Jaddan Bai

Jaddanbai
Born	Jaddanbai Hussain January 1, 1892
Died	April 8, 1949
Spouse(s)	Bachi Babu (Nazeer Mohammad) Irshad Meer Khan Mohan Babu (Abdul Rashid)
Children	Anwar Hussain Akhtar Hussain Nargis
Parent(s)	Deleepbai

Jaddanbai (1892 – 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 maternal grandmother of Sanjay Dutt. She was the first female music director in the Indian film industry, followed by Saraswati Devi.

Jaddanbai Hussain was born in 1892 she was brought up as a Muslim by her mother and stepfather. Historians allege that Jaddanbai's biological father was Motilal Nehru, who had engaged in an illicit affair with Jaddanbai's mother Daleepbai Begum. Daleepbai and her husband later migrated to Punjab and later to Chilbila Village in Allahabad. Her step father died when she was five. Jaddan Bai 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 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. She began recording ghazals with the Columbia Gramophone Company. She started participating in music sessions. She was invited by the rulers of many states like Rampur, Bikaner, Gwalior, Kashmir, Indore and Jodhpur. She had also rendered songs and ghazals at various radio stations in the country.

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.

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