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{{for|Rajkumari, Hindi term for princess| Yuvraj}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Rajkumari Dubey
| image = File:Rajkumari Dubey.jpg
| caption =
| image_size =
| background = solo_singer
| birth_name = Rajkumari Dubey
| alias =
| birth_date = 1924
|birth_place = [[Benares]], [[Benares State]], [[United Provinces of British India|United Provinces]], [[British Raj|British India]] (present-day [[Varanasi]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]])
| death_date = {{death date and age|2000|1924}}
|death_place =India
| instrument = Vocalist
| genre = [[Playback singer|playback singing]]
| occupation = Singer
| years_active = 1934–1977
}}

'''Rajkumari Dubey''' (1924 – 2000), better known by her first name, '''Rajkumari''', was an Indian playback singer who worked in [[Hindi cinema]] of 1930s and 1940s. Best known for her songs, "Sun Bairi Baalam Sach Bol Re" in ''[[Bawre Nain]]'' (1950), "Ghabaraa Ke Jo Hum Sar Ko Takraayan" in ''[[Mahal (1949 film)|Mahal]]'' (1949) and "Najariya Ki Maari" in ''[[Pakeezah]]'' (1972).

==Early life==
Born in [[Benaras]] (Varanasi), she joined the Hindi cinema at age 11, as a child actor in ''Radhe Shyam aur Zulmi Hans'' (1932), thereafter she worked in theatre for few years, before returning to films, joining Prakash Pictures as actor and singer. She had much softer and sweeter voice with a narrow range than the leading singers of the time, [[Zohrabai Ambalewali]], [[Amirbai Karnataki]] and [[Shamshad Begum]]. In the next two decades she sang for 100 films, till the early 1950s, when [[Lata Mangeshkar]] changed the playback-singing scene in India.<ref name=Women>{{cite web | title = Zohrabai, Amirbai and Rajkumari profiles|publisher= Women On Record website| url = http://www.womenonrecord.com/music-makers/artists/zohrabai-amirbai-rajkumari | access-date =18 February 2020}}</ref>{{Sfn|Anantharaman|2008|p=7}}

===Career===
She was just 10 years old when she recorded her first song for [[HMV]] in 1934 and she started her career as a stage artiste. [[Vijay Bhatt]] and Shankar Bhatt of ''Prakash Pictures'' spotted her during one of her shows. They liked her voice and persuaded her to discontinue acting on stage as it would spoil her voice (In those days, there were no microphones and you had to shout to be heard). So she quit theatre, and became an employee of Prakash Pictures as an actress and singer.<ref name=Women/>

Rajkumari's first film with them was a [[Hindi]]-[[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] bilingual called ''Sansar Leela Nayi Duniya''. She got important roles in films like ''Aankh Ka Tara'' and ''Turki Sher'' (1933). She was the heroine in ''Bhakt Ke Bhagwan'' and ''Insaaf Ki Topi'' (1934). In those days she often acted opposite [[Zakaria Khan]] (late actor [[Amjad Khan (actor)|Amjad Khan]]'s father, whose screen name was Jayant). She also used to sing for popular music director Lallubhai. He gave music to films starring Rajkumari ji like ''Nai Duniya'', alias ''Sacred Scandal'' (1934) (Sansaar Leela in Gujarati version), ''Laal Chitthi'', alias ''Red Letter'' (1935), ''Bombay Mail'' (1935), ''Bambai Ki Sethaani'' (1935) and ''Shamsheer-e-Arab'' (1935). She began getting fed up with having to watch on her figure and decided to stick to just singing as a career. After she quit Prakash Pictures, she began playback singing for actresses like Ratnamala, [[Shobhana Samarth]], etc. and soon she became the first female playback singer of Indian cinema.

She sang many [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] and [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] songs. Even though she was not formally trained to sing, she was very good at picking up what her composers taught her. They thought she was a trained singer! She was able to also establish herself as a classical singer and excelled in singing and voice production within the framework of classical forms of thumri and dadra. Among her peers were [[Shamshad Begum]], [[Zohrabai Ambalewali]], [[Juthika Roy]], [[Zeenat Begum]], etc. Both Shamshad and Zohrabai had resounding voices with a high range, while Rajkumari had a soft and very sweet voice with a small range. She sang quite a few songs with [[Mukesh (singer)|Mukesh]]. She did not get much opportunity to sing with [[Mohammed Rafi]] – mainly because [[Lata Mangeshkar]] was a fast upcoming singer at the time. She sang with [[Noor Jehan]] in ''Naukar'' (1943). She never sang with [[K. C. Dey]], but she did sing songs composed by him, as well as his nephew, [[Manna Dey]].

===Later life===
Rajkumari was married very late in life. Her husband was V.K. Dubey who was from [[Benares]], ([[Uttar Pradesh]]) where he spent a lot of his time (because he owned a shop there), while she settled in [[Bombay]]. He later joined her in [[Bombay]]. Rajkumari Dubey died in 2000.<ref name=Women/>

During her career, she would go on to sing songs for ''[[Neel Kamal (1947 film)|Neel Kamal]]'', a Raj Kapoor and Madhubala starrer, and ''[[Hulchul (1951 film)|Hulchul]]'' (1951); but her two most famous films would be ''[[Bawre Nain]]'' (1950),<ref name=cineplot/> where she sang for [[Geeta Bali]] "Sun Bairi Baalam Sach Bol Re" {{Sfn|Anantharaman|2008|p=58}} and ''[[Mahal (1949 film)|Mahal]]'' (1949), where she sang "Ghabrekar Ke Jo Hum Sir Ko Takraayan" picturised on [[Vijayalakshmi]] and "Chun Chun Gunguruva Baje Jhumba", a duet with [[Zohrabai Ambalawali]].{{Sfn|Anantharaman|2008|p=26}} By this time, however, [[Lata Mangeshkar]] and [[Asha Bhosle]] had shot to fame, relegating most other female singers in the industry to the sidelines.

