Amirbai left Bijapur as a young woman of twenty and spent her entire life in the world of Hindi cinema. It is a long story to explain why opportunities were scarce for her talent to unfold in Kannada. Meanwhile, Mumbai and Bijapur were forced to separate all of a sudden, to be identified with different states, on account of the linguistic reorganization of Indian states.
While strong voices of Mumbai cinema were silenced after the country’s partition, the reorganization of states unsettled a vibrant bilingual culture, shrinking the linguistic competence of artists and rendering them unilingual. Nevertheless, Amirbai, perhaps anxious about losing her roots, continued to keep up her connection with Bijapur.
She came time and again to meet her relatives in Bijapur, to be with her near and dear ones in the northern Karnataka district, and to participate in the Mohurrum and Urs celebrations at her birthplace.
WOMEN’S MOHURRUM
Mohurrum at Bilagi is a significant event in the Bijapur belt. Women normally do not take part in the public festivities mainly because Mohurrum centres around the practices of war, death and funeral rites for the dead. But in Bilagi, during Mohurrum, women take out a procession in the name of Bibi Fatima, mother of Hussein Ali, who was killed in the Battle of Karbala and sing Marsiya, elegiac songs mourning the dead.
While fellow-musicians Radhabai Mahalinamani and Pyarabai Bilagi sang songs of lamentation for the dead, Gohar and Amir would also join them.
H M Bilagi, Pyarabai’s granddaughter shared her personal experience: “My grandma Pyarabai used to sing in vaades, the huge walled-homes of feudal lords, during weddings, at the Mysore Dasara and at the Radio Station too. But all music came to an end with her passing away. None of us was inclined towards her pursuit. At the Bilagi Mohurrum She would sing the composition, “Banu kaheti huve rana mein aayi, mere bacche ki laash bathaavo (Banu came to the battlefield lamenting, where can I find the remains of my dead children)”.
Amirbai would seldom miss the Mohurrum celebrations at Bilagi. She would go to Hussein Peera Masjid and sing marsiya when nobody was around. The Bilagi people would listen to Amirbai with a sense of pride that she was their own. Amirbai would finance the renovation of the Hasan Dongri darga and Mansur Ali darga at Bilagi. The people of Bilagi recollect all this with a great sense of adoration.
D S Kanavi, an eminent citizen of Bilagi proudly presented his account of Amir Bai: “I was studying in Kannada medium VII standard. I was very eager to pursue the Mohurrum alayi god-spirit and watch the divine sport of the supreme. The god entered someone’s home and settled in great majesty. I struggled ceaselessly amidst the sea of human beings, finally made my way in and found a place to stand. After the Fateha worship, the god-spirit called out to an enchanting pretty woman who was somewhere inside an inner chamber and commanded her to make a musical offering. Standing with folded hands, the rare beauty rendered karbala songs in Urdu, full throated and mellifluous. Appeased by her worshipful music, the god-spirit took her by hand and led her to his abode as she continued singing. The huge crowd that had gathered fell silent and moved on peacefully listening intensely to
her music with great fervour. That stunning beauty, the empress who sang with such devotion and held the sea of people spellbound was the inimitable Amirbai Karnataki. That particular house was her earlier home, I learnt later.”
Kanti Hanumantharao is another gentleman who had witnessed Amirbai’s visit to Bilagi. “Amirbai and Goharbai grew up here, in our Tummaramatti. Everyone in the village acknowledged them as members of the Thummaramatti home. We stayed in their previous house as tenants. Whenever they came from Mumbai for the Mohurrum festival, they would stay for two to three days. They would visit Dongri Sab’s darga. Later, when the deity of Fatesab ‘temple’ would be taken for immersion to the lake, they would wake up early the next morning and on the way back from the darga, the two sisters would proceed in front of the deity, singing all along. Both of them would sing compositions by various dasas (Haridasas of Karnataka) melodiously”. The remarkable feature to be noted here is that the Bilagi sisters would render compositions by Haridasas and sing marsiya songs.
