Anuradha Paudwal
Encyclopedia
Anuradha Paudwal is a popular playback singer
in Bollywood
in India
.
She has sung songs in Hindi
, Marathi
and Nepali
.
, 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 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 initial 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.
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.
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.
Playback singer
A playback singer is a singer whose singing is prerecorded for use in movies. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras, while the actual singer does not appear on screen.-South Asia:...
in Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
She has sung songs in Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
and Nepali
Nepali
Nepali and Nepalese may refer to something of, from, or related to Nepal, such as* Nepali language, a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family* Nepali literature* Nepali Congress, a Nepalese political party...
.
Biography
She studied at Xavier's College in Mumbai. She was married to the late Arun PaudwalArun Paudwal
Arun Paudwal was a famous music composer in Bollywood in India. He was married to Anuradha Paudwal, a well known singer from Bollywood. He worked with music director S. D. Burman for some time.-Music career:...
, who worked with music director S. D. Burman as his assistant. Her singing career started in 1973 with the movie, Abhimaan
Abhimaan
Abhimaan is a 1973 Bollywood film starring Amitabh Bachchan; his real-life wife, Jaya Bachchan; Asrani; and Bindu. It was directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee.The film is perhaps best remembered for its songs, composed and arranged by the late S. D...
, (starring Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades...
and Jaya Bachchan
Jaya Bachchan
Jaya Bhaduri Bachchan is an Indian actress and politician. She is an alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Bachchan is the wife of Amitabh Bachchan, and is the mother of Shweta Bachchan-Nanda and Abhishek Bachchan...
) in which she sang a Shloka
Shloka
A ' is a category of verse line developed from the Vedic Anuṣṭubh. It is the basis for Indian Epic verse, and may be considered the Indian verse form par excellence, occurring, as it does, far more frequently than any other meter in classical Sanskrit poetry. The Mahabharata and Ramayana, for...
(a Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
verse). In the same year she also made her Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
film debut with "Yashoda" (music by Datta Davjekar
Datta Davjekar
Dattatreya Shankar Davjekar better known as Datta Davjekar or Datta Daujeker was a veteran music composer mainly associated with Marathi and Hindi movies...
). In 1974, she brought out a record of Non-film Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
songs or "bhav geeten" which became very popular.
In 1976, she got her break as a playback singer in Hindi films with Kalicharan
Kalicharan
Kalicharan is a 1976 Indian film directed by Subhash Ghai and starring Shatrughan Sinha, Reena Roy, Ajit, Danny Denzongpa, Madan Puri and Premnath. The film became a box office hit. The film was the directorial debut of Subhash Ghai and was the breakthrough role for stars Shatrughan Sinha and Reena...
(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 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
Gulshan Kumar
Gulshan Kumar was the founder of the T-Series music label , the best known in India, and an Indian Bollywood movie producer. T series is now run by his son Bhushan Kumar...
, and began a success streak with the movies, Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka
Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka
Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka is a Hindi movie released in 1989. Although, it was just a telefilm and not released on big screen, it was a huge success. The movie is known for its popular songs. The music for the songs was provided by Anand-Milind.-Soundtrack:...
, Tezaab
Tezaab
Tezaab , released on 11 November 1988, is an Indian Hindi movie. This was the movie that gave actress Madhuri Dixit her first big break and reaffirmed Anil Kapoor's status, after a successful Mr India .The film was directed by N. Chandra. The music is by Laxmikant-Pyarelal...
, Aashiqui
Aashiqui
Aashiqui is a 1990 Bollywood romance film, particularly noted for its music. The film made the careers of Kumar Sanu, Anuradha Paudwal and Nadeem-Shravan. It was released on 23 July 1990.-Plot:...
, and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin
Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin
Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin is a Bollywood film released in 1991. It was produced by Gulshan Kumar, directed by Mahesh Bhatt, and starred his daughter Pooja Bhatt in the lead female role. The lead male role was played by Aamir Khan. Anupam Kher, Sameer Chitre, Tiku Talsania, and Deepak Tijori played...
. She along with Gulshan Kumar were instrumental in getting many unknown playback singers to the fore, including Kumar Sanu
Kumar Sanu
Kumar Sanu Kumar Sanu Kumar Sanu (alias Kedarnath Bhattacharya , born in Kolkata, is a leading Indian Bollywood playback singer. He was awarded the Filmfare Best Male Playback Award over five consecutive years. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 2009....
, Udit Narayan
Udit Narayan
-Career:King of melody, Udit Narayan Jha was born on 1 December, 1955 in a village called Bhardaha in the Saptari district , Nepal. His father was Hare Krishna Jha and his mother was Bhuwaneshwari Devi.Narayan studied at P.B...
, Abhijeet, Sonu Nigam
Sonu Nigam
Sonu Nigam is an Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured in numerous Hindi movies, as well as films in Assamese, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada language. He has also released numerous Indi-pop albums and acted in a few Hindi feature films...
. New Music directors, including her husband Arun Paudwal, were introduced to the music world. Nadeem-Shravan, Anu Malik
Anu Malik
Anu Malik , born Anwar Sardaar Malik, is a famous music director in the Hindi film industry. Son of veteran music director Sardar Malek, Anu Malik made his debut as a music composer in the year 1977. After a considerable period of struggle, the 90's welcomed Anu with hits like 'Phir Teri Kahani...
