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Time of India
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Meet Bollywood's first female comedian whose parents were murdered, Dilip Kumar gave her the screen name but she passed away in a chawl with no money for food in her final days
Just as we recall, ' Tun Tun ', a smile appears on most faces as we recall the memory of seeing this actress in movies that made us laugh. She was Bollywood's first female comedian but had quite a tragic life. However, she never showed that in her work. Infact, she made her weaknesses into her strength – for instance her body weight. Born in 1923 in a small town in Uttar Pradesh, her real name was Uma Devi Khatri. Her early life was marked by tragedy, her parents were murdered in a land dispute when she was just a toddler. In an interview with Shishir Krishna Sharma, which was replicated by the Navbharat Times, Tun Tun recalled how she stayed with her relatives after her parents passed away and they didn't allow her to study. 'I don't remember who my parents were and how they looked, I would be two to two and half years old when they passed away. I had a brother, eight or nine years old, whose name was Hari. I just remembered that we were living in a village named Alipur. One day, my brother was killed and I was left to relatives, that time I was four or five years old,' she said. At 23, Uma Devi came to Mumbai nothing. She turned up at the home of renowned composer Naushad and issued a dramatic ultimatum. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 75% off installation for LeafFilter LeafFilter Gutter Protection Get Rates Undo Either he listened to her sing, or she'd jump into the Arabian Sea. He agreed to listen and that audition changed her life. By 1945, she was singing in films. But fame was fragile. Her decision to sing for Chandralekha, produced by rival Gemini Studios, led to a rupture with Naushad, the mentor who had given her everything. Her singing career collapsed almost overnight. Yet, instead of shunning her, Naushad showed her another path - acting. It was Dilip Kumar who gave her a new identity—and perhaps unintentionally, a brand — when he christened her "Tun Tun," a cheeky nod to her size. That name stuck, and with it came a career of comic roles that leaned heavily on physical humour and self-deprecation. She became a staple of Hindi cinema's supporting cast—always present, always the butt of the joke. 'My bulk is my trump card. I don't regret that I am fat. I'm lucky I was born this way,' she said once in an interview. She added, 'However that does not mean that I am not in favour of dieting. I agree dieting is very essential to maintain a slim and healthy body. But where is the need for me to be slim and ravishingly beautiful?' Her final years were marked by poverty and neglect. Once a familiar face on the silver screen, Tun Tun spent her last days in a modest Mumbai chawl and was mostly forgotten. In a Times of India interview, journalist Shashi Ranjan recalled her plight, 'She said that she couldn't walk and had trouble even getting food. I remember she reiterating in the interview that she gave her life for the industry and look at the condition that she was back then. She thanked us for interviewing her and when I requested her, she sang the song Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon. Her specialty was that despite being in such a condition, she didn't lose her sense of humour. She laughed at her poverty, she laughed at the way she was being treated by the world. I liked that very much. Although I felt sad for her, it stayed with me that she didn't lose her sense of humour.' Tun Tun passed away in 2003, at the age of 80.
Indian Express
08-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Parents murdered, career crushed, she became Bollywood's first comedian, was left to rot in a chawl with no money for food in final days
Born in the year 1923, she was determined to go as far away from her Uttar Pradesh small town as soon as she could. She was only 23 when she moved to Mumbai, and by 1945, she was singing in the movies. She was born Uma Devi Khatri, and she didn't have a single idea about how to break into the film business. So, she went knocking on music composer Naushad's door, and threatened to jump in the Arabian Sea unless he listened to her voice. He did, and she got her break. But her ambition effectively ended her singing career, when her mentor severed ties with her for working with a rival producer. It was Naushad who suggested that she start acting; it was Dilip Kumar who gave her her stage name: Tun Tun. In an interview with Shishir Krishna Sharma, which was replicated by the Navbharat Times, Tun Tun recalled her tragic youth. Her parents were murdered in a land dispute when she was a toddler, and she was sent to live with her relatives. They didn't allow her to study, so she learned to read and write by herself. When she was a little older, her elder brother was murdered as well. She wanted to run away from it all; all she wanted to do was sing. 'I don't remember who my parents were and how they looked, I would be two to two and half years old when they passed away. I had a brother, eight or nine years old, whose name was Hari. I just remembered that we were living in a village named Alipur. One day, my brother was killed and I was left to relatives, that time I was four or five years old,' she said. Also read – Born out of wedlock, abandoned by father, serially abused in Bollywood, she became industry's biggest female superstar Tun Tun moved to Mumbai to pursue her dreams. After a spate of early success, she decided to take up an offer to sing for the film Chandralekha , produced by Gemini Studios. This angered the man she'd been working with, and her career as a playback singer came to an end. It was Naushad who pointed her in a new direction. She told Femina in 1975, 'Naushad, who is my rakhi brother, knew this defect of mine pretty well and kept on telling me that he saw more of a mischievous comedian in me. I decided to fall in line and on the spur of the moment told him that I would act as a funster only if Dilip Kumar were to act opposite me. Naushad bhai immediately consulted Yusuf bhai and I was baffled and could not believe my own ears when he created a character especially for me in Babul.' Also read – Bollywood director lost entire life's savings after one flop; daughter was forced to dance, son performed for money at beach to repay debts It was Dilip Kumar who suggested the name 'Tun Tun', a crass dig at her weight. Tun Tun was typecast, repeatedly playing secondary roles that reduced her to a punching bag. But she didn't mind, or at least that's what she said in the Femina interview. 