Bappi Lahiri

Date of Birth: 27 November 1952, Calcutta, West Bengal, India 

Spouse: Chitrani Lahiri

Bappi. D. Lahiri was born in Calcutta, West Bengal into a family with a rich tradition in classical music. His father, Aparesh Lahiri was a famous Bengali singer and his mother, Bansari Lahiri was a musician and a singer who was well-versed in classical music and Shyama Sangeet. He was their only child. At a very early age, he had the ambition to become famous, not only nationally, but internationally. He began to play the tabla at the tender age of three. His relatives from his mother's family include Kishore Kumar and the S. Mukherjee clan. Initially he was trained by his parents, after which he received his first opportunity in a Bengali film, Daadu (1972) at the age of 19.


He came to Mumbai at the young age of 19. The first Hindi film for which he composed music was Nanha Shikari (1973). The turning point of his career was Tahir Husain's Hindi film, Zakhmee (1975), for which he composed music and doubled as a playback singer. He himself sung a duet with Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar called "Nothing is Impossible" for the same film. The songs of his next film, Chalte Chalte, became a rage. With Ravikant Nagaich's Surakshaa his singing and music became even more popular.He also scored music for many Hindi films produced from South India.


His pioneered the use of disco music in Indian cinema with an Indian flavour. Most of his songs would be rendered by Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhosle. He launched Vijay Benedict and Sharon Prabhakar into the music industry. He also used Alisha Chinoy and Usha Uthup extensively for his compositions.His prodigious output of film scores, sometimes more than 30 in a single year, earned him an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.His biggest successes were his music for Disco Dancer, which included the hits "Jimmy Jimmy" and "I Am a Disco Dancer," and the Indian pop hit "You're My Chicken Fry."


He is married and has two children. His wife is Chitrani, daughter Rema and son Bappa. Bappa Lahiri is a music director.


Throughout his career he has been accused of plagiarizing music produced by other composers without giving them any credit or royalties.Conversely, in one instance, portions of his song "Thoda Resham Lagta Hai" were included in a 2002 single "Addictive" by American R&B Singer Truth Hurts. Copyright holders Saregama India, Ltd. sued Interscope Records and its parent company, Universal Music Group to the tune of more than $500 million. A Los Angeles federal judge subsequently barred further sales of the CD unless and until Lahiri was listed on the song's credits.


He disappeared from the Indian film industry in the 1990s. He made a brief comeback in the Prakash Mehra produced 'Dalal' starring Mithun Chakraborty. The song 'Gutur Gutur' from the film was a big hit, though it had its own share of controversies due to its suggestive lyrics. 


In 2004, he brought out his album 'Bappi Magic - The Asli Baap Mix', featuring popular numbers such as 'Gori Hai Kalaiyan' and 'Jimmy Jimmy'. It attained great popularity. In 2005, he composed the background score for the Jahnu Barua film, 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara', thus reaffirming his identity as a very versatile composer. 


In 2006, he lent his voice to another composer for the first time with the song "Boombai Nagariya" which he sang for Vishal-Shekhar for the movie Taxi Number 9211. Of late, he has once again lent his voice to the title track of the Mani Ratnam film 'Guru', in which the music has been composed by A.R.Rahman. He has also recorded songs for the movie 'Level Crossing' produced by actor Jayaprada. In 2006, he appeared on the popular television show 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs' on Zee TV as co-judge with singers Alka Yagnik and Abhijeet. He is currently a judge for the 2007 edition of Zee TV's 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' and Sony Entertainment Television's K For Kishore reality show that aims to find the 'heir apparent' to Kishore Kumar.

Gulzar

Date of Birth: 18 August 1936, Dina, British India (now Pakistan) 

Spouse(s): Raakhee Gulzar

Gulzar was born in a Kalra Arora Sikh family, to Makhan Singh Kalra and Sujan Kaur, in Dina, Jhelum District, India, in what is now Pakistan. Before becoming an established writer, Sampooran worked as a car mechanic in a garage. He took the pen name Gulzar Deenvi after becoming an author.


He is married to actress Raakhee.They have a daughter, Meghna Gulzar, who is a film director. Meghna Gulzar has also penned a biography of Gulzar, titled Because he is.

He started his career as a songwriter with the music director Sachin Dev Burman for the movie "Bandini" (1963). The song was "Mora gora ang layle", picturised on Nutan. His most successful songs as a lyricist came out from his association with Sachin Dev Burman's son Rahul Dev Burman, whom he once described as the anchor in his life. R D Burman composed songs for almost all the movies directed by Gulzar in the 1970s and the 1980s, including Parichay (1972), Khushboo (1975), Aandhi (1975), Angoor (1982), Ijaazat (1987) and Libaas (1988). 


Many of their popular songs were sung by Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. These include Musafir hoon yaron (Parichay), Tera bina zindagi se koi (Aandhi), Mera kuch saaman (Ijaazat), Tujhse naraz nahi zindagi (Masoom) etc.He also has had award-winning associations with the music directors Salil Chowdhury (Anand, Mere Apne), Madan Mohan (Mausam), and more recently with Vishal Bhardwaj (Maachis, Omkara, Kaminey), A. R. Rahman (Dil Se, Guru, Slumdog Millionaire, Raavan) and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Bunty aur Bli).


His film Aandhi was banned for a time because it was seen as a criticism of Indira Gandhi for the imposition of the emergency. He also depicted a flair for adapting stories/concepts from literature as well as from other films. Angoor is based on Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, and Mausam is an adaptation of A. J. Cronin's The Judas Tree. He also adapted the Hollywood classic. He directed an eponymous Television serial on Mirza Ghalib starring Naseeruddin Shah shown on Indian Television Channel Doordarshan in 1988. Gulzar also worked, as a song writer or dialogue writer for several Doordarshan programs for kids such as Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland, Guchche and Potli Baba Ki together with Vishal Bhardwaj. He has more recently written and narrated for the children's audiobook series Karadi Tales.


As a poet-lyricist, he has developed a new style of writing poems called Triveni which comprises stanzas comprising three lines rhyming with each other. His private album "Koi Baat Chale" with Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh has all the songs written in Triveni.


As a director, he is known for making brilliantly sensitive portrayal of subjects ranging from human relations, biographical profiles and often controversial social issues. For his contributions to Indian cinema, he was honored with Padma Bhushan in 2004, the third highest civilian award in India. Also, Gulzar and his movies have won numerous awards at the National level including awards for best director and best lyrics. He also won the 2002 Sahitya Akademi Award for 'Dhuan', a collection of Urdu short stories.

Pritam Chakraborty

Pritam was born in Kolkata into a Bengali family. He is the son of Prabodh Chakraborty, who runs a music school for children. He gained his early training in music from his father and learned to play the guitar while still in school.


After completing his schooling at St. James' School and college education at Presidency College, he went to a music school. At Presidency he was the Social Services Secretary of the Students Union run by the Independents' Consolidation (IC). He joined a Bangla band, Chandrabindoo. Before that he formed another band with his Presidency batchmates, called "Jotugriher Pakhi". They even have a cassette released to their credit at that time. 


In January 1993, He joined the Film and Television Institute in Pune to undertake a course in sound recording and sound engineering. During this time, he was offered a chance to compose background music for a film by Hungarian filmmaker Istvan Gaal. He learned music theory, harmony and composition from ethnomusicologist and khyal singer Warren Senders, as well as briefly encountering principles of African Music from Senders and musicologist Kedar Avati.


