Pankaj Udhas

Pankaj Udhas was born on May 17, 1951 in Jetpur near Rajkot in Gujarat to a family of Zamindars. His elder brother, Manhar Udhas is a stage performancer, and so young Pankaj needed no initiation into the world of music.. He's been the Padmasree Award winner.


His first stage performance during the Indo-Chine was was one that changed his life and made him a star. He sang Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon and won for himself a prize of Rs. 51 . Pankaj was so moved by winning that he took up music professionally as his career.

Pankaj was so attracted towards the form of music by Mehndi Hasan and Begum Akhtar that he went on to learn Urdu to be able to grasp the depth of ghazals, thus Pankaj Udhas found his destiny.

The man deserves the credit for making ghazals popular at a time when it was losing its foothold over the masses.From his first ghazal album Aahat released in 1980, Pankaj has released around 40 albums with countless number of compilations. In all his albums he has always tried to present ghazals in a manner more appealing to the masses yet maintaining the essence of ghazals.

The songs like 'chithi aayi hai' from 'Naam' became the National Anthem of its time. Moreover the songs like 'Gaya fir aaj ka din bhi' from 'Dil aashna hai' gave him immense popularity.

Jaspinder Narula

Jaspinder Narula is a noted Punjabi singer and Bollywood playback singer, who shot to fame after a duet ‘Pyar to hona hi tha’ from the 1998 film Pyar To Hona Hi Tha with Remo Fernandes for which she won the 1999 Filmfare Best Female Playback Award, her other notable films are Mission Kashmir, Mohabbatein, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani and Bunty Aur Babli. She also a singer of Sufi music, and as well as Gurbani and other Sikh religious music.
In 2008, she won the title of India's Best Live Performer in the NDTV Imagine singing reality series, Dhoom Macha De (2008).

Jaspinder’s tryst with singing began early. Her father K.S. Narula was a music composer of 1950s. Initially Jaspindar Narula kept away from film singing and specialized in singing bhajans and Sufiana compositions. She finally moved to Mumbai a few years later at the advise of noted music director Kalyanji who heard her at the private gather in Delhi and asked his son and music director, Viju Shah to give her break in films like, Master, Aar Ya Paar and Bade Miyan Chhote Miyan (1998).
She excels in singing folk and devotional songs. She has lent her voice to record numerous music albums for a large number of successful Bollywood films like Dulhe Raja, Virasat, Mission Kashmir, Mohabbatein and Bunty aur Babli to name a few.

Awards

• Filmfare Award
  • 1999: Best Female Playback: "Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha" from Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha.
• Star Screen Award
  • 1999: Best Female Playback: "Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha" from Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha.

Bally Sagoo

Bally Sagoo (born Baljit Singh Sagoo) is a British Asian musician and DJ who was born in Ranjit Nagar, Delhi, India, but grew up in Birmingham, England, in a predominantly Black neighbourhood, influenced by disco, rap and Motown music. In an interview "Re-mixing Identities: "Off" The Turn-Table," Bally said:

"Indian music was Indian music. So I just left that side of things and I moved into the Western side of things and I was getting into English and American music... I was a typical example of someone who didn't know what Asian people were about. I was too much into the Western society business. My friends were mainly black and I didn't have many Asian mates because of, talking fifteen years ago you know, we didn't have funky Asian music... Then all of a sudden things just changed. I just got so much into it and my mates were like 'my god Bally Sagoo's doing Indian music.'"

He gained success as a DJ in the club scene and broke into music by revamping old Bollywood hits and fusing them with hip hop. He is widely credited as one of the original pioneers of what is now modern Indian music, and for triggering the explosion of modern Bhangra pop music (although his music was and is more a fusion of Western dance and hip hop with existing Indian music). This is specifically seen in his 1994 album Bollywood Flashback,(The remix of Asha Bhosle's "Chura Liya" from the album is widely considered as an industry benchmark and the gold standard for Bollywood mixes) followed up with Rising From The East in 1996. Bally runs a production company named Ishq Records that manages several artistes like Gunjan. He has worked twice with the Pakistani pop singer Hadiqa Kiyani.

In 2003 he won an "Outstanding Achievement Award" at the UK Asian Music Awards.

On an international scale, his most famous work features prominently in Gurinder Chadha's film Bend It Like Beckham and upcoming film It's a Wonderful Afterlife. He worked together with Amitabh Bachchan for a musical rendition of Harivansh Rai Bachchan's poetry and produced Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's album Magic Touch.
In 2007 he starred in the Punjabi film Sajna ve Sajna.

Ismail Darbar

Ismail Darbar (born 1 June 1964) is an Indian composer and violinist who works in Bollywood.

He is from Surat, Gujarat. Ismail Darbar worked for several years as a session violinist for leading music directors Laxmikant Pyarelal, Kalyanji Anandji, Bappi Lahiri, Rajesh Roshan, Anand-Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin-Lalit and even A.R.Rahman. Finally he got the break after so many years with the film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Later on his music in both 'Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya' and 'Devdas' was highly acclaimed. He played violin for Jatin-Lalit in the movie Khamoshi: The Musical. Ismail darbar was studying Music Directing With Mohammad Sulaiman Sediq In Afghanistan And Sulaiman Was also the Teacher of AR Rahman in 1990.


Awards

• R. D. Burman award during the Filmfare Awards in 1999
• National award for the music of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in 1999

Shreya Ghoshal

Shreya Ghoshal (born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer. Best known as a playback singer in Hindi films, she has also performed several songs for other Indian film industries such as Assamese, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu songs.