'My bulk is my trump card. I don't regret that I am fat. I'm lucky I was born this way. However that does not mean that I am not in favour of dieting. I agree dieting is very essential to maintain a slim and healthy body. But where is the need for me to be slim and ravishingly beautiful?' she said. But, like most performers of her era, she was sidelined from the industry the moment she outlived her usefulness. In an interview conducted by the late actor Tom Alter, just five years before her death, Tun Tun had spoken philosophically about the passage of time, 'I am 75 years old. I am a young lady. But I can still sing if I want to. Manna Dey can still sing, but our time is up. New artists are coming in. If you look at the comedians in films and on TV now, it's their time to shine, we had our time too, and it was great. Time doesn't wait for anybody. Today you're a star, tomorrow it's someone else.' Read more – Patriarch of iconic Bollywood family abandoned his son, forced second family to live in secrecy for decades, went blind in his final days Her final years weren't pleasant. In an interview conducted by Shashi Ranjan for The Times of India, it was revealed that Tun Tun was living in a chawl, forgotten by her fraternity. She didn't have enough money for food or medicines. 'She said that she couldn't walk and had trouble even getting food,' he said. 'I remember she reiterating in the interview that she gave her life for the industry and look at the condition that she was back then. She thanked us for interviewing her and when I requested her, she sang the song Afsana Likh Rahi Hoon. Her specialty was that despite being in such a condition, she didn't lose her sense of humour. She laughed at her poverty, she laughed at the way she was being treated by the world. I liked that very much. Although I felt sad for her it stayed with me that she didn't lose her sense of humour,' he concluded. Tun Tun died at the age of 80, in 2003.
Express Tribune
07-04-2025
- Climate
- Express Tribune
Death toll rises to 3,500 in quake-hit Myanmar
Rain is compounding misery and presenting new hurdles for relief efforts on Sunday in Myanmar, where state media reported the death toll from a devastating earthquake has risen to nearly 3,500 people. The 7.7-magnitude quake struck on March 28, razing buildings, cutting off power and destroying bridges and roads across the country. Damage has been particularly severe in the city of Sagaing near the epicentre, as well as in Mandalay, Myanmar's second city with more than 1.7 million residents. State media in the military junta-led country now say that the earthquake has caused 3,471 confirmed deaths and injured 4,671 people, while 214 remain missing. With people either having lost their homes entirely or reluctant to spend time in cracked and unstable structures, many residents have been sleeping outside in tents. Around 45 minutes of heavy rain and winds lashed tent cities Saturday evening in Mandalay, according to the UN Development Programme. People and their belongings were soaked because of a shortage of tarpaulins, Tun Tun, a programme specialist at the UN agency, told AFP. There are also fears destroyed buildings will subside and complicate body recovery efforts. Following less intense showers Sunday morning, the temperature is due to climb to 37 degrees Celsius (98 degrees Farenheit). "The weather is very extreme," Tun Tun told AFP, with further rain forecast. Aid experts warn that rainy conditions and scorching heat increase the risk of disease outbreaks at outdoor camps where victims were in temporary shelter. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said that food, water, and power repairs were needed urgently, in a video filmed in Mandalay and posted to X on Sunday. Many people in the area are still without shelter, he said, describing the scale of damage in the area as "epic". "We need to get tents and hope to survivors as they rebuild their shattered lives," Fletcher wrote in another post. Myanmar has been ruled by junta leader Min Aung Hlaing since 2021, when his military seized power in a coup that overthrew the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi. International efforts to provide quake relief in the Southeast Asian country of more than 50 million people have been complicated by unreliable communication networks and infrastructure heavily damaged by four years of civil war. Even before the recent quake, the humanitarian crisis in the country was severe, with the persistent, multi-sided conflict displacing 3.5 million people, according to the UN. The UN said Friday that since the earthquake, the junta continued to conduct dozens of attacks against rebel groups, including at least 16 since Wednesday when the military government announced a temporary ceasefire. Fletcher held discussions with the foreign ministers of Thailand and Malaysia on Saturday for what he called a "practical meeting" centred on "strong, coordinated, collective action" to save lives in Myanmar. Aftershocks have also continued as long as a week after the initial tremors, with a 4.7-magnitude quake striking just south of Mandalay late Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey. Min Aung Hlaing was in Bangkok on Thursday and Friday, on a rare foreign trip to attend a regional summit that saw him meet with leaders including the prime ministers of Thailand and India. AFP
Observer
06-04-2025
- Climate
- Observer
Rain complicates recovery efforts in Myanmar
