Sounds of silence

There is only one Lata. The industry was perhaps never large-hearted enough to make room for another …may be it did accommodate some...

Celebrated voice of her time, Mubarak Begum speaks after years of silence

There is only one Lata. The industry was perhaps never large-hearted enough to make room for another …may be it did accommodate some, but Mubarak Begum was not one of them. She had the talent, the voice, a couple of golden hits too, but unfortunately, never the luck. As she settles on a sofa at the UT Guest House, and talks about the years gone by, you can’t help but see in her eyes, windows to the soul, that she feels betrayed, by people, by luck, by destiny. “Money corrupts the

mind. It feeds the ego and you lose touch with reality, with humility. I have seen glory, but always knew it would not last, this kept me grounded,” Mubarak fiercely guards one thing that’s priceless to her after her name, self-respect. “I came into this profession to feed my family, it was never for fame. I froze during the recording session for my first two films, my song was released in the third film I did! There were times when there was no work, but I never begged. There was monopoly in the industry, and I couldn’t fight that, so I silenced myself,” Begum recalls the time Kalyanji called her to record Pardesiyon Se Ne Akhiyaan for Jab Jab Phool Khile, and four days later called in some other artist saying it had turned into a duet. There were many such occasions when Mubarak felt let down, especially when she gave hits like Kabhi Tanhaiyon Main, Hamari Yaad Aayegi, Hamrahi’s Mujhko Apne Gale Laga Lo with Rahi, a duet with Sharda in Around the World, qawwali in Arzoo etc. “People have died in poverty, vanished, I still feel blessed,” she keeps the faith.

It’s Rafi Night that Mubarak’s here for and Begum fondly remembers the shy, gentlemanly Rafi sahib. “He was a beautiful singer, but more than that, a beautiful human being.” Those were the days, when one song fetched her Rs 150 to Rs 500, when there were contemporaries like Sharda, Suman Kalyanpuri, Vani Jairam, lost, in the spools of old reels. “We don’t even get royalties,” she rues about another incident when a producer asked her to get 5,000 blank cassettes to record her own album! “Some things never change,” she smiles, putting a mute to her voice at the age of 65. It was with the effort of one publicist, Siraj Khan from the US, who is apparently working to bring back forgotten celebrities, that Mubarak was brought back to life. “I remember someone wrote about me, her wings were clipped even before she could take off,” Mubarak trails off.