In the earlier post on Shamshad Begum, I mentioned that she had been awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honour in the Indian Republic, in 2009. That brought the singer, until then living in anonymity into the limelight once again. Soon after, she was shortlisted for the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award (the Dadasaheb Phalke Award itself is the highest honour in cinema given annually by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema). This was also a case of too little, too late, but the ever-gracious veteran took it in stride. She made one of her rare public appearances at the venue (Bhaidas Hall, Bombay), and accepted the Dadasaheb Phalke Golden Singer Award with her trademark humility. I suppose one should be happy that the audience greeted her with a standing ovation!
While searching for information, any information, about this elusive nonagenarian, I came across a very warm article by Manohar Iyer where he talked about meeting her personally. I was so touched by the first-person account that I left a comment. It proved to be a bonus for me because I was contacted by the gentleman, on whose blog Manohar had posted the article, asking if I would be interested in photos of Shamshad Begum at the award ceremony. Would I?! I got in touch with him at once, and he very graciously sent me these photographs, and also gave me permission to post them on my blog.
So here she is, alive and well - Shamshad Begum - courtesy Mr Qamaal Mustafa Sikander, who had the good fortune to be present at the venue, and who took these photographs.
So here she is, alive and well - Shamshad Begum - courtesy Mr Qamaal Mustafa Sikander, who had the good fortune to be present at the venue, and who took these photographs.
With deep gratitude for his generosity in sharing them with us… thank you, Mr Sikander.
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Today (16th February 2011), I came across another photograph of the veteran singer on Rediff.com. The 11th Gr8! Women Awards were held on the 15th of February at Andheri, Bombay. And guess who was recognised for her contribution to music? I cannot help be cynical about the whole ‘award’ business, but hey, it is good to know that Shamshad Begum is alive and well, though slight and frail, as of today.
