Kamala Jharia

Kamala Singha Jharia, also known as Kamala Jharia, was an Indian actress who predominantly worked in the Hindi film industry. She was an actress and a singer. She was born on 5th February 1906 in Dhanbad district, Jharkhand, India. She lived in the palace of the Maharaja of Jharia in Jharkhand. A popular gramophone singer K. Mallick discovered her singing talent. K. Mallick brought her to Calcutta where she was introduced to HMV authorities. She was an incredible and versatile singer singing in several languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi and Gujrati. Some of her notable songs were "Jo Khanjar Wo", "Jalwanuma Wo Shauq", and "Ari Dulhaniya". These songs depicted her singing talent, skills and love for music. Also, she has acted in several movies, including "Jamuna Puliney" (1933), "Radha Krishna" (1933), "Mastuto Bhai" (1934), "Mantra Shakti" (1935), "Pataal Puri" (1935) as Tumni's neighbour, "Sonar Sansaar" (1936) as Vaishnavi, "Bangalee" (1936), "Sunehra Sansaar" (1936), "Devjani" (1939) as Chhanda, "Thikadar" (1940) as Mungri, "Avatar" (1941) where she was a singer at a prayer meeting, and "Girdhar Gopal Ki Mira" (1949). Also, she is famously known for severals Ghazals. One of her popular ghazal is "Aseer-e-gham ka bhalaa phir kahaan thikaanaa thhaa".

With HMV associates, she recorded four of her popular songs in 1930, which instantly boosting her career over three decades. In 1976, she was awarded the Gold Disc by The Gramophone Company of India. In 1977, she was honoured as one of the living legends who had participated in All India Radio's Golden Jubilee celebrations. On 20th December 1979, she passed away from chronic asthma.