MUSIC MITRAS: Udit Narayan 'Padma Shri'

Udit Narayan Jha, popularly known as Udit Narayan is a playback singer in commercial Hindi, Nepali, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Assamese, Angika and Bangla language cinema. Narayan has sung in 26 different languages.He won three National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

Udit Narayan began his career in Nepal singing for Kathmandu Radio Station as a staff artiste for Maithili and Nepali folk songs. After eight years in that role, Indian Embassy offered him the chance to study classical music at a prestigious school in Bombay, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan on a music scholarship. He moved to Bombay in 1978.

He got his first break in 1980, when noted music director (composer) Rajesh Roshan asked him to do a song for the Hindi film Unees Bees, in which he got an opportunity to sing with his inspiration, Mohammed Rafi. However, the actual success story of his career began in 1988 with the successful Bollywood movie Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, earning him a Filmfare Award.
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After the success of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, he became one of the leading playback singers in the Indian film industry.

He has worked with musicians like Rahul Dev Burman, A. R. Rahman, Anand-Milind, Jagjit Singh, Anu Malik, Jatin Lalit, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, Bappi Lahiri, Vishal Bhardwaj, Nadeem-Shravan, Rajesh Roshan, Shankar Mahadevan, Himesh Reshammiya, Pritam Chakraborty, Vishal-Shekhar, and directors like Yash Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ashutosh Gowariker and Karan Johar. Some of those films include Lagaan, Darr, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil To Pagal Hai, Mohabbatein, Devdas, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Swades, and Veer Zaara. Narayan has been hailed as the screen voice of Shahrukh Khan. He has also sung hit songs for actors like Aamir Khan, Sunny Deol, Akshay Kumar and young Shahid Kapoor. He credits his own success in part to being able to sing for the top actors.