Birth Date: 11 Jul, 1923, Age (80)

Occupation : Artist, Actress, Composer

Place of Birth : Uttar Pradesh

Date of Death : 24 Nov, 2003

Tun Tun

Tun Tun was the screen name of Indian playback singer and actress-comedian, Uma Devi Khatri, who was called "Hindi cinema's first-ever comedienne".

Uma Devi was born into a wealthy, conservative North Indian family in a small village in Uttar Pradesh. After the untimely death of her parents, while she was in her teens, she was raised by her brother and later by her uncle in Delhi. She arrived in Bombay (Mumbai) at the age of 23, having run away from home, and knocked on composer Naushad Ali's door. She told him that she could sing and that she would throw herself in the ocean if he didn't give her a chance. He auditioned her and hired her on the spot. She made her debut as a solo playback singer.

In the following years, owing to her older style of singing and limited vocal range, she found it difficult to compete with the rising singing stars Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. Eventually, Naushad suggested that she take up acting because she had a very bubbly personality and wonderful comic timing. She was inspired and awestruck by Dilip Kumar and had a wish, maintaining it stubbornly that in her first film, she would act alongside him. Knowing about this crazy love for Dilip Kumar, Naushad asked Dilip Kumar, who was his friend, to cast her in one of his films, and she appeared in Babul (1950) with him, which had Nargis as the lead actress; it is he who renamed her "Tun Tun" to suit her comic persona, the name stayed with her, and a comedic legend was born.

In her career spanning five decades, she acted in about 198 films in Hindi/Urdu and other languages like Punjabi etc., pairing with top comedy actors of her times such as Bhagwan Dada, Agha, Sunder, Mukri, Dhumal, Johnny Walker and Keshto Mukherjee. She was last seen in Hindi films in Kasam Dhande Ki (1990).