After completion of trainning,he moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in Bollywood. During his stay in Mumbai, he began composing ad jingles, and became friendly with a number of other young men struggling to make it big, like Shantanu Moitra, Rajkumar Hirani, Sanjay Gadhvi and Chandrajeet Ganguly, also known as Jeet, who played the guitar with Anup Jalota.


He got his first break when Gadhvi was signed on to direct Tere Liye and he, in turn, signed on his friends Jeet and Pritam as music composers. Though the music was well received, the film sank at the box office. However, in 2002 Yashraj Films signed Gadhvi up to direct Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, for which the Jeet-Pritam duo once again composed the music. All the songs from that movie were chartbusters, and the duo had hit the big time.His music comprises various kinds including Indian classical music and western influences. He was then actively involved in mentoring and judging new talent on Zee TV's singing competition show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009.


Jeet and Pritam worked together for only one more film which was Mudda-The Issue, before amicably parting. After the separation, Pritam's career as a solo musician stalled as he signed a series of flops like Fun2shh - Dudes In The 10th Century and Agnipankh. The films sank at the box office and with them, his music too. However, in 2004, he composed the music for Sanjay Gadhvi's second film, Dhoom, which was a runaway success. The film did well and the music topped the charts.


He followed up the success of Dhoom with a string of chartbusting numbers after a year for Chocolate, Garam Masala and Gangster. Also he composed the music for Dhoom 2, the sequel to Dhoom & Life in a Metro. Most recently he composed the music for Singh Is Kinng, Kismat Konnection and formed a Band named Metro. His most top rated musics are from the movies Dhoom, Dhoom2, Gangster, Life in a metro, Jab we met, Race,Woh Lomhe, Billu, Love Aaj Kal, Golmaal Returns, Tum Mile, Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani, De Dana Dan, Toh Baat Pakki, Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?, Badmaash Company, Rajneeti, Khatta Meetha, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, Aashayein and more.


He has been accused of plagiarism on several occasions, wherein he has copied the music for a number of his most popular Hindi film songs from various artists from around the world (especially Asia), without giving credit to the original artists themselves. In some cases he has bought the copyright and given due credit too.


He was nominated several times for Filmfare Award for Best Music Director, Star Screen Award for Best Music Director, IIFA Best Music Director Award etc in the years 2007,2008,2009 and 2010. In 2010 He won The IIFA AWARD, ZEE CINE AWARD as well as the APSARA PRODUCER'S GUILD AWARD for his music in Love Aaj Kal. He also won the Radio Mirchi "composer of the year award" for his music in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani.

Abhijeet

Born: Kanpur, UP, India
Birth Name: Abhijeet Bhattacharya
Spouse: Sumati Bhattacharya

Abhijeet was born as Abhijeet Bhattacharya in a middle-class family in Kanpur, the youngest of four siblings. He passed his class X (Ten) from Ramakrishna Mission Higher Secondary School, Kanpur and Class XII from BNSD Inter College Chunni Ganj, Kanpur. Although his parents were against the idea, he went against their wishes and became a singer.

He left home for Mumbai in 1981 to study Chartered Accountancy. Due to his fascination for singing and music, he decided to pursue a career in playback singing and quit Chartered Accountancy. Despite being gifted with a melodious voice, he struggled for a long time.
After his long struggle in Mumbai, he received a call from Rahul Dev Burman to sing for Dev Anand's sons debut film. He also sang with Kishore Kumar, his idol, in the same film.

It was R.D. Burman who acted like a mentor to Abhijeet and gave him his first break as a playback singer in Dev Anand's Anand Aur Anand. The song was 'Waadon ki shaam aayi, yaaron ke naam aayi'. But the film flopped and he was struggling to find work again. For quite a few years after that he resorted to singing cover versions of Kishore Kumar hits.

In the 1990s, he established himself as a notable playback singer. His first notable hits were the songs from the film Baaghi, composed by Anand-Milind - Ek chanchal shokh hasina, Chandni raat hai and Har kasam se badi hai. Then in 1994 when he gave hits in movies like Yeh Dillagi, Anjaam, Raja Babu and Main Khiladi Tu Anari.. there was no looking back.. He became a hit machine along with his competitors Kumar Sanu and Udit Narayan he was among the top 3 play back singers of 90s and finally won the Filmfare Best Playback singer Award for Yes Boss in 1997.He went on to give hit numbers in the movies Baadshah, Yes Boss, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Josh, Dhadkan, Chalte Chalte, Main Hoon Na.Some of his songs such as Kurta phaadke from Anari No. 1 did not do well with the public.

After his success in playback singing, he decided to try non-film pop music. He released two albums, Main Deewana Hoon and Tapori No.1. The albums did not achieve commercial success. Later he launched Aashiqui, which was appreciated by the audience. Recently, he has launched a pop album, called Tere Bina, whose songs and videos are chartbusters.He has given his voice for actors such as Shahrukh Khan, Sunil Shetty, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Saif Ali Khan, Bobby Deol, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgan, among many others.

On May 3, 2006, he released another non-film album called Lamhe, which was well-appreciated. Currently he is a judge on the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa - Little Champs show.He was recently seen as a Judge in a reality show called Star Voice of India.

Anuradha Paudwal

Born: 27th October 1954

Occupations: Singer

Anuradha Paudwal studied at Xavier's College in Mumbai (Bombay). She was married to Arun Paudwal, who worked with music director S. D. Burman as his assistant. Her career started in 1973 with the movie, Abhimaan, (starring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan) She sang a melodious "shloka" in that movie. In the same year she 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 the movie, Kalicharan, (which starred Shatrugan Sinha and Reena Roy). Her first solo was in the movie, Aap Beeti, (starring Hema Malini and Shashi Kapoor). Laxmikant-Pyarelal was the music-composing duo for that movie. She also occasionally sang songs which were composed by Rajesh Roshan (Des Pardes), Jaidev (Dooriyan, Laila Majnu), Kalyanji-Anandji (Kalaakar, Vidhataa), and Usha Khanna (Souten, Sajan Bina Suhagan). She sang in a number of Marathi movies: some memorable numbers such as "Disate Majalaa" (in the movie, 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. Inspite of never receiving formal training in classical music, her voice adapted to classical songs with much more ease and ability then even her classically trained counterparts. "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", states Anuradha.
 
Before gaining a foothold in the Hindi film industry, she achieved popularity in Marathi cinema with a spate of melodious renditions. Popular movies include "Ashtavinayak", "Assa Navra Nako Ga Bai", "Mumbaicha Fauzdar", "Navri mile Navryala", "Gammat Jammat", "Devta", "Ashi Hi Banwabanwi" to list a few. She has also sang with Asha Bhosle in the movie 'Ha Khel Sawlyancha".

She started singing for Laxmikant-Pyarelal. She gained recognition when she rendered some exceptional numbers for the movie, Hero. (Laxmikant-Pyarelal was the music-composing duo for Hero.) It is rumored that the song was supposedly to be sung by Laxmikant Pyarelal's bete noire Lata Mangeshkar but she could not make it. The director liked her version which was retained and went on to became huge hit. There was another catchy number which catapulted her to a very good commandable position and that was "Ding Dong O Baby sing a song". Her collabration with Laxmikant Pyarelal saw her capture new heights with hits after hits in "Meri Jung"(O mere Kwabon ke), "Batwara"(Taare waste dola),"Nagina" and many more. "Ram Lakhan" saw Laxmikant Pyarelal giving three major hit songs to her. 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 her success streak began with the movies, Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka, Tezaab, Aashiqui, and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin. The 90's saw her scale new heights and open vistas for lot of bollywood singers. She along with Gulshan KUmar were instrumental in getting lot of playback singer to the fore. Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Abhijeet, Sonu Nigam all started doing cover versions for T-series and slowly entered the playback arena. New Music directors also were introduced including her husband Arun Paudwal. Nadeem Shravan, Anu Malik, Nikhil Vinay and Amar Utpal all collaborated and got melody back to playback in Bollywood. She also sang beautiful duets with her cosingers from south notably being S.P.Balasubramium and Yesudas.

