Suraiya

...And the music died
Yesteryear actress Suraiya, who passed away on Saturday, was the reigning queen of Hindi cinema when actors-singers held court.


A contemporary of Noorjehan, the Lahore-born Suraiya was spotted by music composer Naushad. Although she began as a child artiste in Taj Mahal (1941), it was her songs in Sharda (1942) that caught attention. She went on to make her debut as an actor-singer with Hamari Baat (1943)...

At the height of her success, crowds at the premiere of Badi Bahen went berserk, forcing police to lathicharge. The actress reportedly stopped attending premiere shows after the incident. Her fans would also regularly disrupt traffic outside her apartment, Krishna Mahal...

After a series of hits, spanning the 1940 to the early 50s, her career went into a decline. She made a short-lived comeback with Sohrab Modi’s Mirza Ghalib where she played Ghalib’s lover....

Ironically, except for actor Dharmendra, Suraiya’s last rites were not attended by any member of the film fraternity. Family and friends brought her body to the Chandanwadi burial grounds at Marine Lines in Mumbai.

Dev Anand remembers Suraiya

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