She sang her only song for [[O. P. Nayyar]] in the 1952 movie ''Aasmaan'', which was his debut movie; "Jab Se Pee Piya Aan Base". The story goes that he was considering [[Lata Mangeshkar]] for the song. (Rest of the songs of the movie are sung by [[Geeta Dutt]] and [[C. H. Atma]]). When somebody told this to Lata, she said something about him which led to a misunderstanding. Angered, O. P. Nayyar made Rajkumari sing this song and never repeated her. He never used Lata to sing for him as well.

Rajkumari endured a long dry spell until music director Naushad spotted her singing in the chorus for his background score for ''[[Pakeezah]]'' (1972). Naushad was much taken aback by this, having greatly respected her in her heyday, and heartbroken to hear that she was reduced to singing in the chorus to make ends meet. As a result, he gave her an entire song to herself in ''[[Pakeezah]]'', ''Najariya ki Mari''. Her last film song was recorded for R. D. Burman in the film ''[[Kitaab]]''; "Har Din Jo Beeta". Rajkumari also appeared in a British TV programme called ''Mahfil'' on [[Channel 4]], a Samandar Films production, produced by Firdous Ali and Mahmood Jamal. In this programme, she sang a set of her famous film songs and ghazals; the caption on one of the songs, "Yeh raat phir na aayge", from the film ''[[Mahal (1949 film)|Mahal]]'', cites that the song was pictured on Zohra (and not [[Madhubala]] or Vijayalaxmi). The programme was aired on 24 March 1991. Rajkumari died in poverty in early 2000.<ref name=Women/>

==Filmography==
* ''[[Bombay Mail (1935 film)|Bombay Mail]]'' (1935)<ref name=cineplot/>
* ''[[Gorakh Aya]]'' (1938)
* ''Naukar'' (1943)<ref name=cineplot/>
* ''[[Neel Kamal (1947 film)|Neel Kamal]]'' (1947)
* ''[[Mahal (1949 film)|Mahal]]'' (1949)<ref name=cineplot/>
* ''[[Bawre Nain]]'' (1950)<ref name=cineplot/>
* ''[[Hulchul (1951 film)|Hulchul]]'' (1951)
* ''Aasmaan'' (1952)
* ''[[Pakeezah]]'' (1972)
* ''[[Kitaab]]'' (1977) (Producer-Director [[Gulzar (lyricist)|Gulzar]]'s film)<ref name=cineplot/>
* ''Yaba Hay Tera Liya'' (1978)
* '' Taher Zalzala Hain Na (2000)

==Songs with G. M. Durrani==
*"Jhuum rahi baagon men bhigi" - ''Yateem'' (1945)<ref name=k-anwar/>
*"Barasan Laagi Badariya" - ''[[Nai Duniya]]'' (1942)<ref name=cineplot>{{cite web|url=http://cineplot.com/music/rajkumari-profile/ |title=Rajkumari – Profile|website=Cineplot.com website|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010082541/http://cineplot.com/music/rajkumari-profile/ |date=10 October 2010|archive-date=10 October 2010|access-date=18 February 2020}}</ref>
*"Dil Loot Liya Ji" - ''Nai Duniya'' (1942)
*"Prem Ne Mann Mein Aag Lagayi" - ''Nai Duniya'' (1942)
*"O Tujhko Nainon" - ''Meharbani'' (1950)
*"Udd Jaau Main Sajan Re" - ''Kavita'' (1944)
*"Baras Gayi Raam Badariya Kaari" - ''Station Master'' (music director [[Naushad]])
*"Dheere-Dheere Bol Mere Raja" - ''Ishara'' (1943) (Music director [[Khwaja Khurshid Anwar]]) (Lyricist – [[D. N. Madhok]])<ref name=k-anwar/>
*"Gote Da Haar Ve" - ''Kurmai'' (Punjabi-language film) (1941) (with Iqbal Begum)<ref name=k-anwar>http://films.hindi-movies-songs.com/k-anwar.html, Rajkumari's song with music director Khurshid Anwar in film 'Kurmai', Retrieved 18 February 2020</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|last=Anantharaman|first=Ganesh|title=Bollywood Melodies: A History of the Hindi Film Song|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmrSLuBwbKkC&pg=PA26|date=January 2008|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-306340-7}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0707445|Rajkumari}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101010082541/http://cineplot.com/music/rajkumari-profile/ Rajkumari – Her Profile, Interview and Complete Solo Song List on cineplot.com website]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubey, Rajkumari}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:Bollywood playback singers]]
[[Category:Indian female film singers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian singers]]
[[Category:Actresses in Hindi cinema]]
[[Category:Actresses from Varanasi]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian actresses]]
[[Category:Actresses from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Singers from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women singers]]
[[Category:Musicians from Varanasi]]

Rajkumari Dubey - Revision history

>WikiCleanerBot: v2.04b - Bot T20 CW#61 - Fix errors for CW project (Reference before punctuation)