, Anand-Milind
Anand-Milind
Anand and Milind are an Indian music directors duo consisting of Anand Shrivastav and his younger brother Milind. They have composed music for over 200 Bollywood films and are the sons of 60s music director, Chitragupta.-Career:...
, 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 initial 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.
Controversies
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. She was also under much controversy when she dubbed the songs of Alka YagnikAlka Yagnik
Alka Yagnik is an Indian singer who is ranked among the best Hindi playback singers of all time. She is a seven-time winner of the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award as well as a two-time recipient of the prestigious National Film Awards...
in the film "Dil". This also caused rifts between Anand-Milind
Anand-Milind
Anand and Milind are an Indian music directors duo consisting of Anand Shrivastav and his younger brother Milind. They have composed music for over 200 Bollywood films and are the sons of 60s music director, Chitragupta.-Career:...
and Alka Yagnik
Alka Yagnik
Alka Yagnik is an Indian singer who is ranked among the best Hindi playback singers of all time. She is a seven-time winner of the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award as well as a two-time recipient of the prestigious National Film Awards...
, thereby causing them to not collaborate for 2 years.
Later in 1998, Anuradha Paudwal dubbed the songs of Alka Yagnik
Alka Yagnik
Alka Yagnik is an Indian singer who is ranked among the best Hindi playback singers of all time. She is a seven-time winner of the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award as well as a two-time recipient of the prestigious National Film Awards...
once again for the film Itihaas, this time under the music direction of Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen. However, Alka Yagnik
Alka Yagnik
Alka Yagnik is an Indian singer who is ranked among the best Hindi playback singers of all time. She is a seven-time winner of the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award as well as a two-time recipient of the prestigious National Film Awards...
, 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
Alka Yagnik
Alka Yagnik is an Indian singer who is ranked among the best Hindi playback singers of all time. She is a seven-time winner of the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award as well as a two-time recipient of the prestigious National Film Awards...
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
Anu Malik
Anu Malik , born Anwar Sardaar Malik, is a famous music director in the Hindi film industry. Son of veteran music director Sardar Malek, Anu Malik made his debut as a music composer in the year 1977. After a considerable period of struggle, the 90's welcomed Anu with hits like 'Phir Teri Kahani...
, 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
Pandit Jasraj
Pandit Jasraj is an Indian classical vocalist. He is the foremost exponent of the Mewati Gharana of Hindustani classical music.-Early life:Jasraj was born in Hisar, Haryana in an orthodox brahmin family to Pandit Motiramji, a classical exponent. His family is well known for singing in the Mewati...
on his "Geet Govind , many devotional albums with Anup Jalota
Anup Jalota
Anup Jalota is an Indian singer/musician, best known for his performances in the Indian musical form, the bhajan and the Urdu form of poetry: ghazal.He is popularly known as the Bhajan Samraat .-Early life:...
. Her voice is well suited on devotional numbers.
Marathi
Anuradha sang in a number of MarathiMarathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
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.
Awards and recognition
- 1986: Filmfare AwardFilmfare AwardsThe Filmfare Awards are presented annually by The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Hindi language film industry of India. The Filmfare ceremony is one of the oldest and most prominent film events given for Hindi films in India. The awards were...
in the Best Female Playback category for the song Mere Mann Bajaa Mridang in the movie, UtsavUtsavUtsav is a 1984 Hindi film, produced by Shashi Kapoor and directed by Girish Karnad.The film stars Shashi Kapoor, Rekha, Amjad Khan, Anuradha Patel, Shekhar Suman, Anupam Kher, Shankar Nag, Neena Gupta, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Annu Kapoor, Sanjana Kapoor and Kunal Kapoor.The role played by Shashi...
. - 1990: National Film AwardNational Film AwardsThe National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it is administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.Every year, a national panel...
for female playback for the song He Ek Reshami in the Marathi film Kalat Nakalat - 1991: Filmfare AwardFilmfare AwardsThe Filmfare Awards are presented annually by The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Hindi language film industry of India. The Filmfare ceremony is one of the oldest and most prominent film events given for Hindi films in India. The awards were...
in the Best Female Playback category for the song Nazar Ke Saamne in the movie, AashiquiAashiquiAashiqui is a 1990 Bollywood romance film, particularly noted for its music. The film made the careers of Kumar Sanu, Anuradha Paudwal and Nadeem-Shravan. It was released on 23 July 1990.-Plot:...
. - 1992: Filmfare AwardFilmfare AwardsThe Filmfare Awards are presented annually by The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Hindi language film industry of India. The Filmfare ceremony is one of the oldest and most prominent film events given for Hindi films in India. The awards were...
in the Best Female Playback category for the song Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahi in the movie, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin. - 1993: Filmfare AwardFilmfare AwardsThe Filmfare Awards are presented annually by The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Hindi language film industry of India. The Filmfare ceremony is one of the oldest and most prominent film events given for Hindi films in India. The awards were...
in the Best Female Playback category for Dhak dhak in the movie, BetaBeta (film)Beta is a 1992 Hindi movie directed by Indra Kumar. The film featured the pairing of Madhuri Dixit with Anil Kapoor in lead roles...
. - 2011: Mother Teresa Award for Lifetime Achivement