List of Famous Playback Singers
- Bipasha Basu, a renowned figure in the Indian film industry, has made her mark as a leading actress and model. Born on January 7, 1979, in Delhi, India, she was raised in Kolkata where she first discovered her passion for the performing arts. Prior to her acting career, she won the Godrej Cinthol Supermodel contest in 1996, leading to a successful modeling career which eventually paved the way for her entry into Bollywood. In 2001, Basu made her acting debut in the film Ajnabee, garnering recognition and winning the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. This success was followed by a series of roles in commercial hits such as Raaz and Jism, solidifying her status in the industry. Known for her distinctive portrayal of strong female characters, she received critical acclaim for her performances in No Entry, Dhoom 2, and Race. Her roles often challenged the traditional stereotypes of women in Bollywood, making her a symbol of change and empowerment. Beyond her acting career, Basu is also recognized for her fitness advocacy. She released various fitness DVDs, promoting healthy living and body positivity among her followers. She also authored a book titled The Love Yourself, sharing her insights about achieving physical well-being. Basu's multifaceted career, spanning from modeling to acting and fitness advocacy, underscores her versatility and dedication to her craft.
- Amitabh Bachchan, a name synonymous with Indian cinema, has carved an indelible niche in the world of acting. Born on October 11, 1942 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, Bachchan's journey in the film industry began in the early 1970s. He is the son of renowned Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan and social activist Teji Bachchan. His educational qualifications include a double major in Science and Arts from Delhi University. Bachchan's initial years in Bollywood were met with struggle and rejection due to his unconventional looks and deep baritone voice. However, these very characteristics later became his trademark. He shot to stardom with the film Zanjeer in 1973, earning him the title Angry Young Man. Over the course of his career, he starred in over 200 films, many of which are considered classics, such as Sholay, Deewar, Don, and Black. His portrayal of diverse characters with exceptional versatility won him numerous awards, including multiple National Film Awards and Filmfare Awards. Despite facing a life-threatening injury during the shooting of Coolie in 1982, Bachchan's resilience saw him return to the screen stronger than ever. In addition to his film career, he hosted the popular television game show Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian adaptation of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. Bachchan's contribution to the arts extends beyond acting; he lent his voice as a playback singer in several movies and narrated numerous films. Recognising his outstanding contribution to the Indian film industry, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1984, the Padma Bhushan in 2001, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2015.
- Vijay, born as Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar, is a prodigy of South Indian cinema. An embodiment of talent, he was born and raised in Chennai, India, on June 22, 1974. His parents, S. A. Chandrasekhar and Shoba Chandrasekhar, both prominent figures of the Tamil film industry, were instrumental in shaping his passion for acting. Vijay completed his education at Loyola College, Chennai, before making his entry into the film industry. Vijay's journey in the film industry began at an early age with his debut in the drama Naalaiya Theerpu directed by his father. Despite a less than stellar start, Vijay remained undeterred and went on to star in films across various genres, proving his mettle as a versatile actor. His breakthrough performance came in the form of the romantic-comedy film Poove Unakkaga, which firmly established him as a leading actor in the Tamil film industry. Over the years, he has given performances that have been both commercially successful and critically acclaimed. His roles in movies like Ghilli, Thuppakki, and Mersal are highly regarded and have earned him numerous awards. Apart from being a gifted actor, Vijay is also known for his philanthropic activities. He founded the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam, a social welfare organization, through which he has been involved in several charitable activities. He has been consistently engaged in providing assistance during natural calamities and extending support to the underprivileged.The 60 Best Joseph Vijay MoviesSee all
- 1Thuppakki331 Votes
- 2Ghilli268 Votes
- 3Pokkiri260 Votes