YANGON: Rain is compounding misery and presenting new hurdles for relief efforts on Sunday in Myanmar, where state media reported the death toll from a devastating earthquake has risen to nearly 3,500 people. The 7.7-magnitude quake struck on March 28, razing buildings, cutting off power and destroying bridges and roads across the country. Damage has been particularly severe in the city of Sagaing near the epicentre, as well as in Mandalay, Myanmar's second city with more than 1.7 million residents. The earthquake has caused 3,471 confirmed deaths and injured 4,671 people, while 214 remain missing. Following less intense showers on Sunday morning, the temperature is due to climb to 37 degrees Celsius. "The weather is very extreme," Tun Tun said, with further rain forecast. Aid experts warn that rainy conditions and scorching heat increase the risk of disease outbreaks at outdoor camps where victims were in temporary shelter. United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said that food, water and power repairs were needed urgently. Many people in the area are still without shelter, he said, describing the scale of damage in the area as "epic". — AFP
Al Jazeera
06-04-2025
- Climate
- Al Jazeera
Rains add to misery in quake-hit Myanmar as death toll rises to 3,471
Heavy rains have lashed parts of earthquake-hit Myanmar, complicating relief efforts and raising the risk of disease as the death toll from the powerful quakes that struck the country on March 28 rose to at least 3,471. Aid workers in the hard-hit city of Mandalay, near the epicentre of the earthquake, said on Sunday that rains and winds hit tent camps in the area overnight and in the morning, soaking survivors and their belongings. More bouts of rain were expected later in the day, while temperatures were also forecast to climb to 37 degrees Celsius (98 degrees Fahrenheit). 'The weather is very extreme,' Tun Tun, a specialist with the United Nations Development Programme, told the AFP news agency. Aid agencies have warned the combination of unseasonable rains and extreme heat could cause outbreaks of disease, including cholera, among quake survivors, who are camping in the open. Rainfall hits Sagaing on April 6 Rain poured down again in Sagaing at around 6 am on April 6. On the evening of April 5, unseasonal rain fell in Sagaing, Mandalay and Kyaukse towns, causing further difficulties for earthquake victims on the roads. — Eleven Myanmar (@ElevenMyanmar) April 6, 2025The magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit a wide swath of Myanmar, home to 50 million people, causing significant damage to six regions and states, including the capital, Naypyidaw. It left many areas without power, telephone or mobile phone connections, and damaged roads and bridges, making the full extent of the devastation hard to assess. It also worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis triggered by the country's civil war that has internally displaced more than three million people and left nearly 20 million in need, according to the UN. State media in the military-led country now say the earthquake has caused 3,471 deaths and injured 4,671 people, while 214 remain missing. It has damaged some 5,223 buildings, 1,824 schools, 4,817 pagodas and temples, 167 hospitals and clinics, 169 bridges, 198 dams and 184 sections of the country's main highway. Damage has been particularly severe in the city of Sagaing near the epicentre, as well as in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city. UN aid chief Tom Fletcher, who is in Mandalay, described the scale of the damage as 'epic' and said survivors, who are 'traumatised and fearful', need food, water, shelter and electricity urgently. In a video posted to X, Fletcher noted the quake had brought devastation to communities that were already in crisis. 'It's a compounding crisis,' he said. 'It's earthquake, on top of conflict, on top of huge existing need.' He noted that aftershocks continued in the region more than a week after the earthquake. The United States Geological Survey said a magnitude 4.7 quake struck south of Mandalay late on Friday. A week after Mandalay earthquake, with devastating damage and aftershocks strong, this is a traumatised and fearful community. We are determined to save survivors and help them rebuild: we need the world to share that commitment. — Tom Fletcher (@UNReliefChief) April 6, 2025Though Myanmar's military government, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who seized power in a coup in February 2021 overthrowing the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, declared a temporary ceasefire on Wednesday, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday that the army was restricting aid in areas that did not back its rule. The UN agency also said it was investigating reported military attacks against opponents, including after the ceasefire. Free Burma Rangers, a relief group, told the Reuters news agency on Saturday that the military had dropped bombs in Karenni and Shan states on Thursday and Friday despite the ceasefire announcement, killing at least five people. The victims included civilians, according to the group's founder, David Eubank, who said there had been at least seven such military attacks since the ceasefire. There was no immediate comment from the military on the allegations. Myanmar's neighbours, such as China, India and Southeast Asian nations, have dispatched relief supplies and rescuers over the past week to the country, while the US – which was until recently the world's top humanitarian donor – has pledged at least $9m to support earthquake-affected communities. Current and former US officials say the dismantling of the country's foreign aid programme has affected its response. Three US Agency for International Development workers who had travelled to Myanmar after the quake were told they were being let go, Marcia Wong, a former senior USAID official, told Reuters. 'This team is working incredibly hard, focused on getting humanitarian aid to those in need. To get news of your imminent termination – how can that not be demoralising?' Wong said. The three USAID workers have been sleeping on the streets in the earthquake zone, Wong said, adding that their terminations would take effect in a few months. In neighbouring Thailand, meanwhile, authorities said the country's death toll from the quake had risen to 24. Of those, 17 died at the site of an under-construction skyscraper in the capital, Bangkok. Another 77 are still missing.
