Anuradha Paudwal

Anuradha Paudwal  is a popular playback singer in Bollywood in India. She has sung songs in Hindi and Marathi.

She studied at Xavier's College in Mumbai (Bombay). She was married to the late Arun Paudwal, who worked with music director S. D. Burman as his assistant. Her singing career started in 1973 with the movie, Abhimaan, (starring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan) in which she sang a Shloka (a Sanskrit verse). In the same year she also made her Marathi film debut with "Yashoda" (music by Datta Davjekar). In 1974, she brought out a record of Non-film Marathi songs or "bhav geeten" which became very popular.


In 1976, she got her break as a playback singer in Hindi films with Kalicharan(starring Shatrugan Sinha and Reena Roy). Her first solo was in the movie, Aap Beeti, (starring Hema Malini and Shashi Kapoor). Laxmikant-Pyarelal were the music-composer duo for that movie. She also occasionally sang songs for composers Rajesh Roshan (Des Pardes), Jaidev (Dooriyan, Laila Majnu), Kalyanji-Anandji (Kalaakar, Vidhataa), and Usha Khanna (Souten, Sajan Bina Suhagan).

Anuradha sang in a number of Marathi movies including the memorable "Disate Majalaa" (Ashtavinayak), "Raja Lalakaari", and "Kaalyaa Maatita Maatitaa". Most of these movies had music by the duo of Anil-Arun, Arun being her husband, who collaborated with Anil Mohile to form a pair.
Anuradha apparently never received any formal training in classical music, stating in an interview, "I have not received any formal training in classical music. I have tried many times, but it has never worked out. I learnt a little here and a little there, but ultimately, I just practiced for many hours listening to Lataji"

Anuradha gained recognition with her popular numbers for the movie, Hero, for composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Her collaboration with Laxmikant Pyarelal produced more success with songs for "Meri Jung"(O mere Kwabon ke), "Batwara" (Thaare Vaaste Re Dola-Tu Maaro Kaun Lage),"Nagina" and many more. "Ram Lakhan" saw Laxmikant Pyarelal giving three major hit songs to Anuradha. Their association ended with "Tezaab" where she sang two good numbers for them- "Kehdo ki tum" and "Hum tumko Dilbar Kyon mane".

Following this she collaborated with movie producer, Gulshan Kumar, and began a success streak with the movies, Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka, Tezaab, Aashiqui, and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin. She along with Gulshan Kumar were instrumental in getting many unknown playback singers to the fore, including Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Abhijeet, Sonu Nigam. New Music directors, including her husband Arun Paudwal, were introduced to the music world. Nadeem-Shravan, Anu Malik, Anand-Milind, Nikhil Vinay and Amar Utpal all collaborated with T-Series (Gulshan Kumar's music label) and started a new era of melody in Bollywood.She has sung maximum duets with Udit Narayan and Kumar Sanu. Her other notable songs were also for the famous duo Shiv-Hari, Shivakumar Sharma and HariPrasad Chaurasia for the movie "Sahebaan". She has also sung for RD BUrman in her intial days and actually convinced him to make songs for Gulshan Kumar's label in his last days and the song "Aja Meri Jaan" set to one of the background score of R.D.Burman from "Saagar" is still popular. Anuradha also sang beautiful duets with her co-singers from the south, notably S.P.Balasubrahmanyam and K.J. Yesudas.
gulshan kumar

Anuradha has had her share of controversies as well. She was one of the rare singers to bloom during the reign of the Mangeshkar sisters in the Bollywood music industry. The death of her husband triggered sensational marriage and affair with Gulshan Kumar. She was also under much controversy when she dubbed the songs of Alka Yagnik in the film "Dil". This also caused rifts between Anand-Milind and Alka Yagnik, thereby causing them to not collaborate for 2 years. Later in 1998, Anuradha Paudwal dubbed the songs of Alka Yagnik once again for the film Itihaas, this time under the music direction of Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen. However, Alka Yagnik, protested, to which the music company, T-Series was forced to include both versions of the same song, one in the voice of Alka Yagnik and the other in the voice of Anuradha Paudwal. She further went to dub Lata Mangeshkar's song in "Radha Ka Sangam" citing that her voice suited the heroine better. Anu Malik, a smaller name then, who had composed the soundtrack of Radha Ka Sangam, protested against this move.

