Often it takes time to find your calling – no matter where one
tries to build a career. This is even more so in Bollywood – where so many
people come in to become actors, but end up making their mark in film direction
or cinematography, stunt direction or dance choreography. It is a very rare
case indeed, where a person has tasted reasonable success in a certain field,
but then decides to consciously change their career path.
That person was an amazingly genial, wonderfully
gregarious…and extremely rotund Uma Devi, who is better known as…Tun Tun. Very
few people know today that she had started off in the Hindi Film Industry as a
singer.
Even that had been no cakewalk for her for hers was a childhood
full of struggle and deprivation.
Born in a small village called Alipur on 11th July,
1923, she had lost both her parents by the time she was two and a half years
old. She had an elder brother for company who shouldered the responsibility of
raising her and she has recalled fond memories in an interview about him. Her brother
loved to perform in the Ram Leela in the village and when she was about
five-six years old, she was watching his performance from the roof of the house.
She dozed off and fell from the top. Her brother, about eight-nine years elder
to her, had rushed to her side to see if she was alright without caring two
hoots for the show.
This love of a sibling too didn’t last very long as her
brother died a mysterious death when he reached his teens. Now she was at the
mercy of unscrupulous relatives who treated her like a maid in exchange for the meagre food that was put
in front of her. She has recalled that she would be herded off to
any wedding or death in the village to assist with the rituals. And often, she
would be packed off to the Dariyaganj area in Delhi to work for anybody who
needed a pair of hands to do menial labour. Here she stayed with other
relatives whose neighbours revealed a dark and grim secret to her – that her
parents and then her brother had been murdered because her family owned
considerable property in Alipur.
In Delhi, she met Akhtar Abbas Kazi, an Inspector in the Excise Department who was a comforting shoulder to her. He used to encourage her to sing and her confidence developed. However, the partition of India took place and Akhtar Abbas Kazi chose to go to Lahore leaving her bereft of the one person she had for company.
.
Fed up of the oppressive environment where she would be chided
for even humming a song (and probably fearing for her life as well) she ran
away from Delhi to Bombay with dreams of singing songs for films in her eyes.
All she had with her was the name of film director Nitin Bose’s assistant – a
man named Javed Hussein who gave her shelter when she met him.
He advised her to go to Kardar Studios where Mr A R Kardar, a
producer was making his film, “Dard” and was probably on the lookout for new
talent. She has herself described the scene where she marched into A R Kardaar’s
room, and in a very strident tone of voice asked Mr Kardar himself, ”Where can
I find Mr Kardar? I want to sing in films.” He was probably amused with this
‘I-give-a-damn attitude of the newcomer, so he called for Naushad’s assistant,
Ghulam Mohammad to test her voice right then and there.
As Ghulam Mohammad settled down with his tabla, testing it for
its pitch and timbre, he was startled to hear her instructions, “Play that
properly, how will I be able to sing?” Mr Kardar himself, was quite taken in by
the nerve of the girl…she seemed like a persistent bundle of mirth and girth. After she finished her rendition of Noorjehan’s
song, “Aandhiyan Gum Ki Yun Chali,” both Mr Kardaar and Ghulam Mohammad were completely
speechless. Mr Kardar was so impressed that he immediately contracted her on a
monthly salary.
It is an unconfirmed aside to the story that when Uma Devi
eventually met Naushad who was the music director of the movie, “Dard,” she
reportedly told him that she would throw herself into the sea if he didn't give
her a chance to sing. Well, if this anecdote is indeed true, then this piece of
facetious emotional blackmail gave rise to the biggest hit of her career. “The
song “Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon” in “Dard” even today, is a favourite melody for Antakshari
competitors when it is their turn to sing with the letter “Aa.”
From this heady success in 1947, Uma Devi sang for more than a
handful of films till about 1953, notching up around forty five songs to her
credit. But then, the pressures of married life and the responsibilities of
rearing her children forced her to take a break from singing for films.
However, as her family increased, so did the expenses – and soon
Uma Devi and her husband (the same Akhtar Abbas Kazi who knew her in Delhi and
had returned from Pakistan) realized that a single income would not be
sufficient to maintain their living standards. So she took the decision to
return to films and approached Naushad as he had been her mentor, besides
giving her the biggest hits of her career.
It was a pragmatic Naushad who counseled her that the music
scene in the film industry had changed considerably in those intervening years.
He frankly told her that the natural limitations of her vocal range plus lack
of classical training would make it an uphill battle for her. And even more so
as the industry had discovered in Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosale, two singers
of incredible vocal range and classical training.
He advised her to fall back on the other talent she possessed –
of comic timing and natural exuberance that had potential...not hidden behind a
microphone, but projected onto the big screen. A screen that she could light up
with thousands of laughs just by filling it up with her giant frame.
Uma Devi who had been offered a bit role even when “Dard” was
made, considered her options. Realising that Naushad, while breaking the harsh
reality of her diminishing singing career, had also opened a window of
opportunity to her…grabbed it with both hands. Naushad introduced her to Dilip
Kumar who agreed to have her play a small role in Babul the next film he was doing
with Nargis. It was all moving smoothly, and then it was Naushad who provided
the masterstroke – she would be introduced in the film as Tun Tun.
Over the next four decades, Tun Tun moved from her status as India’s
first female comedienne to one of its most successful comedy acts. She acted in
a succession of films, with notable performances in Guru Dutt’s classics like
Aar Paar, Mr & Mrs 55 and Pyaasa in the fifties to Feroz Khan’s Qurbani and
Prakash Mehra’s Namak Halaal in the eighties.
In
numerous films, she acted with virtually every male comedy actor of her times –
Bhagwan, Johnny Walker, Agha, Mukri and Keshto Mukherjee. While her last screen
presence was in the movie, “Kasam Dhande Ki” in 1990, her screen name lives on
as a term of endearment for obese women, even today.
The following clip is Uma Devi's biggest hit song, "Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon" from the film "Dard." The song is picturised on Munawar Sultana.
Very Beautiful Song. Bookmax
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