Everything wasn't in the limelight for her,as she also had her share of controversies. She single handedly charged the music industry of favouring the Mangeshkar family and their monopoly being the main cause of the inability of new singers to survive in the music industry. This eventually cuased music directors to turn away from her, as they feared they would face the wrath of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, to whom they could not afford to disappoint. The death of her husband triggered rumors of her affair with Gulshan Kumar which she denied. She was also under much controversy when she dubbed the songs of Alka Yagnik in the film "Dil". She further went to dub Lata Mangeshkar's song in "Radha Ka Sangam" citing that her voice suited the heroine better.

At her peak, she announced that henceforth she would sing exclusively for the music company, "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 considered as the first playback singer whose face featured on music covers more than film's actors. She sang for T-series for some time and then went into sabbatical. After about five years, she has restarted providing playback singing for movies. She received a mild response for her comeback, yet she sang a few hit songs for her old music directors, whom she once pushed forward. Anu Malik and Jatin Lalit were such music directors who used her voice in most of their movies. Anu Malik made her sing some beautiful tracks in "Mela","Mr & Mrs Khiladi" and "Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain". The icing on the cake was the beautiful number from "Paap"- "Intezaar". Similarly, Jatin-Lalit made her sing some good numbers in " Dhai Akshar Prem Ke", "Khoobsoorat", and "Dil Kya Kare" and for Academy Award Winner A.R. Rahman "Pukar".

She also sang in a Punjabi Christian album along with UK based singer and music director Mr. Anwar Masih. The album is called Yesu ka paigaam.

Although she 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. Today, she is regarded as the best devotional singer India has to offer.

Amit Kumar

Born: 3 July 1952, India

Birth name: Amit Kumar Ganguly (Known as Ameet Kumar)

Amit Kumar was born on 3rd July 1952.  He is the son of famous singer and actor Kishore Kumar and Bengali singer and actress Ruma Guha Thakurta. Like his father he too loved singing since childhood and used to sing in Kolkata during Durga Pooja functions. Once he was performing on stage in Kolkata in a Durga Pooja function arranged by Bengali actor Uttam Kumar, people kept on requesting for more songs and this information reached his mother. She called in Kishore Kumar and complained that his son was singing 'filmy' songs. Hearing this Kishore Kumar decided to bring him to Bombay.
 

He also acted in films which were directed by and starred his father. His notable ones were Door Gagan Ki chhaon mein (1964), Door ka Rahi (1971),Badhti Ka Naam Daadhi (1974) and Shabhash Daddy (1979).

He made his debut in singing and as a child actor in his father's movie "Door Ka Rahi". He recorded a song "Main Panchi Matwaala Re" as child singer artist. This song was removed from the film later by Kishore Kumar.In 1976 the film Balika Badhu with the song Bade Achchhe Lagte Hain.. brought him on the tinsel town big stage. This song can easily be kept in some of the best melodies of all times. The song was composed by legendary R.D. Burman. After that he recorded many songs with R.D. Burman.

In late 70s he sang few songs for various films. The song Aati Rahengi Baharein from the film 'Kasme Vaade' was a huge hit. He sang for Randhir Kapoor in this song while Kishore Kumar sang for Amitabh Bachchan.He sang many hit songs in the films like Aandhi, Khatta Meetha, GolMaal, Des Pardes, Ganga Ki Saugandh, Deewanagi, Duniya Meri Jeb Mein, Parvarish, Baaton Baaton Mein etc. The duet song with Lata Mangeshkar from the film 'Baaton Baaton Mein' Uthe Sabke Kadam was quite popular.

1980s started with a bang for him with mega hit film Love Story. He sang all the songs of the film and got his Filmfare Award for the duet Yaad Aa Rahi Hai with Lata Mangeshkar. About this song music composer R.D. Burman jokingly told him before release that this song sounds like a "Bhajan".

In 1980 the actor Feroz Khan produced a super hit film Qurbani. There was a song Laila O Laila in this film that became a really big hit. He rendered his voice for this song for Amjad Khan.His duet song Tu Rootha To Main Ro Dungi with Asha Bhonsle from the film "Jawani" in the year 1984 composed by R.D. Burman was mega hit. Another chartbuster from 1983 from the film Haadsaa was Ye Bombai Shahar Haadsoon Ka Shaher Hai. This song was super hit.In this decade, he sang for almost all music direrctors, actors and produced hit after hit.
He later became voice of Anil Kapoor in 1980s. But before this many hit songs too were released for Kumar Gaurav in films like Romance, Teri Kasam, Lovers, All Rounder, Telefilm-Janam, etc. In this decade he sang super hits for Anil Kapoor in the films like Tezaab, Yudh etc.The song from Tridev filmed on Naseer Oye-Oye was such a huge nationwide hit that it became the second identity of Naseer. He sang for Naseer in the film Hero Hiralal too.

1990 started with films like Hum and the song Sanam Mere Sanam brought another big hit for Amit. Baaghi had a smash hit in the song Kaisa Lagta Hai. From the film Ghayal the song "Pyar Tum Mujhase" was popular.He delivered more hits for the film Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. The songs Deewana Dil Deewana and Sacchi Ye Kahani Hai were hits, especially the former.In this decade, he sang for some other hit films too like Awwal Number, ChaalBaaz, Khel, Vishwatma, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Judaai, Indrajeet etc.

Later in the decade with the invasion of many other Kishore Kumar clones his career started fading. The great R.D. Burman too was no more with whom he had a special bonding. He started withdrawing and making himself more busy in live stage performances in various parts of the world.In this phase, he lost out to sing for R.D. Burman's last mega hit 1942: A Love Story. He stated in another interview that R.D. Burman was under pressure to use another singer for the songs because it was the 'trend' in those days.

During these years, he composed and released music albums which were not much successful. Some of these are : MAD, PYAR TO BUS PYAR HAI and DAM DAMA DAM. Some music directors tried to recreate the old magic by composing songs similar to the ones in 1970s sung by his legendary father Kishore Kumar. However, success on this front was elusive.

In the late 90s,he was almost an invisible name on the music relases.Songs like "Koi Nahi Aisa" from film Dillagi was recorded in 1999. Later films like Beti No. 1, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam had featured his voice too. But in the year 2003, a film inspired by R.D. Burman Jhankar Beats again used his voice.

In year 2006, the film Apna Sapna Money Money carried a song Dil Mein Baji Guitar was a big hit.In 2008 are songs from films called "Khushboo", "Abhimanyu", "Ishq Ho Gaya Mamu" to name a few.

The latest in 2009 is a Bangla Song of a film Olot Palot -- "Jhing Kur Kur".

