The advent of talkies in 1931 brought a revolution in Film industry
Madan Theatre of Calcutta, “Shirin Farhaad” based on the stage play scripted by the renowned playwright
Agha Hashar Kashmiri. It featured 42 songs by Kajjan and Nissar, already popular singing pair of the stage. The film got overwhelmed success across India with Kajjan emerging as the first superstar of Hindi cinema then came another super hit “Laila Majnu”, followed by “Indrasabha” based on the play written by
Agha Hasan Amanat, it had 71 songs, the film still holds the world record as “film with most songs”. The film with duration of three and half hours was entirely in verse and Kajjan sang several songs, it became a blockbuster.. . Some of her other memorable movies were
"Bilwamangal",
"Shakuntala",
"Alibaba aur Chalis Chor",
"Aankh ka Nasha",
"Zehari Saanp", etc. By mid 1936 her relation with Seth Karnani owner of Madan theatre deteriorated and she left Madan theatres and she had to face a legal case by Karnani which ruined her she had to sell her mansion in Calcutta and all of her property so she left Calcutta in early 1938 and made her own theatrical company Jahanara Theatrical Company and decided to present her famous old shows with less duration and some new settings, she spent 60,000 rupees in those days on a stage project and started doing shows in all over India started from lahore, Amritsar, multan, Delhi and Bombay but her health started to fall so she along with her Mother Suggan bai had to settle in Bombay and started working in Bombay film Industry Kajjan's career in Bombay was short-lived from 1941 to 1944, during which she appeared in seven films mostly of Ranjit films, sunrise pictures and Minerva films none of them made big for Kajjan with the exception of
Sohrab Modi's
Prithvi Vallabh in which she was given a character role Further, she was given character roles so she could not made it big in Bombay. Her films in Bombay were
Ghar Sansar,
Suhagan,
Bharuthari,
Prarthna,
Merchant of Venice and her last was Ranjit films
Mumtaz Mahal in which she played Empress Noor Jahan. She lived a lavish life at Calcutta. She even had two tiger cubs as pets. Kajjan had learnt western dancing and was a regular visitor to Calcutta Club, it is said that she was intimately involved with Najmul Hassan, a popular Star in 1930s. She died of Cancer in late December 1945 at a young age of 30. Starting her career from stage, she moved to films, joining
J. J. Madan's Madan Theatres. Two of her early Talkies becoming instant hits,
Shirin Farhad (1931) and
Laila Majnu (1931) both Madan Theatre productions. Her co-star in the two films was Master Nissar and the duo became popular singing sensations, with Kajjan being known as "the lark of India". Her mother was a
tawaif with important connections. Kajjan was the daughter of the courtesan Suggan and a Nawab of Bhagalpur. Jahanara was educated at home, where she learned
English and
Urdu; she wrote poetry, some of which was published. She received a classical music training from Ustad Hussain Khan. Later she also mentored and trained
Rehana in acting and dancing. Kajjan stopped singing in 1930, however, she continued to star in movies such as
Shirin Farhad and
Layla Majnun opposite Nissar, becoming a symbol of on-screen romance in the
cinema of India. ==Notable films==