Talking about India’s first singer, we live in a world where Legendary singers like Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosale, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, Alka Yagnik, Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghosal and Arijit Singh. Read below to know the pioneer and India’s first singer.
Rajkumari Dubey (1924–2000)
Also known as Rajkumari, was an Indian playback vocalist who appeared in Hindi films in the 1930s and 1940s. “Sun Bairi Baalam Sach Bol Re” in Bawre Nain (1950), “Ghabaraa Ke Jo Hum Sar Ko Takraayan” in Mahal (1949), and “Najariya Ki Maari” in Pakeezah (1950) are among her best-known songs (1972).
Talking about her career she began her career as a stage performer when she was ten years old and recorded her first song for HMV in 1934. Prakash Pictures’ Vijay Bhatt and Shankar Bhatt discovered her at one of her concerts. They admired her singing and convinced her to stop performing on stage since it might harm her voice (In those days, there were no microphones and you had to shout to be heard).
As a result, she left the stage and went to work as an actor and vocalist for Prakash Pictures. The Hindi-Gujarati bilingual Sansar Leela Nayi Duniya was Rajkumari’s debut film with them. In films like Aankh Ka Tara and Turki Sher, she played major parts (1933). Bhakt Ke Bhagwan and Insaaf Ki Topi featured her as the leading lady (1934). Zakaria Khan (late actor Amjad Khan’s father, whose screen name was Jayant) was a frequent co-star of hers in those days.
Nai Duniya, alias Sacred Scandal (1934) (Sansaar Leela in Gujarati version), Laal Chitthi, alias Red Letter (1935), Bombay Mail (1935), Bambai Ki Sethaani (1935), and Shamsheer-e-Arab (1935) were among the films in which Rajkumari ji starred (1935). She grew tired of having to keep an eye on her weight and wanted to focus only on singing as a career. She began playback singing for actresses like Ratnamala, Shobhana Samarth, and others after leaving Prakash Pictures, and she quickly became India’s first female playback singer.
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