Kishore Kumar

Born: 4 August 1929, Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh, India
Date of Death: 13 October 1987, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Birth Name: Abhas Kumar Kunjilal Ganguly
Height: 5' 8½" (1.74 m)






Kishore Kumar, called Abhas Kumar Ganguly in his childhood, was born in a Bengali family in the Khandwa town of Central Provinces and Berar, British India (now in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh).His real name is Abhas Kumar Ganguly. His father Kunjalal Ganguly was a lawyer and his mother Gouri Devi came from a wealthy family. He was the second youngest of four siblings, the other three being Ashok Kumar (the eldest), Sati Devi and Anoop Kumar. While he was still a child, Ashok Kumar became a popular Bollywood actor. Later, Anoop Kumar also ventured into cinema with the help of Ashok Kumar. Spending time with his brothers, Kishore Kumar too started to take a keen interest in movies and music. He became a fan of singer-actor Kundan Lal Saigal (whom he considered his guru and tried to follow his singing style till the end of his life.

After Ashok Kumar became a Bollywood star, the Ganguly family used to visit Mumbai regularly. Abhas Kumar changed his name to Kishore Kumar and started his cinema career as a chorus singer at Bombay Talkies, where his brother worked. His first film as an actor was Shikari (1946), in which Ashok Kumar played the lead role. Music director Khemchand Prakash gave him a chance to sing the song Marne ki duayen kyon mangu for the film Ziddi (1948). After this, Kishore Kumar got many other assignments, but he was not very serious about a film career. In 1949, he decided to settle in Mumbai.

He played hero in the Bombay Talkies film Andolan (1951), directed by Phani Majumdar. Although Kishore Kumar got some assignments as an actor with help of his brother, he was more interested in becoming a successful singer. He was not interested in acting, but his elder brother Ashok Kumar wanted him to be an actor like himself.He starred in Bimal Roy's Naukri (1954) and Hrishikesh Mukherjee's directorial debut Musafir (1957). Salil Chowdhury, the music director for Naukri was initially dismissive of him as a singer, when he came to know that Kishore Kumar didn't have any formal training in music.However, after hearing his voice, he gave him the song Chhota sa ghar hoga, which was supposed to be sung by Hemant Kumar.

After facing difficulties in the initial stage of his acting career, he achieved success as a comic hero with movies like New Delhi (1957), Aasha (1957), Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Jhumroo (1961), Half Ticket (1962), and Padosan (1968). Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, his home production, starred the three Ganguly brothers, and Madhubala. The film is about romance between a city girl (Madhubala) and a car mechanic (Kishore Kumar), with a subplot involving eccentric brothers.

Music director S. D. Burman is credited with spotting his talent as a singer, and advancing his singing career. During the making of Mashaal (1950), Burman visited his house, where he heard his imitating K. L. Saigal. He complimented him, but also told him that he should develop a style of his own, instead of copying Saigal.He did not have a formal training in music. He kept Burman's advice in mind, and eventually developed his own style of singing, which prominently featured the yodeling that he had heard on some records bought by his brother Anoop.Though it was Mohammed Rafi who introduced yodeling in Hindi cinema as a playback, Kishore Kumar made yodeling his trademark.He yodeled in songs such as Main Hoon Jhumroo and Thandi Hawa Yeh Chandni from Jhumroo, Nakhrewali from New Delhi, Tum Bin Jaoon Kahan from Pyar Ka Mausam, and Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana from Andaz (1971), Thodi Si Jo Pi Lee Hai from Namak Halal (1982) are excellent examples of yodeling.

He rarely did alaps in aa aa but used he ha ha(e.g., Tum Bin Jaoon Kahan ). He practised taan very rarely, but took subtle variations as demonstrated in the songs Jab Bhi Koi Kangana Bole and Aankhon Mein Humne Aapke Sapne Sajaye Hain.

S. D. Burman recorded with him for Dev Anand's Munimji (1954), Taxi Driver (1954), House No. 44 (1955), Funtoosh (1956), Nau Do Gyarah (1957), Paying Guest (1957), Guide (1965), Jewel Thief (1967), Prem Pujari (1970), and Tere Mere Sapne (1971). He also composed music for Kishore Kumar's home production Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958). Some of their initial hits included Maana Janaab Ne Pukara Nahin from Paying Guest, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke from Nau Do Gyarah (1957), Ai Meri Topi Palat Ke Aa from Funtoosh, and Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si and Haal Kaisa Hai Janaab Ka from Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958). When S. D. Burman was not on good terms with Lata Mangeshkar during 1957-62, he gave patronage to her younger sister, Asha Bhosle . The Asha Bhosle-Kishore Kumar duets composed by S. D. Burman also became very popular. Some of these include Chhod Do Aanchal from Paying Guest (1957), Ankhon Mein Kya Ji from Nau Do Gyarah (1957), Haal Kaisa Hai Janaab Ka and Paanch Rupaiya Baara Aana from Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Chhedo Na Meri Zulfein from Ganga Ki Lahren (1964), and Arre Yaar Meri Tum Bhi Ho Gajab from Teen Deviyan (1965).C. Ramchandra was another music director who recognized Kishore Kumar's talent as a singer. One of the most popular C. Ramchandra-Kishore Kumar hits is Eena Meena Deeka from Aasha (1957). Kishore Kumar also gave a few hit songs with other music directors; for example, Nakhrewaali from New Delhi (1956) by Shankar Jaikishan, and C.A.T. Cat Maane Billi and Hum To Mohabbat Karega from Dilli Ka Thug (1958) by Ravi.

In the 1960s, as an actor, Kishore Kumar built up a notoriety for coming late for the shootings, or bunking them altogether. His films flopped frequently, and he also landed in income tax trouble.As a singer, he had some hit songs to his credit, including Zaroorat Hai Zaroorat Hai from Manmauji (1961), Gaata Rahe Mera Dil from Guide (1964), and Yeh Dil Na Hota Bechara from Jewel Thief (1967).

In the late 1960s, S. D. Burman's son, Rahul Dev Burman started patronising Kishore Kumar. Their first notable success was the soundtrack of the film Padosan (1968), in which Kishore Kumar sang the popular songs Mere Saamne Wali Khidki Mein and Kehna Hai. Padosan was a comedy film starring Kishore Kumar as a dramatist-musician, Mehmood as a Carnatic music and dance teacher, and Sunil Dutt as a simpleton named Bhola. Kishore Kumar's character in the film was inspired by the personality of his own uncle, Dhananjay Bannerjee (a classical singer).The highlight of the film was a musical, comical duel between Kishore Kumar-Sunil Dutt and Mehmood, Ek Chatur Nar Karke Singaar.

He produced, directed, and acted in the film Jhumroo (1961). He wrote the lyrics for the title song, Main Hoon Jhumroo, and composed music for all the songs in the film. Later, he produced and directed the serious film Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein (1964). He also wrote the script and composed music for the film. The film is based on the relationship between a father (Kishore Kumar), and his deaf and mute son (played by his real-life son, Amit Kumar). The movie achieved critical success, which perhaps motivated him to make another two films called Door Ka Rahi (1971) and Door Waadiyon Mein Kahin (1980).

He married four times. His first wife was Ruma Guha Thakurta aka Ruma Ghosh. Their marriage lasted from 1950 to 1958.His second wife was the famous actress Madhubala, who had worked with him on many films including his home production Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958). When Kishore Kumar proposed to her, Madhubala was sick and was planning to go to London for treatment. She didn't know about the condition that she was suffering from, and her father wanted her to wait and consult the London doctors first. Nevertheless, Madhubala married Kishore Kumar in 1960. Madhubala was a Muslim, and the two had a civil marriage.His family was against the marriage, and the couple also had a Hindu marriage to please them, but Madhubala was not accepted by them. The doctors in London told Madhubala that she would not live for long. The marriage lasted for 9 years, and ended with Madhubala's death on February 23, 1969. His third marriage was to Yogeeta Bali, and lasted from 1976 to August 4, 1978. He was married to Leena Chandavarkar from 1980 until his death.