- Kamal Haasan, a name synonymous with the Indian film industry, was born on November 7, 1954, in Paramakudi, Tamil Nadu, India. His journey in cinema began at an early age of six with the film Kalathur Kannamma, for which he received the President's Gold Medal. Haasan's versatility and dedication to his craft have seen him excel in various roles as an actor, director, producer, and playback singer. His notable performances span across five different languages - Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi, marking him as a truly pan-Indian artist. Haasan is known for his pioneering efforts in pushing the boundaries of Indian cinema. His commitment to realism and strong social narratives have been a constant throughout his career. Films like Nayakan, Indian, and Anbe Sivam have not only garnered critical acclaim but have also made a significant impact on society. These films are celebrated for their nuanced storytelling, complex characters, and Haasan's riveting performances. His directorial ventures, such as Hey Ram and Virumaandi, are equally lauded for their innovative storytelling and technical brilliance. Throughout his illustrious career, Haasan has been honored with numerous awards and recognitions. He has four National Film Awards to his credit and has been nominated for the prestigious Filmfare Awards 19 times, out of which he won 16. In 1990, he was awarded the Padma Shri and later the Padma Bhushan in 2014 by the Government of India for his contributions to Indian Cinema. Kamal Haasan's life and work serve as an inspiration, encapsulating the spirit of artistry, innovation, and relentless pursuit of excellence.The 30+ Best Kamal Haasan Movies, RankedSee all
- 1Nayakan158 Votes
- 2Apoorva Sagodharargal120 Votes
- 3Thevar Magan106 Votes
- The Indian name Mohandas is a patronymic, not a family name; thus, the person should be referred to by her given name, "Mamta".Mamta Mohandas is an Indian film actress and playback singer who predominantly works in Malayalam films along with Tamil and Telugu productions. She has won several accolades including two Filmfare Awards South, for Best Female Playback Singer in Telugu in 2006 and for Best Actress in Malayalam in 2010 and also Kerala State Film Awards for Best Actress in 2010.
- Andrea Jeremiah is an actress who appeared in "Master," "Uttama Villain," and "Aval."
- Prithviraj Sukumaran (born 16 October 1982) is an Indian film actor, director, producer, and playback singer, known for his works primarily in the Malayalam cinema. He has also worked in the Tamil, Bollywood and Telugu language films. He has appeared in more than 100 films in a variety of roles, and has received several awards, including the National Film Awards, Kerala State Film Awards and Filmfare Awards South.Director Ranjith cast Prithviraj in the 2002 romantic-drama Nandanam, his acting debut was a commercial success. He established himself as a successful leading actor in the following years. In 2006, he starred in the coming-of-age romance film Classmates, which became the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever. In the same year, he won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor for his performances in Vaasthavam, becoming the youngest recipient of the award at the age of 24. The 2009 action film Puthiya Mukham marked his debut as a playback singer. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor again in 2012 for the medical drama Ayalum Njanum Thammil and the biographical film Celluloid.In 2010, he began co-producing films for the production house August Cinema, starting with the historical film Urumi which he also starred in. In 2011, he co-produced and starred in the social drama Indian Rupee, for which he received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam and Kerala State Film Award for Best Film. In 2014, he won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Villain for his performance in Kaaviya Thalaivan. His 2015 period film Ennu Ninte Moideen and 2017 horror thriller Ezra are both amongst the top ten highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time. He ended his partnership with August Cinema in 2017 and launched an independent production house, Prithviraj Productions, debuting with the 2019 science fiction film 9. Prithviraj made his directorial debut in 2019 with Lucifer which became the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever.The 70+ Best Prithviraj Sukumaran MoviesSee all
1Mumbai Police249 Votes- 2Memories243 Votes
- 3Classmates221 Votes
- Nithya Menen (born 8 April 1988) is a multilingual Indian film actress and playback singer. She primarily works in South Indian films, where she has established herself as a leading actress. She is recipient of three Filmfare Awards for the Telugu films Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde, Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju and Mersal in Tamil. After making her acting debut as a child in the 1998 English film The Monkey Who Knew Too Much, Nithya played her first supporting role in Kannada film 7 O' Clock. She made her debut in leading role in Malayalam with Akasha Gopuram, Telugu with Ala modalaindi and Tamil with 180. In August 2019, she made her Bollywood debut with Mission Mangal.
