They were just amazing!

When I was 5 I was staying at my Khala's house. I walked into my Khalu's room (Asad Ali Qidwai - India's greatest hockey player before the Olympics, by when he had retired)). He was sitting in front of his radio and listening to some female singing. I was brought up listening to classical music since I was a child and her voice was lovely ... so I asked him who it was. He pressed his finger to his lips. So I just heard the song and stood by for his answer. He finally said to me: Jab Namāz ho rahi ho ya koi achhā gātā ho to beech mayñ boltay naheeñ haéñ. Then he told me her name: Jaddan Bai.

Jaddanbai Hussain

(1892-1949)

Jaddan Bai's music became popular and she became an even more famous tavaif than her mother, Daleepabai. She began recording ghazals with the Columbia Gramophone Company. She started participating in music sessions and was invited by the rulers of many princely states such as Rampur, Bikaner, Gwalior, Jammu and Kashmir, Indore, and Jodhpur to perform mehfils. She had also rendered songs and ghazals at various radio stations nationwide.

She later began acting when the Play Art Photo Tone Company of Lahore approached her for a role in their movie Raja Gopichand. She played the role of the mother of the title character. Later she worked for a Karachi based film company, in Insaan ya Shaitan.

Her first marriage was to a Gujarati Hindu, Bachi Babu Khatri, who had to convert to Islam to marry her. They had a son, Akhtar Hussain, who was an actor. I have no details of him at all.

Her second marriage was with harmonium master Ustaad Irshad Meer Khan, a frequent collaborator, who sired her second son, actor Anwar Hussain. You can find Anwar on Google.

Her third marriage was to Mohanchand Uttamchand Tyagi, a wealthy Punjabi Mohyal Brahmin (a Hussaini Brahmin) Hindu heir who converted to Islam to marry her and adopted the name Abdul Rashid. His family disowned him but he continued to live happily with Jaddan Bai. Fatima Rashid was their daughter.

After working in two more movies Jaddan Bai formed her own company, Sangeet Films, which produced Talashe Haq. Jaddan was the Actor, Producer, Director, and possibly the first female story-writer for this film. Her daughter was 14 years old and wanted to be a Doctor - but Jaddan Bai said that may come later. She should be a child star in this film. And so, Fatima Rashid became an actress with a screen name that we all know and remember: Nargis!

Nargis Stamp: 1993

Nargis married Sunil Dutt who had saved her life in a fire at the shooting of Mother India, Unlike her mother, she converted to Hinduism on her marriage. The have 3 children, Sunjay Dutt, Namrata Dutt, and Priya Dutt. You can find Sunjay and Priya on Google.

Nargis had an attack in 1980 while she was at a meeting in Rajya Sabha. She was taken to hospital where, after a few days she was diagnosed as having Pancreatic Cancer. She went to the USA and on her return she did not recover. On 2nd May 1981 she died, aged just 51.