In 1947, the country was racked by the spectre of artition.A fatlady came to see Indian music director Naushad Ali. She said she was a good singer and wanted a break in the Hindi film industry. She told him she was not doing well financially and needed a job desperately.According to Naushad Ali sab :“ I gave her a voice test and found that she was good enough to become a singer. Then I took her to a studio to get her work.The owners of the studio wanted to know what she could do.I said Uma Devi will be one of my singers. I convinced them it was worth keeping her in the company.She was hired for Rs 300. I told her to sit in the music room quietly and see how I worked. She used to come regularly. She was a keen learner.Then I gave her first break, Afsaana likh rahin hoon, for the film Dard. The song became a superhit. Today, when music companies remix that song and reproduce it, I feel very sad for her and my music. Gradually, I realised that Uma Devi's voice had a limited range. Her voice could not go beyond a certain pitch. I was getting concerned for her. There were only a few songs that she could sing.I told her to become an actress. She had always been very jovial. She used to make people laugh all the time. I thought she could make good use of that in reel life.So, when I produced Babul and Udan Khatola, I gave her a break as an actress. I changed her name from Uma Devi to Tun Tun. I don't know why I got that name. She was very bubbly. In Urdu, we say, Bachchon ko tuntuna de do[give kids a rattle]. I cut short the word tuntuna to Tun Tun.The name was a fluke. But her name as well as her acting became a superhit. She had a dream to act with Dilip Kumar. Luckily for her, it happened in my film. Dilip Kumar didn't even know who Tun Tun was, but readily agreed to work with her. Those days, things were different. Actors used to sign films without reading scripts, and on the basis of producers' names.Tun Tun never forgot what I did for her. I remember she kept saying, 'After God, there is only one person I respect deeply, and that is Naushadsahab.'She came to see me last week. She had lost weight and was suffering from arthritis. She had been through a heart attack and had undergone a few operations too. I simply could not recognise her.She had come home with one of her daughters. She stayed for a long time. She was on her way to the Mahim dargah.Her daughters did very well. But she never asked them for help. She always wanted to be independent. She stayed alone in her last days in her flat at Lokhandwala [in northwest Mumbai].She was as usual very jovial and made my entire family laugh. Before she left, she told me that if she were alive, she would come again to make me and my family laugh ! “ However, Uma Devi’s in-bound talent and attraction towards filmy songs brought her to Mumbai. She used to sings songs after hearing then on radio. Hence, she ran from her house and came to Mumbai to become a singer. She met Naushad Ali’s and got a chance to sing songs alike “Afshana Likh Rahi Hu”, “Yeh Kaun Chala Meri Aankhon Mein Sama Kar”, and “Aaj Machi Hai Dhoom Jhoom Khushi Se Jhoom”, which she sang for actress Munawar Sultana in A.R. Kardar’s (1947). She went on to act in Guru Dutt’s classics like Aar Paar (1954), Mr. & Mrs. 55 (1955) and Pyaasa (1957). In the 1960s and 1970s, she was a permanent comic relief in numerous Bollywood films.After a long prolonged illness at the age of 80, she died on 23 November, 2003 in Mumbai .Forwarded by :- Mitul Kansal ,kansalmitul@gmail.com