- Kennedy John Victor (born 17 April 1966), better known by his stage name Vikram or Chiyaan Vikram, is an Indian actor and singer who predominantly appears in Tamil language films. He has won seven Filmfare Awards as well as one National Film Award and Tamil Nadu State Film Award amongst other recognitions and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the People's University of Milan in May 2011. He made his debut in the 1990 film En Kadhal Kanmani, which was followed by a series of small-budget Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films in the 1990s, many of which went unnoticed. However, the success of Bala's tragedy film Sethu (1999), in which Vikram appeared as a rogue turned lover, started Vikram's successful career as an actor. In the early 2000s, Vikram appeared in a series of masala films, with Dhill (2001), Gemini (2002), Dhool (2003) and Saamy (2003) becoming commercially successful ventures. During the period, Vikram also appeared in diverse roles and received critical acclaim for his performance as a blind villager in Kasi and a Robin Hood-esque figure in Samurai. In 2003, Vikram's performance as a gravedigger with autism spectrum disorders in Bala's Pithamagan saw him win the National Film Award for Best Actor, with his character only speaking a couple of lines of dialogue in the entire film. His appearance as an idealistic lawyer with multiple personality disorder in Shankar's blockbuster Anniyan (2005) also won critical acclaim, as did his appearance as a superhero in Kanthaswamy (2009). Vikram's portrayal of Veeraiya, a tribal leader inspired by the Ramayana character Ravana, in Mani Ratnam's Raavanan saw him secure further accolades, as did his appearance as a mentally challenged adult with the maturity of a six-year-old boy in Deiva Thirumagal (2011). He consequently appeared in multiple get-ups as a bodybuilder and a crippled hunchback, losing up to 35 kilograms for sequences, during the making of Shankar's romantic thriller I (2015) and won rave reviews from critics for his performance. It is currently the sixth highest-grossing Tamil film of all time.Vikram has promoted various social causes and appeared as the Youth Envoy for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in 2011. He has been a brand ambassador of Sanjeevani Trust and a school for special children, Vidya Sudha, which he stayed at during the making of Deiva Thirumagal as well as having long-term associations with the Kasi Eye Care and running his own welfare association through the Vikram Foundation. In 2016, he produced and directed the video to the flood relief anthem, Spirit of Chennai, as a tribute to the city's volunteers following the 2015 South Indian floods.
Vani Jayaram
Vani Jairam is a playback singer in Indian cinema, primarily in South Indian languages, although she has a wider repertoire. Vani's career started in 1971 and has spanned over four decades. She has sung playback for several Indian movies. In addition, she has recorded several private albums and participated in numerous solo concerts in India and abroad. Songs like Ezhu Swarangalukkul, Keliviyin Nayangane, Ennulil Engo, Yaaradhu sollamal, Megamae Megamae, Kavidhai Kelungal Nadhamenum "Aana kana" and "Sugamana ragangale" are her musical tracks that were regarded as difficult. Known for her voice range, Vani's genres are film music, pop, ghazals, bhajans, traditional Indian classical music and folk songs. Apart from Hindi, she has sung in several Indian languages, such as Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Gujarati and Bengali languages. Vani won the National Film Awards for Best Female Playback Singer three times and also has won State Government awards from the states of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.- Silambarasan "Simbu" Thesingu Rajendar (born 3 February 1983), also credited as S. T. R., is an Indian film actor, director, writer, music composer, dancer, lyricist and playback singer in the Tamil film industry. He began his career by playing roles as a child artist in films directed by his father T. Rajendar, before his first lead role in Kadhal Azhivathillai (2002), under his father's direction and produced by his mother Usha.
- Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr. (born 20 May 1983), also known as Jr. N.T R ( or ) Tarak, is an Indian film actor, Kuchipudi dancer, playback singer and television personality known for his works in Telugu cinema. He is the grandson of Telugu actor N. T. Rama Rao, who was the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and who was commonly referred to as "NTR". In 1996, he starred as a child artist in Ramayanam, which won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film for that year. His debut as an adult was in 2000 with the film Ninnu Choodalani. In his film career spanning 18 years, Rao has worked in twenty eight films. He has received two state Nandi Awards, two Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Awards and four CineMAA Awards. He received critical reception for his performance in works such as Student No.1 (2001), Aadi (2002), Simhadri (2003), Yamadonga (2007), Brindavanam (2010 film) (2010), Temper (2015), Nannaku Prematho (2016), Janatha Garage (2016) and Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018). He was ranked 27th in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list in 2012 with an annual income of ₹190 million (US$3.042 Million) and 55th in 2016 with an annual income of ₹360 million.
- Sudeep Sanjeev, better known mononymously as Sudeep or Kichcha Sudeep, is an Indian film actor, director, producer, screenwriter and television presenter, who primarily works in Kannada cinema, in addition to appearances in a handful of Telugu, Hindi and Tamil films. Sudeep is known for his performances in the Kannada films Sparsha (2000), Huchcha (2001), Nandhi (2002), Kiccha (2003), Swathi Muthu (2004), My Autograph (2006), Mussanjemaatu (2008), Veera Madakari (2009), Just Maath Maathalli (2010), Kempe Gowda (2011) and the Telugu-Tamil bilingual Eega (2012).He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Kannada for three consecutive years for his films Huchcha, Nandhi and Swathi Muthu. Since 2013, he has been hosting the television reality show Bigg Boss Kannada.