At her peak, Anuradha announced that henceforth she would sing exclusively for "T-Series", and concentrated on devotional songs and "cover-version" albums. T-Series used her attractive and pleasing looks to good effect in numerous Bhajan and promotional videos. She was the first playback singer whose face featured on music covers more than the film's actors. She sang for T-series for some time and then went into a sabbatical. After about five years, she restarted her playback career. She sang a few hit songs for her old music directors but the reception for her comeback was mild.

Although Anuradha has significantly cutback in singing for films, she has continued on with her popularity for singing devotional songs and creating devotional albums, which ultimately remains her forte. She has collaborated with Pandit Jasraj on his "Geet Govind , many devotional albums with Anup Jalota. Her voice is well suited on devotional numbers
In marathi Anuradha has sung for music directors like her husband Arun Paudwal, Anil-Arun (i.e. Anil Mohile and Arun Paudwal duo), Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Shridhar Phadke.

Awards :

• 1986: Filmfare Award in the Best Female Playback category for the song Mere Mann Bajaa Mridang in the movie, Utsav.
• 1990: National Film Award for female playback for the song He Ek Reshami in the Marathi film Kalat Nakalat
• 1991: Filmfare Award in the Best Female Playback category for the song Nazar Ke Saamne in the movie, Aashiqui.
• 1992: Filmfare Award in the Best Female Playback category for the song Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahi in the movie, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin.
• 1993: Filmfare Award in the Best Female Playback category for Dhak dhak in the movie, Beta.

Sunidhi Chauhan

Sunidhi Chauhan (born Nidhi Chauhan  on 14 August 1983) is an Indian playback singer, best known for her Hindi film songs in Bollywood. She is credited with over 2000 songs.
Chauhan began to sing at the age of four, and was discovered by a local TV anchor. She won recognition through a televised singing contest, Meri Awaz Suno, which she won, and made her entrance into playback singing with the Hindi film Shastra.
Her breakthrough was Ram Gopal Varma's film - Mast, in which she sang the hit song, Ruki Ruki Si Zindagi. She has been nominated for twelve Filmfare Awards, winning it on three occasions. She has also won two Star Screen Awards, two IIFA Awards and one Zee Cine Award.
 
Chauhan started her singing career as a child, giving her first performance at the age of four, in a local temple in Delhi. Thereafter, she began to participate in, and sing for, various competitions and local gatherings. When local TV anchor, Tabassum, spotted her talent, her family shifted to Mumbai in a bid to further develop the young singer's skills, and Chauhan became the lead singer in Kalyanji's 'Little Wonders' troupe.

Recognition first met her in 1996, through the music show Meri Aawaz Suno - the first such televised contest in India - which was broadcast through the Indian national television channel, Doordarshan. She won the competition, and bagged the top prize of recording an album, Aira Ghaira Nathu Khaira, with HMV.
Unluckily for Chauhan, Aira Ghaira Nathu Khaira was promoted as a children's album, and failed to get the recognition it deserved. In 2002, Chauhan herself observed this in an interview:

"My first song and the contest did not help me much. Nothing happened for a while. But by then, I had made up my mind that I will pursue singing as a career."

Chauhan stepped into the world of playback singing with the 1996 Bollywood film, Shastra, after Aadesh Srivastava asked her to lend her voice to the song Larki Deewaani Dekho, Ladka Deewaana. She followed it with work in films like Gang, Veergati, Dahek, Bade Dilwala, Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat and Samar. By the age of nineteen, Chauhan had already lent her voice to over 350 songs.

Chauhan's breakthrough was Ram Gopal Varma's Mast, in which she sang the hit song, Ruki Ruki Si Zindagi, alongside three other songs, including the title song itself. In an interview, while speaking of Mast, she said:

"Whatever I am today, I owe to Mast. I met Sandeep Chowta through Sonu Nigam, and fifteen days later, Mast was in my lap. I was only sixteen then."

In Feb 2007, as part of its marketing campaign and launch of Windows Vista in India, Microsoft hired Sunidhi Chauhan to sing the "Windows Vista Song" titled Wow is Now. This song features English and Hindi lyrics proclaiming the many 'glamorous' features of the Windows Vista Operating System.
Chauhan also sung for the Hindi-dubbed version of Disney's movie, High School Musical - songs which were sung by Vanessa Anne Hudgens in the English version. Moreover, she was the singer of the English language song "Reach Out" at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Asian Games at Doha, Qatar.

2008 was a highly successful year for the young singer, as she went on to deliver a huge number of superhit songs like Chhaliya (Tashan), Rock Mahi, Lucky Boy, Desi Girl (Dostana), Dance Pe Chance (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi), and Race Saanson Ki (Race), and which resulted in her winning the "Kelvinator GR8! FLO Women Award 2009" for her mind blowing contribution in Music. In April 2010, Chauhan joined Anu Malik and Salim Merchant as a judge on the fifth season of the immensely popular singing talent show, Indian Idol 5.
 
