TunTun - Uma Devi Khatri, Hindi Cinema's first female comedienne

Image Source : Cinemaazi.com

Uma Khatri Devi was born in Uttar Pradesh in a small village of Uttar Pradesh (then, United Provinces) near Amroha district. She was orphaned at a very small age because his father and his brother were murdered for land arrogate and hence, she was left in the care of her uncle. She herself taught her to read and write because his uncle didn't believed in educating a girl child. During the time of India-Pakistan partition, she left her home and went to Bombay (now Mumbai) to pursue her dream of singing. 

After arriving in Bombay, she somehow managed to meet the composer, Naushad Ali. She told him that she will throw herself in the ocean if she will not get a chance. Naushad auditioned him and instantly signed her. Uma made her playback debut as a solo playback singer in 1946 in the movie Wamiq Azra in which Allah Rakha was the music director.

Later on she made a contract with director A.R.Kardar. In 1947 film Dard she gave two hit songs - "Afsana Likh rahi Hoon Dil-e-Bekarar Ka" and "Aaj machi hai dhoom, Jhoom khushi se Jhoom" . The song, "Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon" helped her to get married. A man was so impressed by this song that he came to Bombay from Delhi and stayed with her. Both of them then got married and had two daughters and sons each.

She hit her peak as a vocalist when she worked in director S.S.Vassan's, Chandralekha where she gave 7 hit songs and without any advance classical practice. This work also led to her downfall because she breached the contact with Kadar, who decided to end the contract. Furthermore, in the coming years, she was not able to compete with then rising stars Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.

After this, Uma turned back to Naushad Ali who influenced her to take up acting because she was having a superb comic timing. Uma was a big fan of veteran actor Dilip Kumar and had a dream of acting alongside him. Naushad asked Dilip to cast her in his film and finally in 1950 film, Babul she made her acting debut. Dilip Kumar was the person who gave her the name TunTun.

She made her body figure her strength and became a legendary comedienne. She became the permanent figure of comedy scenes in every movie and throughout her career (from 1950 to 1990) worked in almost 150 films. TunTun also acted alongside Amitabh Bachchan in the blockbuster film Namak Halal (1982). In 1990 she appeared for the last time on- screen in the film Kasam Dhande Ki where she played the role of 'Prema'. TunTun took her last breathe in Andheri, Mumbai on 23 November 2003.

Image Source : Chhotabheem.com

Owing to her popularity, TunTun has become a common name to refer to a fat woman. The name TunTun is also very famous among Indian kids because of the character named Tun-Tun Mausi  in the popular Indian animated comedy adventure television series Chhota Bheem (Little Bheem), created by Green Gold Company. 

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