He had two sons, Amit Kumar (playback singer) with Ruma, and Sumit Kumar with Leena Chandavarkar.He is said to have been paranoid about not being paid. During recordings, he would begin singing only after his secretary confirmed that the producer had made the payment. Once, when he discovered that his dues hadn't been fully paid, he landed up for shooting with make-up on only one side of his face. When the director questioned him, he replied "Aadha paisa to aadha make-up." On the sets of Bhai Bhai, Kishore Kumar refused to act because the director M V Raman owed him five thousand rupees. His brother Ashok Kumar persuaded him to do the scene. But, when the shooting started, he walked across the floor and, each time he walked a few places, he said, "Paanch Hazzar Rupaiya,"  and did a somersault. After he reached the end of the floor, he went out of the studio, jumped into his car, and ordered his driver Abdul to drive away.

On another occasion, when the producer R. C. Talwar did not pay his dues in spite of repeated reminders, he turned up at Talwar's residence one morning and started shouting "Hey Talwar, de de mere aath hazaar". He did this every morning for a few days, until Talwar paid him.

In spite of his "no money, no work" principle, sometimes he recorded for free even when the producers were willing to pay. He recorded for free, for some films produced by Rajesh Khanna and Danny Denzongpa. On one occasion, he helped actor-turned-producer Bipin Gupta, by giving him Rs. 20,000 for the film Dal Mein Kala (1964). When the little-known actor Arun Kumar Mukherjee died, he regularly sent money to his family in Bhagalpur. Mukherjee was one of the first persons to appreciate his singing talent.

Many journalists and writers have written about his seemingly eccentric behavior.He had put a "Beware of Kishore" sign at the door of his Warden Road flat, where he stayed for some time while his bungalow was being done up. Once, the producer-director H. S. Rawail, who owed him some money, visited his flat to pay the dues. Kishore Kumar took the money, and when Rawail offered to shake hands with him, he reportedly put Rawail's hand in his mouth, bit it, and asked "Didn’t you see the sign?". Rawail laughed off the incident and left quickly. Once, when a reporter made a comment about how lonely he must be, he took her to his garden. He then named some of the trees in his garden, and introduced them to the reporter as his closest friends.

According to another reported incident, once he was to record a song for the producer-director G. P. Sippy. As Sippy approached his bungalow, he saw Kishore going out in his car. Sippy pleaded him to stop his car, but Kishore only increased the speed of his car. Sippy chased him to Madh Island, where Kishore Kumar finally stopped his car near the ruined Madh Fort. When Sippy questioned his strange behavior, Kishore Kumar refused to recognize or talk to him and threatened to call police. Sippy had to return. Next morning, he reported for the recording. An angry Sippy questioned him about his behavior on the previous day. However, he insisted that Sippy must have seen a dream, and claimed that he was in Khandwa on the previous day.

Sonu Nigam

Date of Birth: 30 July 1973, Faridabad, Haryana, India
Birth Name: Sonu Kumar Nigam
Spouse: Madhurima Nigam


Sonu Nigam was born to Mr Agam Kumar Nigam and Mrs Shobha Nigam on July 30, 1973 in Faridabad, Haryana, India. He attended the J.D. Tytler School. He has two sisters, Meenal and Neekita. Sonu is very close to his parents. Both his father and mother are good singers, and in 2005 and 2007 his father released two highly popular albums, "Bewafaai" and "Phir Bewafaai", respectively. Neekita is also a singer. She has sung a few playback songs and appeared on a few stage shows with Sonu. Sonu married Madhurima on 15 February 2002. They have a son, Nevaan, born on July 25, 2007.He is very much into fitness and yoga exercises, and has even trained in taekwondo. He claims to be spiritual rather than religious. He used to be keen at his studies in his younger age and enjoys reading. He also enjoys mimicry and commonly mimics other singers in Bollywood.

He began his singing career at the age of three, when he joined his father on stage to sing Mohammad Rafi's "Kya Hua Tera Wada." From then on, he accompanied his father on his singing appearances at weddings and parties. In his teenage years, he participated in several music competitions successfully. He moved to Mumbai with his father to begin his Bollywood singing career at the age of 19.

His initial years in Mumbai proved to be a struggle, beginning by singing covers of Mohammad Rafi songs, mainly for a number of "Rafi Ki Yaadein" albums released by T-Series. T-Series promoter Gulshan Kumar played a key role in identifying Sonu's talent and giving him a chance to reach a larger audience. These albums contributed to T-Series for some years although his singing style was regarded by some as like a "Rafi clone." His first movie song as a playback singer was in the film Janam (1990), which was never officially released. He also got a break in several radio commercials until he appeared on the popular TV show Sa Re Ga Ma, after which there was no turning back. The format of that show gave him a chance to showcase his singing skills including his later well-known natural charm and audience appeal. Then he sang "Accha Sila Diya" on the album Bewafa Sanam (1995), which established his status as a recognized playback singer. He then started hosting Sa Re Ga Ma, a television singing talent competition, which soon became one of the most popular shows on Indian television. The first episode of "Sa Re Ga Ma" was aired on May 1, 1995. Singing offers poured in thereafter, albeit slowly at first. He rose to fame with the Anu Malik composed song "Sandese Aate Hain," in Border in 1997. His image as a Rafi clone changed after his rendition of the Nadeem-Shravan composed song "Yeh Dil Deewana" in Pardes in the same year. Since then, he has created a unique style of his own, and has become a role model for emerging vocal talent in India.

Over the years, he has become a major force in the Indian music industry. He has provided playback singing for a large number of Hindi movies and won many awards. His rendition of the title song of the film Kal Ho Na Ho has been highly popular and is considered a modern legend of sorts. He is recognised for his versatile voice as well as excellent emotion range. He has sung with clear pronunciations, in many languages besides Hindi, including Bengali, Oriya, Kannada, Punjabi,Tamil, Telugu, English, Bhojpuri, Urdu, Nepali and Marathi. He remains particularly popular in Southern India for his Kannada songs and has won a few awards in this particular industry.His Kannada album called Neene Bari Neene released all over in 2009.

In 2006, he also hosted his own radio show called 'Life Ki Dhun With Sonu Niigaam' on Radiocity 91.1 FM, where he had the opportunity to interview several music industry greats, including the legendary Lata Mangeshkar.His acting career started as a child artist in a number of films including 1983's Betaab. As an adult, Sonu has acted in a few more films, namely Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani alongside Sunny Deol, Manisha Koirala and Akshay Kumar as well as other actors; Kash Aap Hamare Hote, where he plays the male lead opposite Juhi Babbar, daughter of Raj Babbar; and most recently, Love in Nepal with 'Flora Saini' and 'Sweta Keswani,' where he again plays a leading role. However it is to be said that all three films have not done well at the box-office. although his acting was much better appreciated in his last venture.

His 2008 playback songs include songs from Yuvvraaj and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. In the latter, he pays tribute to Bollywood actors of the past like Raj Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna, Shammi Kapoor, Dev Anand and Rishi Kapoor. The song is in a Shahrukh Khan film and the music direction is by Salim-Sulaiman.

His future projects include an English album called "Spirit Unfolding".He may be acting in a new film called Ankhon Hi Ankhon Mein, about a blind singer, although he has not officially signed it yet. He is also doing playback singing for a number of upcoming films, including Chandan Arora's Striker, Yaariyan, Run Mein Fun and Three Idiots starring Aamir Khan, with Shantanu Moitra as music director.He is also singing two songs for the film Blue,chiggy wiggy with international artist Kylie Minogueand rehnuma with shreya ghosal in the music of Oscar winner A.R.Rahman.He has already recorded dont say alvida for Main Aur Mrs.Khanna,which have Salman and Kareena in lead roles and the title track and Aashique tumse hi for karan johars My Name Is Khan.

