- Suraiya
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▪ 2005Suraiya Jamal SheikhIndian actress and singer (b. 1929, Lahore, India [now in Pakistan]—d. Jan. 31, 2004, Mumbai [Bombay], India), captivated Bollywood movie audiences in the 1940s and early 1950s with her beauty and her melodious singing voice; she was one of the few Indian film actors to do her own singing and often worked as a playback singer, recording songs to be dubbed into other actresses' performances. After making her debut at age 12 in Taj Mahal (1941), Suraiya appeared in scores of films, including at least 25 between 1946 and 1950, and at her peak was one of Bollywood's highest-paid stars. She costarred several times with Hindu matinee idol Dev Anand, but their offscreen romance ended unhappily in 1951 when her Muslim family refused to allow her to marry him. She made only a few films after 1952 and retired in 1963 at age 34.
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Universalium. 2010.