BIJAPUR DAYS
Amirbai’s home where her brother Dastagir Bilagi lived was in the Johrapur area of Bijapur. Amirbai would stay in that house whenever she visited Bijapur. She had great concern for Dastagir’s well-being in life. She got the cinema talkies built for his sake. The building now known as Amir Talkies was built in 1958 spending 85000 rupees. B D Jatti, the then Chief Minister was present at the time of inauguration.
For a certain period of time this theatre had been leased out. When a dispute arose over the termination of lease, Amirbai went to court and filed a suit. P S Patil, a lawyer by profession mentioned that she was compelled to visit Bijapur time and again for this purpose. Dastagir who studied at Fergusson College, Pune was a motion picture sound engineer. He was also the Municipal President of Bijapur. The city is replete with legends about his mechanical skills.
According to Tajuddin, the eldest son of Dastagir Beelagi, Amir Bai never changed her food habits even while in Mumbai. She would fondly eat rotis made of jowar. She had arranged for food to be fetched from Imambu’s home in Mahim (Imambu was the daughter of Patelsaab, Amirbai’s paternal uncle). Kannada was the language that was spoken at their home in Bilagi. She would always write letters in Razaksaab Satara and his wife who lived opposite Amirbai’s home shared their impressions too:
“Amirbai would come to Bijapur now and then for the sake of her brother. Whenever she came, she would stay for eight to ten days. Gohar never used to come often. Amir Bai showed great love and concern for her only brother Dastagir. She would not let him work even though job offers came his way. She would shower all her earnings upon him. But she never spent unnecessarily. She would buy fish for one rupee, cook and make a meal out of it. She was extremely simple. She would sit with all of us and eat in our company. Badri Kanchawala would accompany her. He used to smoke a lot of cigarettes.” One quality that everyone who came in contact with Amirbai invariably mentioned was her plain simplicity.
Ramzan Darga, poet and journalist, remembers Amirbai’s visit to Bijapur: “There was a black car that she owned. She would come by that car. When she came by train, people would gather at the station to take a look at her. She would take a huge horse-drawn cart to reach home from the station. She would pay money to other tonga-wallahs in order not to disappoint them. Then a whole caravan of tongas would follow her.”
As Annappa Singura, Amirbai’s assistant, puts it, ”Amirbai would come to Bijapur by train. She had an old car. Only Amirbai and Dastagir Bilagi knew how to drive it. She would go driving that car whenever there was a program at Akashvani.”
Tukaram Chanchalkar of Bijapur shared an interesting event: “People who make pictures came from Bombay to Bijapur and began searching for young women and singers. Then there was a competition between Amirbai and my paternal aunt Revubai Chanchalakar. My aunt won the competition. Amirbai won the second place. But my mother forbade my aunt from going to the cinema world and hence her attempt was wasted. Amirbai got selected and went to Mumbai. Around the year 1962, there was one Kuntoji Madam who was headmistress at the Government School. She would invite Amirbai home whenever she came to Bijapur from Mumbai. She would get her to sing songs like ‘Holli yaaka nodati nodi malla madati kwarimeesi saradara?’ (Why do you turn around and look and by doing that, you bewitch me, you the powerful one with an imposing moustache?’) and ‘Innoo yaaka baralillavva Hubballiyavaa?’ (Why has he not come yet, the alluring one from Hubballi?)
These incidents simply hold up the fact that Amirbai valued and negotiated human relationships well in spite of being an acclaimed star. They also point to her secular outlook and the ease with which she could interact with ordinary individuals around her. She was characterized by a zest for life, motherly love and a child-like simplicity, qualities that endeared her to people around her.
Excerpted with permission from Amirbai Karnataki-Hadunatiya Jeevanakathana by Rahamat Tarikere, published by Pallava Prakashana, Bellary, price Rs 300