Chauhan's voice has been described as "powerful," "amazing," "husky ... [and] sensuous". However, it has been noted that Chauhan can not hit high notes without losing some tonal quality, and people have cited her voice more suited to fast and pop songs, as compared to slow ones.
In 2007, while discussing Chauhan's popular song Beedi Jailaile, actress Bipasha Basu (on whom the song was picturised) said, "Sunidhi is a goddess. Her singing is so powerful. She added another dimension to my dancing."
Indian singer, Lata Mangeshkar has called Chauhan "one of the finest young singers." Ironically, Chauhan's item numbers have been said to mark the end of the "squeaky Lata era", a period in which Mangeshkar's style of soft voice and classical music were preferred over racy or fast pop songs.

AWARDS:

• Winner of filmfare award for the most promising new comer in the year 2000.
• Winner of flmfare award for the song Beedi from the film Omkara in the year 2006.

SHAAN

Shaan (born on September 30, 1972), is a renowned Indian playback singer and successful television host. He is not only an accomplished playback singer,but also has released very successful albums like Tanha Dil and Aksar. Apart from Hindi songs, Shaan has also given his voice to many hit Bengali, Telugu and Tamil film songs.

As a child, Shaan began his career by singing ad jingles. After giving it up for a brief period, he soon returned to it, and also began to sing remixes and cover versions. In the 1989 movie Parinda, when he was only 17 years of age, Shaan sang a single line in the song, "Kitni Hai Pyari Pyari Dosti Hamari".

Shaan and his sister's career began with Naujawan. They signed up with Magnasound recording company and recorded a few successful albums. The album Naujawan was a hit. Then came the Album Q - Funk, which sold a million copies. He entered the pop scene with sister Sagarika, powered by pop-guru Biddu’s melodies and doing re-mixes.Then came Roop Tera Mastana, a remix album of R.D. Burman's songs, that brought them further into the limelight.
Shaan has been wooing the audiences since he stepped into Indian Music industry. He launched Loveology after this, which was well received by young hearts all over. The track from his second album Tanha Dil, " Bhool Ja ", which is an excellent ballad with superb lyrics written by the man himself, catapulted to the charts within days of its release and was very popular on radio.
Dil Kya Kare is a remix that caught everyone's eye thanks to its electrifying video and soothing melodies. Mana Janab is a fun and frolicky blast from the past that Shaan livens up with a Latino groove. Induced with lots of emotional and groovy tracks, the album popped up the singer’s star rating, market value and of course ambitions.

In 2000 he won the MTV Asia Music Award for best solo album for his album Tanha Dil. Three years later Shaan launched his album Aksar which was again hugely successful. The album contained songs featuring international stars such as Blue, Mel C and Samira Said.

For both the albums Tanha Dil and Aksar, Shaan sang, composed and wrote the lyrics of his songs.
Recently he released a song with MLTR, "Take me to your heart". The song appears on his album Tishnagi.The song "Shuruat" in his album Tishnagi was made into a music video to promote the film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He has released Tomar Aakash in year 2004, a Bengali album with his sister in which he has brought out his dad's unreleased songs. He also plans to release an album remaking his father's compositions with his sister in Hindi.He recently sang one of his father's compositions on sets of STAR Plus's Music Ka Maha Muqqabla.

Apart from singing for his albums, Shaan today, has been the voice of almost all of Bollywood's leading men starting from Shahid Kapur to Saif Ali Khan. He is widely appreciated for his excellent voice quality and singing songs from heart. He has thus established himself as one of the leading playback singers in Bollywood today. Shaan sang, composed the music and wrote the lyrics of his songs for both of his super hit albums Tanha Dil and Aksar. He has also composed music for many TV serials and has won the Best TV music director award. Shaan is also well known for giving inputs about music and lyrics to the music directors for which he sings.
 
Shaan has sung playback vocals for several hit Bollywood films, including Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi, Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai, Jhankaar Beats, Lakshya,Kaante, Dil Chahta Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho, Hum Tum,Saathiya, Dhoom, Dus, Salaam Namaste, Fight Club - Members Only,Koi Mil Gaya,Munna Bhai M.B.B.S, Don - The Chase Begins Again, Fanaa, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Masti (2004 film), Om Shanti Om, Partner, Welcome , Saawariya, Jab We Met, 3 Idiots, Taare Zameen Par and many more.

