Suraiya Biography 
Suraiya was an Indian singer and an actress who was very famous in forties and fifties. She was popularly called as Suraiya. She was born on 15th June 1929 in Gujranwala in Punjab in British India.
She was the only child of her parents and though she did not have proper training in music she went on to become a successful singer and an actress. She studied at New Girls School which was called as J. B. Petit High School for Girls. This is situated in the Fort region of Bombay. She was given religious teachings by a Persian at her home.
She was involved with Dev Anand romantically. They acted together in six films in the time period of 1948 to 1951. When there was an accidental capsizing of the boat, she was saved by Dev Anand and both fell in love with each other. As her grandmother was against their relationship, she remained unmarried throughout her life.
Her debut film was Usne Kya Socha and in this film she acted as a child artist. She played an important role and got this chance through her uncle Zahoor who was a villain actor. During her school holidays in 1941 she went with her husband to the Mohan Studios to watch the shooting of the film Taj Mahal directed by Nanubhai Vakil. Vakil called her to play the role of young Mumtaz Mahal in the film.
She sang for a children’s program in All India Radio. This impressed the music director Naushad who called her to sing in the film Sharda. She was only 13 years old at that time. Her first adult role was in the film Phool in 1944. Then she acted in some other films like Anmil Ghadi, Dard, Tadbir, Omar Khayyam, Parwana, etc. She sang four solo songs in the film Parwana and this made her a star singer.
She was called the Melody Queen of India. She lived in her house in Mumbai and died on 31st January 2004 at the age of 75.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 17, 2014
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