She is best known for her contralto or low voice range singing in the film songs, "Ankhiyan Milake Jiyaa Bharmaake" and "Aai Diwali, Aai Diwali" in 1944 hit Rattan (1944), with music by Naushad, and "Uran Khatole Pe Ud Jaoon", duet with Shamshad Begum in Anmol Ghadi (1946), also under Naushad's music direction.

She, along with Rajkumari, Shamshad Begum and Amirbai Karnataki, were amongst the leading first generation of playback singers in the Hindi film industry.

However, by the late 1940s, the arrival of new voices like Geeta Dutt and Lata Mangeshkar, meant Zohrabai Ambalewali's career faded away.

[1][2] Ambalewali started her career at age 13, as a singer with the All India Radio, singing mainly classical and semi-classical numbers.

This was right before the arrival of Lata Mangeshkar in 1948, which along with Geeta Dutt and Sudha Malhotra shifted the popular taste towards finer voices, effectively bringing their careers to a gradual end.