Asha Bhosle

Date of Birth: 8 September 1933, Sangli, Bombay Presidency,British India
Birth Name: Asha Mangeshkar
Nickname: The Queen of Indipop


Asha Bhosle was born in the small hamlet of Goar in Sangli, Maharashtra, into the musical Marathi family of Pandit Deenanath Mangeshkar. Her father was a theater actor and classical singer who had been born in the village of Mangeshi in Goa. When she was nine years old, her father died. The family moved from Pune to Kolhapur and then to Bombay. She and her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar began singing and acting in films to support their family. She sang her first film song Chala Chala Nav Bala for the Marathi movie Majha Bal (1943). The music for the film was composed by Datta Dawjekar. She made her Hindi film debut when she sang the song Saawan aaya for Hansraj Behl's Chunariya (1948).At the age of 16, she eloped with 31-year old Ganpatrao Bhosle (1916-1966), marrying him against her family's wishes. Ganpatrao was sister Lata's personal secretary. The marriage failed miserably. Her husband and in-laws mistreated her. After a few years of marriage, Bhosle was turned out (around 1960) by a suspicious Ganpatrao and she went to her maternal home with two children and pregnant with her third child, Anand. She continued to sing in films to earn money.

At that time, prominent playback singers like Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum and Lata Mangeshkar (her sister) monopolized the singing for the "heroine" roles and the big films, whilst Asha Bhosle used to get the assignments they did not take: singing for the bad girls and vamps, or songs in the second-grade movies. In the 1950s, she sang more songs than any other playback singer in Bollywood, yet most of these were in low budget B or C-grade films. Her earliest songs were composed by A R Qureshi(Alla Rakha Khan), Sajjad Hussain and Ghulam Mohammed, most of which failed to do well. Singing in Dilip Kumar-starrer Sangdil (1952), composed by Sajjad Hussain, she got reasonable recognition. Consequently, film director Bimal Roy gave her a chance to sing in Parineeta (1953). Raj Kapoor signed her to sing the song Nanhe Munne Bachche with Mohammed Rafi in Boot Polish (1954), which gained popularity.O. P. Nayyar gave Asha Bhosle a big break in C.I.D. (1956). She first achieved success in B. R. Chopra's Naya Daur (1957), composed by him. His collaboration with Bhosle produced many hits. Later, she established herself and received patronage of composers such as Sachin Dev Burman and Ravi. Bhosle and Nayyar had a professional and personal parting of ways in the 1970s.

In 1966, her performance in the duets from music director R D Burman's first successful movie, Teesri Manzil won popular acclaim. Their collaboration produced numerous hits in the 1970s and resulted in a marriage. In 1960s and 1970s, she became the voice of Bollywood's most famous dancer, Helen. It is said that Helen would attend her recording sessions so that she could understand the song better and plan dance steps accordingly. Some of the most popular Asha Bhosle-Helen numbers are Piya Tu Ab To Aaja (Caravan), O Haseena Zulfon Wali (Teesri Manzil), and Yeh Mera Dil (Don).In Umrao Jaan (1981) and Ijaazat (1987), she sang traditional ghazals and proved her versatility, winning the coveted National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer.Her film activities continued into the 1990s. Her performance in the 1995 hit Rangeela was particularly notable. As late as 2005, 72-year-old Asha Bhosle's numbers for the Tamil film Chandramukhi and the pop song Lucky Lips for Salman Khan-starrer Lucky were chartbusters. Some of the other popular Tamil songs sung by Bhosle are Oh! Butterfly, September Maadham and Vennila Vennila.

In October 2004, The Very Best of Asha Bhosle, The Queen of Bollywood, a compilation album of songs recorded by Bhosle for albums and Bollywood films that were released during 1966-2003, was released.

In 2006, she recorded an album Asha and Friends, singing duets, with film actors Sanjay Dutt and Urmila Matondkar and famous cricket player Brett Lee, with whom she sang, You're the One for Me (Haan Main Tumhara Hoon). All these songs composed by Shamir Tandon were shot on video by journalist turned director S Ramachandran.

Her house is situated in Prabhukunj Apt on Peddar Road area of South Mumbai. She has three children and five grandchildren. The eldest of her three children is Hemant Bhosle (named after Hemant Kumar), spent most of his early years as a pilot and quit to have a brief career as a music director. Asha's daughter Varsha, who is younger than Hemant, worked as a columnist for The Sunday Observer and Rediff. The youngest child is Anand Bhosle, who has studied business and film direction. He manages Asha's career. Her grandson, Chaitanya (Chintu) Bhosle (Hemant's son) also ventured in the world of music, as a member of a successful boy band, "Band of Boys". Her granddaughter, Anneka Bhosle (hemant's daughter) is on her way of becoming a successful Photographer. Her sisters Lata and Usha Mangeshkar are playback singers. The other two siblings, sister Meena Mangeshkar and brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar are music directors.

She is a successful restaurateur and runs restaurants in Dubai and Kuwait, called Asha's. Asha's offers traditional north-western Indian cuisine. It has a presence in the Wafi City development in Dubai, as well as two restaurants in Kuwait. Asha Bhosle has a 20% stake in the business. Asha is not involved in day-to-day running of the restaurant which is looked after by the Wafi Group. She takes care of the kitchen and the décor. She personally trained the chefs for almost six months. According to a December 2004 report in the Menu Magazine, Russell Scott, a former head of Harry Ramsden's (the fish and chips chain), secured the UK rights to the Asha's brand and planned to open up to 40 restaurants over the next five years. As part of her chain of restaurants, Asha's, Ashatai has recently opened a new restaurant in Birmingham, UK.

Her fashion statement is white sarees with sparkling embroidery, pearls around her neck and diamonds. Harrington of Kronos Quartet said "The first time I met Ashaji she was dressed in the most beautiful sari with diamonds and looked very regal. Then I looked down and saw that she was wearing tennis shoes! I thought I love this woman."She is a good mimicry artist as well. At a concert at World Trade Center in Dubai on April 22, 2004, she mimicked the song Kabhi To Nazar Milaao in the voices of Noor Jehan, Lata Mangeshkar and Ghulam Ali.

Nowadays, apart from singing and her restaurant, Asha is also working on her autobiography.

A.R. Rahman

Born:  January 6, 1966, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Birth name:   A. S. Dileep Kumar

Also known as:  A. R. Rahman, ARR, AR
Profession:  Music Composer & Singer


A. R. Rahman was born in a musically affluent Tamil family. His father R. K. Shekhar, was a Chennai based composer and conductor for Malayalam films. Rahman lost his father at a young age and his family rented out musical equipment as a source of income. He was raised by his mother Kareema (Kashturi). During these formative years, Rahman served as a keyboard player and an arranger in bands such as "Roots", with childhood friend and percussionist Sivamani, John Anthony, Suresh Peters, JoJo and Raja.He is the founder of the Chennai-based rock group, "Nemesis Avenue". He played the keyboard and piano, the synthesizer, the harmonium and the guitar. His curiosity in the synthesizer, in particular increased because, he says, it was the “ideal combination of music and technology". He began early training in music under Master Dhanraj. At the age of 11, he joined, as a keyboardist, the troupe of Ilaiyaraaja, one of many composers to whom musical instruments belonging to Rahman's father were rented. Rahman later played in the orchestra of M. S. Viswanathan and Ramesh Naidu, accompanied Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and L. Shankar on world tours and obtained a scholarship to the Trinity College of Music where he graduated with a degree in Western classical music.

