children, yoga and food. She is the recipient of the award for excellence in journalism from the Kanara Saraswat Union, and the Woman Icon of Navi Mumbai Award from the Smiles Foundation, an Economic Times prizewinning NGO. She lives in Mumbai.