Nukta Cheen Hai Gham-e-Dil Vocalist: Jaddan Bai Year: 1920s-1940s

Title: Nukta Cheen Hai Gham-e-Dil
Vocalist: Jaddan Bai
Film: N/A
Year: 1920s-1940s
Composer: ?
Lyricist: Mirza Ghalib
Country of Origin: British India

Jaddanbai (1892 or 1908 - 8 April 1949) was an early singer, music composer, actress and filmmaker of Bollywood and one of the pioneers of Indian cinema. 

She was the mother of well-known actress, Nargis and grandmother of Sanjay Dutt.

Biography: 

Jaddanbai was born in Banaras/Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in 1892 or 1908. Jaddanbai was rumoured to to be the illegitimate daughter of Motilal Nehru and famous courtesan Daleepabai. Jaddanbai was raised in Allahabad. She was, picked from a mela of kothewalis when she was a child, and groomed a tawaif.Although born Hindu she was raised as and remained Muslim for most of her life. Jaddanbai became a disciple of the noted thumri singer, Ustad Moijuddin Khan, and the equally noted Ustad Barkat Ali Khan as well as Ustad Umrao Khan, son of Ustad Tanras Khan of the Delhi gharana. Jaddanbai became a singing star and was a friend of Mehboob Khan.

Jaddanbai had three children from three different men. Fatima Rashid was named by her father, Uttamchand Mohanchand (known as Mohanbabu) and adopted the name Nargis for films.

Jaddanbai put Nargis in film industry because she did not want her to be a kothewali as her time tawaifs were going into the profession of prostitution for their survival.

Jaddanbai's second child, Akhtar, became a director and actor but chose not to be as involved as his siblings. Finally, Anwar Hussain acted in films.

When Jaddanbai composed the music for Talashe Haq (1935), she became the first female music composer of Indian cinema. In 1936, Jaddanbai established Sangeet Films, producing films featuring her daughter, Nargis, as a child artiste. However, failing family fortunes forced Jaddanbai to cast her daughter in leading roles from the tender age of fourteen and Nargis became the sole bread-earner for the family.