Husn Banu

Husn Banu Biography

Husn Banu was an Indian actress who worked in early talkies in 1930s and 1940s in the pre-independent era. She is best known for her roles in Hind Kesari (1935), Gunga Jumna (1961) and Amar (1954). She has played both lead and supporting roles on screen. She was married to Aspi Irani, a film producer, writer and director of 1950s and 1960s. She was a singing actress in the film industry.

Husn Banu was born into a family of artists in Singapore in 1922. She is the daughter of famous actress Sharifan. She belonged to a Muslim family. She was proficient in singing, and this ability enabled her to get offers in early talkies of Hindi cinema, when singing actresses were high in demand. She was also fluent in Gujarati, Marathi, Urdu and Hindi languages. Banu made her debut in 1934 under the direction of Nitin Bose in Daku Mansoor. The film was produced by New Theatres. As an actress she took lessons from her mother, who inspired her a lot throughout her acting career.

In the 1930s she mostly played lead and parallel lead roles, and in the 1940s moved to supporting and side roles. But as time passed by, she got less offers from Bollywood and her roles reduced to bit roles in the 1950s. As a film actress, she is best known for Jawani (1942). Her songs for Prem nagar (1940) composed by legendary composer Naushad also got noticed. She sync-lipped to some of the best songs of the film. Bano was one of the first actresses for whom Noor Jehan lent her voice and it happened with the film Dost in 1944. Shamshad Begum rendered her voice for Banu’s 1947 film Dard.

Published: December 29, 2018

Updated: December 29, 2018