- P. Unnikrishnan (born 9 July 1966) is an Indian Carnatic vocalist and playback singer.
- Venkatesh Prabhu (born 28 July 1983), better known by his stage name Dhanush, is an Indian film actor, producer, director, writer, lyricist, screenwriter and playback singer who usually works in Tamil cinema.He has also starred in a couple Hindi filmsDhanush's first film was Thulluvadho Ilamai, a 2002 coming-of-age film directed by his father, Kasthuri Raja. Over the last 15 years, Dhanush has starred in over 25 films. Dhanush won the Best Actor award at the 58th National Film Awards for his performance in Aadukalam (2010). In 2011, Dhanush's popular song "Why this Kolaveri Di" became the first Indian music video to cross 100 million views on YouTube. Dhanush produces films through his production company, Wunderbar Films. In addition to his best actor award, he has a national award for a movie he produced, Visaranai. He has also won seven Filmfare Awards.The Best Dhanush Movies, RankedSee all
- 1Aadukalam504 Votes
- 2Polladhavan500 Votes
- 3Pudhupettai375 Votes
- Siddharth Suryanarayan (born 17 April 1979) is an Indian film actor who is known for his roles in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi language films. Apart from acting, he has also been involved in films as a screenwriter, producer and playback singer. He has been featured in advertising because of his "pan-Indian" appeal.After completing his business management studies, Siddharth chose to work in film making and assisted Mani Ratnam, before going on to make an acting debut in S. Shankar's coming-of-age Tamil film Boys (2003). The success of the film provided an opportunity to feature in Mani Ratnam's multi-starrer Aayutha Ezhuthu (2004), before he branched off to receive critical and commercial acclaim in Telugu and Hindi cinema through Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana (2005), Rang De Basanti and Bommarillu (2006). In the late 2000s, he established himself as a bankable lead actor in Telugu films and subsequently chose to become more selective with his projects, while also winning acclaim for his work as a carrom player in Striker (2010) and as a blind warrior in the fantasy film Anaganaga O Dheerudu (2011). In 2011, he returned to Tamil films after a sabbatical and produced Balaji Mohan's commercially successful romantic comedy Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi (2012). The actor then had a prolific year in 2014, winning critical acclaim and box office success for his two ventures; Jigarthanda, where he portrayed an aspiring film maker, and Kaaviya Thalaivan, in which he played an actor from the 1920s Madras theater scene.
- Abhishek Bachchan, a notable figure of Indian cinema, is known for his versatility in roles spanning from romantic leads to gritty characters. Born to legends of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan on February 5, 1976, he was destined for a life in the limelight. Despite the pressure that comes with such lineage, Bachchan carved out his own successful career in the film industry. Bachchan's journey in the entertainment world began in 2000 with his debut in J.P. Dutta's war film 'Refugee.' Although the film did not do well at the box office, it did not hinder Bachchan's progression as an actor. He explored various genres and roles, from playing a police officer in 'Dhoom' to portraying an ambitious politician in 'Sarkar.' His exceptional performances in films like 'Yuva,' 'Bunty Aur Babli,' and 'Guru' earned him several awards, demonstrating his ability to captivate audiences with his acting prowess. However, Bachchan's contributions extend beyond his cinematic exploits. He is also recognized for his social work and philanthropy. A sports enthusiast, he owns the Jaipur Pink Panthers, a team in the Pro Kabaddi League, and co-owns Chennaiyin FC, a team in the Indian Super League. Moreover, Bachchan has been an active participant in various charitable initiatives, notably supporting campaigns related to climate change and education. As a multifaceted personality, Abhishek Bachchan continues to leave an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and society.
- Anushka Manchanda (born 11 February 1984 in Delhi) is an Indian singer, model, actress and former VJ. She came to prominence as a member of the Indipop girl group Viva!. Manchanda was also a participant in the reality television series Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.