Shaan has also given his voice to many hit Bengali,Telugu and Tamil film songs.Popular songs by Shaan include hits like "Musu Musu" and "Wo Pehli Baar" from Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi ; "Tune Mujhe Pehchaana Nahin" from Raju Chacha ; "Nikamma Kiya Is Dil Ne" from Kyaa Dil Ne Kahaa ; "O Re Kanchi" from Asoka ; "Yeh Hawein" from Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai ; "Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe" and "Woh Ladki Hai Kahan" from Dil Chahta Hai ; "O Humdum Suniyo Re" from Saathiya ; "Subha Ho Gayi Mamu" from Munna Bhai M.B.B.S ; "Suno Na" and "Tera Muskurana" from Jhankaar Beats ; "It's The Time To Disco" and "Kuch To Hua Hai" from Kal Ho Na Ho ; "En Panchhiyon" from Koi Mil Gaya ; "Dus Bahane" from Dus ; "Shikdum" from Dhoom ; "Main Aisa Kyun Hoon" from Lakshya ; "Ladki Kyun" from Hum Tum ; "My Dil Goes Mmmm" from Salaam Namaste ; "Where's The Party Tonight" and "Rock And Roll Soniye" from Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna ; "Chori Chori Chhora Chhori" from Masti (2004 film) ; "Main Hoon Don" from Don - The Chase Begins Again ; "Hey Shona" from Ta Ra Rum Pum ; "Do U Wanna Partner" and "You're My Love" from Partner ; "Insha Allah" and "Welcome" from Welcome ; "Bum Bum Bole" from Taare Zameen Par ; "Aao milo chalo" from Jab We Met ; "Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh" from 3 Idiots and the very popular songs "Chand Sifarish" from the movie Fanaa and "Jab se tere naina" from the movie Saawariya.


Shaan has always focused on versatility. On one side he can belt out a blockbuster like "Nikamma" and on the other hand he can sing the soulful rag-darbari based "Paigham laya saawan".He has sung several genres of songs. "Tanha dil" is a pop superhit then, "One Love" belongs to hip-hop genre, and "Bhool Ja" is an excellent rock Ballad.

He has started learning music from the legendary Ghulam Mustafa Khan, and according to Shaan it has enriched his voice and taught him so much about life. The World loves shaan because of his innocence and serenity.

AWARDS:

• won filmfare for the song CHAND SIFARISH JO KARTA HAMARI ( fanaa)
• won filmfare for the song  JAB SE TERE NAINA ( saawariya )

Anil Biswas (composer)

Anil Biswas  (7 July 1914 - 31 May 2003) was a famous Indian film music composer from 1935 to 1965, who apart from being one of pioneers of playback singing, is also credited for the first Indian orchestra of twelve pieces and introducing orchestral music and full-blooded choral effects, into Indian cinema. A master in western symphonic music was known for the Indian classical or folk elements, especially Baul and Bhatiyali in his music. Out of his over 90 films, most memorable were, Roti (1942), Kismet (1943 film) (1943), Anokha Pyaar (1948), Taraana (1951), Waaris (1954), Pardesi (1957) and Char Dil Char Raahein (1959).


He was also the pioneer in using the counter melody in film scores, employing technique of western music, ‘cantala’, where one line overlaps the other in contra-melody, recitative prose songs as in Roti (1942), besides he was the first one to start extensively using the Ragmala. Another important element that he introduced was western orchestration, using indigenous instruments both in the songs as well as in their melodic interludes, a trend that soon caught on and paved way for the musicals of Indian cinema today.
He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1986

Anil Biswas first made name in Kolkata in the early 1930s, composing music for plays, later he joined 'Rangmahal Theatre', Kolkata, as an actor, singer, and assistant music director, 1932–34, during this period he sang and acted in several commercial stage productions. By this time he had masters singing styles like, khayal, thumri and dadra, and had become an accomplished singer of devotional music, in Shyama Sangeet and Kirtan styles.

He also worked as a singer, lyricist and composer, with the 'Hindustan Recording Company', where Kundan Lal Saigal and Sachin Dev Burman, before migrating to Bombay themselves. He got assignments from renowned Bengali poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam, all this got him into the notice of music director, Hiren Bose, and at whose behest he made his way to Bombay (Mumbai) in 1934.

