1. Early life & career

2. Filmography (as director)

3. See also

4. References

5. External links

Jaddanbai Hussain (1892 – 8 April 1949; known professionally as Jaddanbai) was an Indian singer, music composer, courtesan, dancer, actress, filmmaker, and one of the pioneers of Indian cinema. She was the mother of well-known actress Hindi actress Nargis, and maternal grandmother of Sanjay Dutt.

Early life & career

Jaddanbai Hussain was born around 1892 to Daleepabai, one of Allahabad's most renowned courtesans and an unknown father. Her mother Daleepabai used to be known as Dilipa Devi and was a part of a respectable Hindu Brahmin family before being abducted as a child by a wandering group of Muslims who trained and managed tawaifs.^[1] She was thoroughly groomed and went on to be very successful in this profession, working as a singer and dancer. Her managers then arranged her into a marriage with a Sarangi player employed by the troupe known as Miyan Jaan. Later on, it is speculated that Daleepabai began a relationship with a married lawyer who lived in the same haveli as her, Esq. Pt. Motilal Nehru.^[2] During this time, Jaddanbai and her older brother, Manzar Ali Sokhta (b. 1888), were born and Nehru is believed to be their father albeit he was not present during their life but did help support them.^[3] Manzar Ali Sokhta, who became a local labour leader in adulthood, even publicly claimed to be Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru’s half-brother in 1924. [https://books.google.com/books?id=IGQ4AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA378&lpg=PA378&dq=manzoor+ali+sokhta&source=bl&ots=L5xWc7Mk3Z&sig=t_qbMvbeMcMTqt02QtPphOgX6Wc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjKsNCvz4TfAhVQS6wKHUaeAeUQ6AEwD3oECAYQAQ Manzar Ali Sokhta Existence Proof] - Account of Labour Union in Allahabad 1908 Their mother and Miyan Jaan brought up Jaddanbai and Manzar Ali as practicing Muslims. The young family then migrated to Punjab Province in Jaddanbai's infancy and later came back to the North-Western Provinces, residing in the village of Chilbila on the outskirts of Allahabad, where Daleepabai worked as a tawaif.^[4][5][6] Her stepfather Miyan Jaan died when she was five. Jaddanbai moved to the city and became a singer but had difficulty due to her lack of formal training. She later approached Shrimant Ganpat Rao (Bhaiya Saheb Scindia) of Calcutta and became his student. Shrimant Ganpat Rao died in 1920^[7] while she was still a student, so she completed her training under Ustad Moinuddin Khan. Later she also trained with Ustad Chaddu Khan Saheb and Ustad Laab Khan Saheb.

Her music became popular and she became an even more famous courtesan than her mother.^[8] 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, Kashmir, Indore and Jodhpur to perform mehfils. She had also rendered songs and ghazals at various radio stations nationwide.{{citation needed|date = June 2011}}

She later began acting when the Play Art Photo Tone Company of Lahore approached her for a role in their movie Raja Gopichand in 1933. She played the role of the mother of the title character. Later she worked for a Karachi based film company, in Insaan ya Shaitan.{{citation needed|date = June 2011}}

She worked in two more movies, Prem Pariksha and Seva Sadan, before starting her own production company called Sangeet Films. The company produced Talashe Haq in 1935, in which she acted and composed the music. She also introduced her daughter Nargis as a child artist. In 1936 she acted in, directed, and wrote the music for Madam Fashion.{{citation needed|date = June 2011}}

Her first marriage was with a wealthy Gujarati Hindu businessman Narottamdas ("Bachhubhai" or "Bachi Babu") Khatri. Khatri converted to Islam upon marriage and together they had a son, Akhtar Hussain. Her second marriage was with harmonium master Ustaad Irshad Meer Khan, a frequent collaborator, who sired her second son, actor Anwar Hussain. Her third marriage was to Mohanchand Uttamchand ("Mohan Babu") Tyagi, a wealthy Punjabi-speaking Mohyal Brahmin Hindu heir who converted to Islam and adopted the name Abdul Rashid. Film actress, Nargis (née Fatima Rashid) was their daughter. Abdul Rashid spent most of his days idle, with Jaddanbai being the main breadwinner during their time together. Despite being a nominal Muslim and her husband formally converting to Islam, Jaddanbai and her family practiced aspects of Hinduism, fluctuating between a Hindu or Muslim identity. Jaddanbai was sometimes known by the alias "Jayadevi Tyagi," a Hindu name, even in some official documents.^[9][10]

Filmography (as director)

• Talashe Haq (1935) (music composer)
• Madam Fashion (1936)
• Hriday Manthan (1936)
• Moti Ka Haar (1937)
• Jeevan Swapna (1937)

See also

• Tawaif
• Nautch

References

External links

• {{IMDb name|id=0415274|name=Jaddanbai}}

• Segunda División 1929-30
• Segunda División 1929–30
• Segunda División 1930-31
• Segunda División 1930–31
• Segunda División 1931-32
• Segunda División 1931–32
• Segunda División 1932-33
• Segunda División 1932–33
• Segunda División 1933-34
• Segunda División 1933–34
• Segunda División 1934-35
• Segunda División 1934–35
• Segunda División 1935-36
• Segunda División 1935–36
• Segunda División 1939-40
• Segunda División 1939–40
• Segunda División 1940-41
• Segunda División 1940–41
• Segunda División 1941-42
• Segunda División 1941–42
• Segunda División 1942-43
• Segunda División 1942–43
• Segunda División 1943-44
• Segunda División 1943–44
• Segunda División 1944-45