Ghoshal's career began when she won the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contest as an adult. Her Bollywood playback singing career began with Devdas, for which she received both the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer and the Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent. Since then, she has worked in more than 180 films and received four National Film Awards and seven Filmfare Awards.


Ghoshal caught the attention of a music director Ismail Darbar when she participated in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa for a second time, this time as an adult. In 2000, he offered her the opportunity to be the voice of Paro, the lead female character of the film Devdas, who was portrayed by Aishwarya Rai.Shreya sang five songs in the film. Her performance won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer, as well as Filmfare's RD Burman Award for New Music Talent, given to upcoming talents in music. She also won the National Film Award for the song "Bairi Piya".

Since Devdas, she has received awards singing under musicians including Ilaiyaraaja, A. R. Rahman, M. M. Keeravani, Shantanu Moitra, Mano Murthy and Pritam. She has won many awards both in the north and south film industries of India.

She has received State Film Awards from Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu industries. She debuted in South through the song "Yen Chellam" in Vasantha Balan's album and got noticed after singing the duet "Munbe Vaa" from Sillunu Oru Kaadhal under composer A. R. Rahman. She debuted in Malayalam through a studio album of composer Alphons Joseph and later gave voice to his song "Vida Parayukayano" from Big B.
 

National Film Awards

• 2003: National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer - "Bairi Piya" (Devdas; Hindi)
• 2006: National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer - "Dheere Jalna" (Paheli; Hindi)
• 2008: National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer - "Yeh Ishq Hai" (Jab We Met; Hindi)
• 2009: National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer - "Jeev Dangala" (Jogwa; Marathi) & "Pherari Mon" (Antaheen; Bengali.)

Filmfare Awards

Won

• 2003: Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent
• 2003: Filmfare Best Female Playback Award (shared with Kavita Krishnamurthy) - "Dola Re" (Devdas)
• 2004: Filmfare Best Female Playback Award - "Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai" (Jism)
• 2008: Filmfare Best Female Playback Award - "Barso Re" (Guru)
• 2009: Filmfare Best Female Playback Award - "Teri Ore" (Singh Is Kinng)

M. M. Keeravani (kreem)

Maragatha Mani Keeravaani, better known as M. M. Keeravaani or under the alias M. M. Kreem, is a National Award-winning music composer who works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam cinema.
He is also a singer. Keeravani is known for his contributions to the Telugu film industry with compilations for huge hit films like Annamayya. He has composed music for Hindi films such as Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996), Sur, Zakhm, Saaya, Jism, Criminal, Rog and Paheli. In Malayalam, he has scored for landmark films like Neelagiri (1991), Soorya Manasam (1992), and Devaraagam (1996). He has composed for over 100 films in various Indian languages and is still actively composing music for several upcoming films. He has another name in Tamil Called "Maragadhamani"


Awards
National Award:

• 1998 - National Film Award for Best Music Direction for Annamayya

Javed Akhtar

Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is a Hindi/Urdu poet, lyricist and scriptwriter from India. Some of his most successful work was done in the late 1970s and 1980s with Salim Khan as half of the script-writing duo credited as Salim-Javed. Akhtar continues to be prominent in Bollywood and is the most popular and sought-after lyricist.

Akhtar arrived in Mumbai on 4 October 1964. In his early years living in Mumbai, he managed to write the dialogue for a minor film for Rs. 100. Occasionally, he used to work as an assistant. He got a job as a scriptwriter on Yakeen which flopped. Akhtar then joined with his friend Salim Khan to develop the story for Adhikar. They were hired by G. P. Sippy's Sippy Films as resident screenwriters and produced the screenplays for successful films like Andaz, Seeta Aur Geeta, Sholay and Don.

Akhtar used to write his scripts in Urdu, which were then written out in Hindi by his assistant. Another assistant would type out a one line summary in English. His association with Salim Khan lasted until 1980. After this Akhtar wrote some scripts on his own, but mostly moved into writing lyrics for films, in which he achieved success.
Akhtar has also attempted more serious Urdu poetry aside from writing lyrics for movies. A major set of his works were compiled in Tarkash, which was also rendered into audio in his voice. Singers such as Jagjit Singh and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan have sung some of his non-movie poetry.

Awards
Javed Akhtar was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999 and received the Padma Bhushan in 2007. Akhtar has also won the Filmfare Award fourteen times, seven times for Best Script, and seven times for Best Lyrics for "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha..." in 1942-A Love Story, "Ghar Se Nikalte Hi..." for Papa Kahte Hain, "Sandese Aate Hain...." for Border, "Panchhi Nadiyan Pawan Ke Jhonke..." for Refugee, "Radha Kaise Na Jale" for Lagaan, "Kal Ho Na Ho" for Kal Ho Na Ho , "Tere Liye..." for Veer-Zaara and "Jashn-e-Bahara" for Jodhaa Akbar.

Akhtar has won the National Award five times. In 1996 he won for Best Lyricist for the film Saaz and in 1997 he won the National Award for Border. He again won the National Award in 1998 for Godmother. In 2000 he again won the National Award for the song "Panchhi Nadiyan Pawan Ke Jonke..." from the film Refugee and in 2001 for "Radha Kaise Na Jale" from Lagaan.

He has won the 1995 and 1997 Screen Videocon Awards. He also won first Zee Award for Best Lyricist for "Sandese Aate Hain" from the film Border. He was awarded a Videocon Screen award as well as a Lux Zee Cine award for "Panchhi Nadiyan Pawan Ke Jhonke..." for Refugee.
In 2001 Akhtar received the "National Integration Award" from the All India Anti-Terrorist Association and the Avadh Ratan from the U.P. Government. He also won the 2003 Hakim Khan Sur Sammaan Award from the Maharana Mewar Foundation, Udaipur.