- Kailash Kher is an indian folk and indian classical music base playback singer and music composer, he sung songs with a music style influenced by Indian folk music and Sufi music He has sung in many languages, including Hindi, Gujarati, Nepali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Odia and Urdu. He has sung more than 700 songs in movies and five successful private albums, making him an important contributor to Indian music. He was inspired by the classical musician Pandit Kumar Gandharva, Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, and the Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.Kher received the Padma Shri award in 2017 from the Indian government. He has also received two Filmfare Awards for Best Male Playback Singer: one for the Bollywood movie Fanaa (2006) and one for the Telugu film Mirchi (2013), along with several other nominations. With his powerful voice and his unique style of music, Kher has established himself as one of the most popular playback singers of India.
- Blessed with an innate love for storytelling, Meena showcased her prowess in the realm of literature early on. Hailing from a modest background, she has risen to eminence as one of the most influential authors and playwrights. Born into a family that cherished the written word, Meena took to books at a young age, enriching her imagination and fostering her creative abilities. She started penning short stories at an elementary school age, engaging her classmates and teachers alike with the depth of her narratives. This childhood fascination laid the foundation for a successful career in literature that continues to inspire millions. Meena's writing style brims with simplicity, yet it powerfully encapsulates complex emotions and societal issues. Her works often portray strong, resilient female characters who challenge societal norms, thereby establishing her as a venerated voice of feminism in literature. Over the course of her illustrious career, she has written numerous novels, plays, and essays, each echoing her distinct narrative style. Her debut novel was met with critical acclaim and went on to win several prestigious awards, launching her into the limelight of the literary world. But Meena is not just an author; she is also a dedicated advocate for literacy. Recognizing the power of words, she has founded multiple literacy programs aimed at empowering underprivileged communities through education. Her altruistic efforts extend beyond simply providing resources; she actively participates in teaching workshops, instilling a love for reading and writing in the hearts of the younger generation.
- Preeti Sagar is a former Bollywood playback singer who won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Mero Gaam Katha Parey" from Manthan in 1978 and for the hit song "My Heart is Beating" from Julie (1975).
- Kunnisseri Veettil Raman Mani (1 January 1971 – 6 March 2016), better known by his stage name Kalabhavan Mani, was an Indian film actor and singer. Mani started his career as a mimicry artist with the Kalabhavan troupe. He has starred in over 200 films, including Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu films, and is renowned for his humorous characters and villain roles. He received the National Film Award – Special Jury Award and Kerala State Film Award for his performance as Ramu in Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njaanum (1999).
- Murali Karthikeyan Muthuraman, best known by stage name Karthik, is an Indian film actor, playback singer and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He is the son of actor R. Muthuraman. He was first introduced by Bharathiraja in the film Alaigal Oivathillai (1981). He has primarily appeared in lead roles in Tamil films, who was also known as Navarasa Nayagan (multi-talented). He has also appeared in some Telugu films. Karthik acted more than 125 films. He has been the recipient of the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and the Nandi Award. He won four Filmfare Awards South.
Sunitha Sarathy
Sunitha Sarathy is an Indian vocalist and performer in both Indian contemporary and Western classical music genres. She is also a gospel singer who performs in various church choirs. After having won the "Virgin Voice Choice" contest – a joint initiative of Channel V and Virgin Records in the year 2000, Sarathy debuted into film playback in the year 2002. She debuted as a playback singer with the Tamil film Yei! Nee Romba Azhagey Irruke guest-singing the prelude and interlude portions of the song "Ini Naanum Naanillai" with Srinivas and Sujatha Mohan as the lead singers. Sarathy has around 200 film songs in various languages, performances as singer-keyboardist-percussionist across a wide spectrum of Western music genres including classical, jazz, soul and R&B, neo-soul and quiet storm, and a prolific output of gospel songs to her credit.- Kanika may refer to:
- Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (born 4 June 1946) mostly referred to as S. P. B. or Balu is an Indian playback singer, music director, actor, dubbing artist and film producer who works predominantly in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam. He has recorded over 40,000 songs in 16 Indian languages. He has garnered six National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer for his works in four different languages; Telugu,Tamil,Kannada and Hindi; twenty five Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards for his works towards Telugu cinema, numerous other state awards from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In addition, he garnered the Bollywood Filmfare Award, and six Filmfare Awards South.He is honored with the Guinness World Record for recording the most film scores. In 2012, he received the state NTR National Award for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2016, he was honored with the Indian Film Personality of the Year consisting of a Silver Peacock Medal. He is a recipient of civilian awards such as Padma Shri (2001) and Padma Bhushan (2011) from the Government of India.
