Indian singer and actress. Dubbed "Mallika-e-Ghazal", she is regarded as one of the greatest singers of ghazal, dadra, and thumri genres of Hindustani classical music. Begum Akhtar received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for vocal music in 1972, was awarded Padma Shri, and later a Padma Bhushan Award posthumously by the government of India
