An Unexpected (Shamshad) Bonanza

In the earlier post on Shamshad Begum, I mentioned that she had been awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honour in the Indian Republic, in 2009. That brought the singer, until then living in anonymity into the limelight once again. Soon after, she was shortlisted for the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award (the Dadasaheb Phalke Award itself is the highest honour in cinema given annually by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema). This was also a case of too little, too late, but the ever-gracious veteran took it in stride. She made one of her rare public appearances at the venue (Bhaidas Hall, Bombay), and accepted the Dadasaheb Phalke Golden Singer Award with her trademark humility. I suppose one should be happy that the audience greeted her with a standing ovation!

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