Down Melody Lane..::..Vintage Era - Singing Stars .::. Amirbai Karnatki

Amirbai Karnatki was famous as "Kannad Kokila". She was born in Bilgi Village, district Bijapur of Karnatka, in a lower middle class family. Of the five sisters Amirbai and Gauherbai earned fame and fortune. Amirbai complete her matriculation and came to Bombay at the age of 15. A representatvive from HMV was so impressed by her singing talent that he made her sing a Qawwali, which became very popular.

Her elder sister Gauher who was an actress, helped Amirbai get a role in a film called Vishnu Bhakti in 1934. Initially, she sang songs in films like Narsi Bhagat ('Deen Dayaal Sakal Dukh Bhanjan..'), Sardaar ('Ye Jagat Mohini Maaya..'), Darshan ('Shyam Kahan Soya Mera..'),etc., but, they failed to attain the success she deserved. In 1943, with the release of Bombay Talkies' Kismet, Amirbai became popular. She sang 'Ab Tere Siwa Kaun Mera..', 'Dheere Dheere Aa Re Baadal..', 'Door Hato Ae Duniya Waalon..' and 'Hum Aise Kismat Ka Kya Karen..', all the songs of Kismat became a rage and Amirbai became famous. The man behind the success was the great composer Anil Biswaas.

She was initially known as a singing star but at the fall of her acting career she turned on to be a playback singer. She reached her peak by 1947 through films like Bharthari, Caarwan, Aamrapaali, Shikari, Eight Days, Leela, Sindoor and many others. By this time Lata Mangeshkar became a rising star so Amirbai once again switched over to acting. In her second innings she mostly played character roles. Amirbai also composed the music for Wahab Productions' Shehnaaz (1948). In same year she almost left Hindi cinema for Gujrati and Marwari films. She married Badri Kaanchwala, the editor of Paras.

She was quite popular with the film goers and even Lata Mangeshkar admired her talent a lot. Mahatma Gandhi was an ardent fan of her song 'Vaishnav Jan..'. She had a paralytic attack on 3rd March 1965 ans she passed away just 4 days after the attack. She was cremated at her home town.