He is married to Saira Banu and has three children, Khadijah, Rahima, and Aameen. Rahman is the uncle of composer G. V. Prakash Kumar, who is the son of Rahman's elder sister, A. R. Reihana. He is related to south indian actor Rahman. Rahman is a practising Sufi Muslim. He had become an atheist as a result of childhood struggles, he eventually converted in to Islam in 1989, the religion of his mother's family.

In 1992, Rahman began his own music recording and mixing studio attached to the backyard of his house called the Panchathan Record Inn, which was developed into India's most advanced recording studio. He initially composed music jingles for advertisements, Indian Television channels and music scores in documentaries, among other projects. In 1992, he was approached by film director Mani Ratnam to compose the score and soundtrack for Ratnam's Tamil film Roja. The debut led Rahman to receive the Rajat Kamal award for Best Music Director at the National Film Awards, the first time ever by a first-time film composer. Roja's score met with high sales and acclaim, in its original and dubbed versions, bringing about a marked change in film music at the time, and Rahman followed that success up with his work on the music for Kadhalan, including samples of various music styles such as rap.He also produced music scores for Tamil–language films of the Chennai film industry including Ratnam's politically charged Bombay, the urbanite Kadhalan, Bharathiraaja's Karuththamma, the saxophonic Duet, Indira, and the romantic comedies Mr. Romeo and Love Birds, which gained him considerable notice. His fanbase in Japan increased with Muthu 's success there. His soundtracks gained him recognition in the Tamil Nadu film industry and across the world for his stylistic versatality in his pieces including in Western classical, Carnatic, Tamil traditional/folk, jazz, reggae and rock music.He has since then gone on to win the award three more times (for his scores for Minsaara Kanavu (Electric Dreams, Tamil) in 1997, Lagaan (Tax, Hindi) in 2002, Kannathil Muthamittal (A Peck on the Cheek, Tamil) in 2003, the most ever by any composer.The Bombay Theme—from Ratnam's Bombay—would later reappear in Deepa Mehta's Fire and various compilations and media. Rangeela, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, marked Rahman's debut for Hindi-language films made in the Mumbai film industry. Many successful scores for films including Dil Se and the percussive Taal followed. Sufi mysticism would form the basis of Chaiyya Chaiyya from the former and the composition "Zikr" from his score of the film Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero for which he created large orchestral and choral arrangements. Musical cues in scores for Sangamam and Iruvar employed Carnatic vocals and instruments such as the veena with leads of rock guitar and jazz. In the 2000s Rahman created hit scores for Rajiv Menon's Kandukondain Kandukondain, Alaipayuthey, Ashutosh Gowariker's Swades and Rang De Basanti. He composed songs with Hindustani motifs for Water (2005).

He has worked with Indian poets and lyricists such as Javed Akhtar, Gulzar, Mehboob, Vairamuthu and Vaali. His collaborations with some film directors have always resulted in successful soundtracks, particularly with the director Mani Ratnam whom he has worked with since Roja, all of which have been hits, and the director S. Shankar in the films Gentleman, Kadhalan, Indian, Jeans, Mudhalvan, Nayak, Boys and Sivaji.He attached and opened a developed extension studio to his Panchathan Record Inn in 2005 called AM Studios in Kodambakkam, Chennai — considered to be the most developed, equipped and high tech studio in Asia. In 2006, Rahman launched his own music label, KM Music. Its first release was his score to the film Sillunu Oru Kaadhal. Rahman scored the Mandarin language picture Warriors of Heaven and Earth in 2003 after researching and utilizing Chinese and Japanese classical music, and co-scored the Shekhar Kapoor helmed Elizabeth: The Golden Age in 2007. His compositions have been reused in scores within India and have made appearances in Inside Man, Lord of War, Divine Intervention and The Accidental Husband. In 2008, he scored the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, for which he won a Golden Globe and two Academy Awards, becoming the first Indian citizen to do so.

He has been involved in several projects aside from film. He made an album Vande Mataram (1997) on India's 50th anniversary of independence to commercial success. He followed it up with an album for the Bharat Bala–directed video Jana Gana Mana, a conglomeration of performances by many leading exponents/artists of Indian classical music. Rahman has written jingles for ads and composed several orchestrations for athletic events, T.V. and internet media publications, documentaries and short films.

In 1999 Rahman, along with choreographers Shobhana and Prabhu Deva Sundaram and a Tamil cinema dancing troupe performed with Michael Jackson in Munich, Germany, for his "Michael Jackson and Friends Concert." In 2002, he composed his maiden stage production Bombay Dreams (2002) following a commission from musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, a success in London's West End. With Finnish folk music band Värttinä, he wrote the music for The Lord of the Rings theatre production and in 2004, Rahman composed the piece "Raga's Dance" for Vanessa-Mae's album Choreography.In the last six years, Rahman has performed three successful world tours of his concerts to audiences in Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Dubai, UK, Canada, the US (Hollywood Bowl and 3d tour) and India.He has been collaborating with Karen David for her upcoming studio album. A two-disc soundtrack, Introducing A. R. Rahman (2006) featuring 25 pieces he composed from his Tamil film scores was released in May 2006. His non-film album, Connections was launched on 12 December, 2008.

Udit Narayan

Born: 1955 , Birpur, Nepal

Occupation: Singer, television personality

Udit Narayan was born in Bhardah, in Saptari district in the Terai plains of Nepal in 1955. He received training from Pandit Dinkar Kaffini. He began his career by singing in Nepali, Maithili, and Bhojpuri . He was initially denied a job at Radio Nepal. He sang folk songs for Radio Nepal throughout the early 1970s. In 1978, he moved to Mumbai on a music scholarship. In Mumbai, he was trained in Indian classical music for six years at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

He is a Maithil Brahmin and a resident of Mumbai. He is married and has one son. His wife Deepa Narayan (from Darjeeling) whom he married in 1985, is an accomplished Nepalese singer, and the two recorded an album together titled Dil Deewana.His son Aditya Narayan started his career singing for child artists in Hindi movies in the 1990's. More recently, he has been the host of Indian television singing competition Sa Re Ga Ma Pa for the last 2 seasons.On 20 April 2006 Ranjana Jha, a resident of the Supaul district in Bihar, created a controversy by claiming to be Udit Narayan's first wife. While he initially rejected her claims, after she presented photographs and documents to prove her claim he finally agreed to recognize her as his wife and reached a settlement with her.

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 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. The film also brought actor Aamir Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and playback singer Alka Yagnik to stardom. After the success of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, he became one of the leading playback singers in the Indian film industry, lending his voice mostly in Aamir Khan movies like Dil, and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander. At the same time, he became a well-known celebrity in Nepal and sang in many popular Nepalese movies. He even acted in some Nepalese movies like Kusume Rumal and Pirati, but did not achieve much success.