This was the period, when playback singing, was making its debut in Indian cinema, when Anil first joined Ram Daryani's, 'Eastern Art Syndicate', and was associated in composing music for 'Baal Hatya' and 'Bharat ki Beti', before making his debut as a film composer, with Dharam ki Devi (1935) for which he composed the background music, and also acted and sang the song, Kuch Bhi Nahin Bharosa.. In 1936 he joined 'Sagar Movietones' as a composer, first starting with assisting composers, Ashok Ghosh in films Manmohan and Deccan Queen and also Pransukh Nayak, and continued with Sagar Movietones, even after it merged with the Yusuf Fazalbhoy of RCA’s newly established National Studios in 1939.

In the coming two years he did eleven film, mostly stunt film, until Mehboob Khan's Jagirdar (1937), a commercially hit, established him as a musical force in the film industry, there was no turning back from then on. Soon many more independent assignments came his way, most notably, 300 Days and After, Gramophone Singer, Hum Tum Aur Woh, Ek Hi Rasta, and Mehboob Khan's Watan (1938), Alibaba (1940), the classic, Aurat (1940), Bahen (1941), before working with him again, in Roti (1942), for which he also credited with the story and concept, and which featured many songs by film's actress, Akhtaribai Faizabadi (Begum Akhtar), though they were deleted due to a contractual conflict (the music was recorded with HMV, while she was in contract with Megaphone Gramophone Company). In following years he gave scores for Bombay Talkies films like Jwar Bhatta (1944), Dilip Kumar’s debut film, and Milan (1947) also starring Dilip Kumar and directed by Nitin Bose, who made it in Bengali, as Naukadubi.

He gave break to famed playback singer, Mukesh in Pehli Nazar (1945), singing 'Dil Jalta Hai to Jalne De', and to Talat Mahmood in Arzoo (1949), singing 'Aye Dil Mujhe Aisi Jagah Ley Chal' his first song in Bombay ; he was also behind the success of many singers such as Surendranath, Parul Ghosh, Amirbai Karnataki, Lata Mangeshkar, and Roshan Ara Begum. It was during his period that he married Asha Lata, an actress with Sagar Movietones under her maiden name Mehrunnisa who continued to act under the name Ashalata Biswas, and had three sons and a daughter, the couple later divorced. Later it was the death of his son Pradeep in an airplane accident, in 1961, which catapulted his exit from the film industry.

In 1942, he joined Bombay Talkies at an offer from Devika Rani, where he got his biggest hit, Gyan Mukherjee's Kismet (1943 film) (1943), starring Ashok Kumar and Mumtaz Shanti, most remembered for the song, 'Papihaare', sung by his sister Parul Ghosh (wife of the renowned flautist, Pannalal Ghosh), the patriotic hit, 'Door hato ai duniyaa waalo', and 'Dheere dheere aare badal, mera bulbul so raha hai, shorgul na macha' sung by the actor, Ashok Kumar.

In 1946, he left Bombay Talkies and set out as a freelancer, and later under the banner, ‘Variety Pictures’ owned by his wife, AshaLata Biswas, worked for four films, Laadli (1949), Laajawaab (1950), Badi Bahu (1951) and Humdard (1953), with KA Abbas Rahi (1952), songless Munna (1954), where he gave the background score, and Indo-Russian joint production, Nargis starrer, Pardesi (1957) and Char Dil Char Rahein (1959). By now, the kind of music perfect by Anilda, as he was now called in the industry as, was fast changing, and so he gradually grew disillusioned by the changing dynamics of the film industry.
In early 1960s, he retired from the cinema, while still at the peak of his game, he shifted base to New Delhi, though he did one or two films in between like Mahesh Kaul's, Sautela Bhai (1962), his final film as a composer was, actor Motilal's directorial venture, Chhoti Chhoti Baatein (1965), starring Nadira and with Mukesh's 'Zindagi Khwab Hai Tha Hamein Bhi', unfortunately Motilal died before its release, and the film flopped at the box office, though it did get a National Film Award.

In Delhi he became director of the National Orchestra at the All India Radio (AIR) in March 1963, and remained Chief Producer -Sugam Sangeet (light Hindustani classical music) at AIR, Delhi till 1975. Though later, he composed music for Doordarshan's pioneering TV series Hum Log (1984) and a number of documentaries for the Films Division  as late as 1991, and remained the vice chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University for 2 years. He won the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1986.

happy new year to all mitras!

I wish all the music lovers a very Happy New Year and as far as this year is concerned..... i will try to provide maximum interesting facts related to bollywood film music, in the series which i have been providing from the past few months...... always hungry of your best wishes and support.

SAPTAM