He has worked with musicians like Rahul Dev Burman, Jagjit Singh, Anu Malik, Jatin Lalit, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, Bappi Lahiri, Vishal Bhardwaj, A. R. Rahman, Nadeem-Shravan, Rajesh Roshan, Shankar Mahadevan, Himesh Reshammiya, Pritam Chakraborty, Vishal-Shekhar, and leading directors like Yash Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and Karan Johar. These include Darr, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil To Pagal Hai, Mohabbatein, Devdas, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Swades, and Veer Zaara. Throughout the 1990s, he was one of the most successful singers in India.[citation needed] In 1995, his song "Mehndi Lagake Rakhna" from the movie Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge won him his second Filmfare Award after 7 years. The following year, he was nominated for three songs out of five and won his third National award for the song "Pardesi Pardesi" from Raja Hindustani.He has collaborated with a variety of singers, including Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Anup Jalota, and Pankaj Udhas.His repertoire includes songs in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, English and Malayalam.

He has worked in Nepalese films as well, in particular for composer Shambhujeet Baskota. During his early singing career, he performed songs composed by Shiva Shankar, Natikaji and Gopal Yonzan. In 2004, he released his first private Nepalese album Upahaar, in which he also sang duets with his wife Deepa Jha. At the Hits FM Awards 2004 he won awards in two major categories for the album, Record of the Year and Album of the Year.[citation needed] Some of Narayan's other private albums are Bhajan Sangam, Bhajan Vatika, I love You, Dil Deewana, Yeh Dosti, Love is Life, Jhumka de Jhumka, Sona No Ghadulo, Dhuli Ganga, and Ma Tarini.He was in the panel of judges on Sony TV for Waar Pariwaar, a reality show based on the bringing together of a singing gharana (family of singers). He shares judging duties with fellow playback singer Kumar Sanu and Jatin Pandit of the famous music duo Jatin-Lalit.

He has performed in many stage shows in India and abroad and is the recipient of a large number of awards. These include Screen Videocon Award, MTV Best Video Award and Pride of India Gold Award.

Kavita Krishnamurthy

Birth name: Sharada Krishnamurthy

Born: January 25 1962, Delhi, India
Profession: Playback Singing

Kavita Krishnamurthy was born in New Delhi. Her father, Mr. T.S. Krishnamurthy was an official employed with the Education Ministry. She began her music training with her aunt, Mrs. Bhattacharya, who taught her Rabindra Sangeet. As she completed her training, she began her formal training in Hindustani classical music under the aegis of Sri. Balram Puri, a noted classical singer. At the young age of eight, Kavita won a gold medal at a music competition. Subsequently, she kept winning many such gold medals as she kept participating in the Inter-Ministry Classical Competition in New Delhi in the mid 1960s.

She married violin maestro Dr. L. Subramaniam in Bangalore on November 11 1999. They have no children. Dr. Subramaniam has three children from his previous marriage but Kavita treats them as if they are her own children. Their daughter Seetha is a law graduate and is currently working on an English album. Narayanan, the middle one, is a qualified doctor and has an ear for music. The youngest one is Ambi Subramaniam, who is a featured soloist in the Bangalore-based band "Astral Symphony" and has recorded and has given several concerts with his proud parents. She now resides in Bangalore because her husband likes the city a lot and decided to make it his base. She is open to working outside Bangalore but the only condition that she needs to be with her family. Kavita and her husband are now planning a music institute in Bangalore. The Institute would be named after her late father-in-law Lakshminarayana, who was also her husband's guru. The idea is to make it a global institute. The institute would teach both Indian and Western music. She wants dedicated students to learn from the works of Mozart so that they could collaborate with Western musicians who come to India for tours. The seeds have been sown with violin classes. She says that she is not going to be involved in too many classes. Her role in the institute would be to supervise the teaching process and conduct workshops on how to interpret a song. Her secret desire is to create the best music library that India has ever had, which includes, a vast variety of world music. Dr. Subramaniam has already collected a lot of material to which they want teachers, dedicated students and enthusiasts to have access.

At the tender age of nine, she got an opportunity to record a Tagore song in Bengali with the legendary Lata Mangeshkar under the auspices of the music composer and singer Hemant Kumar. Although the young Sharada was aspiring to be working with Indian Foreign Services, Kavita moved to Bombay when she was just 14 to try her luck as a playback singer in the Hindi film industry. She is an alumnus of St. Xaviers' College, Bombay from where she acquired her Ph.D. in Economics. She was also very active in the St. Xaviers' Music Group during her college days. During the annual college festival (Malhar), she accidentally bumped into Ms. Ranu Mukherjee, the daughter of Hemant Kumar. Ranu took the initiative of reintroducing the Kavita to her father. As expected, he was highly impressed by her grounding in music, so he began using her talent as a singer during his live performances. In one such performance, playback singer Manna Dey spotted her talent and employed her to sing advertisement jingles. Through her aunt's strong contacts, she met Mrs. Jaya Chakravarthy, the mother of actress Hema Malini, who later took the initiative of introducing Kavita to the music director Laxmikant (one half of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal fame) in late 1976.

Laxmikant gave her an option to work as a dubbing artiste or a career in playback singing later. Kavita chose the former and impressed Laxmikant with her strong grounding in Indian classical music and her deep voice along with her soulful timbre. Initially, she used to record songs and cut demos of songs intended for singers like Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. In her struggle phase, she received the patronage of music composers Laxmikant--Pyarelal, who backed her so strongly that she was labelled as a "LP-campwalli" which gave many music directors an excuse to avoid working with her.

In 1980, she first sang the song, "Kaahe Ko Byaahi" in the film Maang Bharo Sajna, which featured her singing talent in her own voice. Unfortunately, the song was dropped from the final cut of the film. In 1985, her career took off with her first major hit, "Tumse Milkar Na Jaane Kyon" from the Hindi film Pyaar Jhukta Nahin. Post the success of the song, it opened up various opportunities beyond the Laxmikant-Pyarelal camp. However, "Hawa Hawaii" and "Karte Hain Hum Pyaar Mr. India Se", two extremely popular songs from the equally popular movie Mr. India (1987), proved to be a turning point in her career. (The songs were composed by music composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal, the latter being a duet with Kishore Kumar and lip-synced on screen by actress Sridevi). Her collaboration with Laxmikant-Pyarelal produced several hits.

The 1990s thrust Kavita to being known as the undisputed leading female playback singer. In 1994, Kavita had the rare honour to be the only female singer after Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle to sing for the institution himself R.D. Burman. Her performance as a singer in the film 1942: A Love Story, composed by R.D. Burman won her a lot of popular acclaim. She went onto work with the best music directors of Hindi films of the 1990s, such as Ismail Darbar, Nadeem-Shravan, A.R. Rahman, Jatin-Lalit, Anu Malik etc. During her stint as a playback singer, she sang duets with the leading male singers of her times like Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Udit Narayan, Mohd. Aziz and Shabbir Kumar.Post her marriage to violin maestro Dr. L. Subramaniam in Bangalore on November 11 1999, Kavita got extremely selective and cut down on her film singing. She started exploring her talent and expanded her artistic range to areas which were never explored. She was the main featured soloist in the "Global Fusion" album released by Warner Bros., featuring musicians from all the five continents. As she actively started exploring her talent in fusion music, Kavita's exemplary voice took her all around the world including to the US, UK, Europe, Africa, Australia, The Far East, The Middle East and South America. She performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world including the Royal Albert Hall in London, The Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C., Madison Square Gardens, The Lincoln Centre in New York, the Zhongshan Music Hall in Beijing, The Esplanade in Singapore, The Putra Jaya World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Gewandhaus Leipzigm among others.

Although primarily a playback singer, Kavita has explored her talent and sung with orchestras as a soloist, she collaborated with Western artists from Jazz, Pop and Classical fields. She has lent her voice for ghazals and devotional music albums. Both as a fusion music singer and as a playback singer, Kavita has performed in every nook and corner of India.