- Pradeep is a film score composer.
- Upendra (Devanagari: उपेन्द्र) is an Indian masculine given name. The meaning of the Sanskrit word upendra is "younger brother of Indra" and refers to either Krishna or Vishnu, who as a son of Aditi (or in the before Vamana avatar) was born subsequently to Indra.
- Kishore Kumar (4 August 1929 – 13 October 1987; born Abhas Kumar Ganguly) was an Indian playback singer, actor, music director, lyricist, film story writer, film director, producer and screenwriter. He is considered as one of the most popular and successful singers of Hindi film industry and from soft numbers to peppy tracks to romantic moods, Kumar sang in different genres but some of his rare compositions which were considered classics were lost in time. According to Ashok Kumar, Kumar's success lies in the fact that his voice used to hit the microphone straight at its most sensitive point.Apart from Hindi, he sang in many Indian languages including Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Bhojpuri, Malayalam and Urdu. He has also sung in private albums in several languages especially in Bengali. He won 8 Filmfare Awards for Best Male Playback Singer and holds the record for winning the most Filmfare Awards in that category. He was awarded the "Lata Mangeshkar Award" by the Madhya Pradesh government in the year 1985–86. In the year 1997, the Madhya Pradesh Government initiated an award called the "Kishore Kumar Award" as a contribution to Hindi cinema. Recently, Kishore Kumar's unreleased last song was sold for Rs 15.6 lakh (1.56 million) at the Osian's Cinefan Auction, New Delhi in 2012.The Best Kishore Kumar MoviesSee all
- 1Half Ticket82 Votes
- 2Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi85 Votes
- 3Padosan75 Votes
- Asha Bhosle (born 8 September 1933), is an Indian playback singer. She is best known for her playback singing in Hindi cinema, although she has a wider repertoire. Bhosle's career started in 1943 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over a thousand Bollywood movies. In addition, she has recorded several private albums and participated in numerous solo concerts in India and abroad. In 2006, Asha Bhosle stated that she had sung over 12,000 songs, a figure repeated by several other sources. In 2011, she was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history. The Government of India honoured her with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008. Bhosle is the sister of playback singer Lata Mangeshkar. Renowned for her soprano voice range and often credited for her versatility, Bhosle's work includes film music, pop, ghazals, bhajans, traditional Indian classical music, folk songs, qawwalis, and Rabindra Sangeets. Apart from Hindi, she has sung in over 20 Indian and foreign languages. In 2013, she made her debut as an actress in the film Mai, and received critical acclaim for her performance.
- Farhan Akhtar is an Indian producer, actor, director, and writer who is known for producing "Angry Young Men," "Mirzapur," and "Made In Heaven."
- Pulapaka Susheela (born November 13, 1935) is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades. She has been recognized by both the Guinness Book of World Records and the Asia Book of Records for singing the most songs in different Indian languages by a female singer. She is also the recipient of five National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer and numerous state awards. Susheela is widely acclaimed as a singer who defined feminism in South Indian cinema and is well known for her mellifluous vocal performances for over 50,000 film songs across South Indian languages. The song "Paal Polave" from Tamil film Uyarndha Manidhan brought her the first ever award at the 16th National Film Awards, by winning her the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 1969. Smt P.Susheela was the first recipient of this prestigious honour, which also made Uyarndha Manidhan, the first film to win a National Award under that category. She is fondly called "Gana Kokila" and "Gana Saraswathi". She is also considered as one of the rich voiced singers whose pronunciation of the syllables are to be very clear and precise in any of the languages she sang. In a career spanning more than six decades, she has recorded nearly 50,000 songs in various Indian languages including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Sanskrit, Tulu and Badaga. She has also sung for Sinhalese films. Her mother tongue is Telugu. She can also speak Tamil with a little Hindi and Kannada
- Vineeth Sreenivasan (born 1 October 1985) is an Indian playback singer, actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, and dubbing artist. He works in Malayalam cinema. Vineeth is son of the actor-screenwriter Sreenivasan. He made his film debut in 2003 singing the song "Kasavinte Thattamittu" from Kilichundan Mampazham, and later also worked in music albums. Vineeth made his acting debut in Cycle (2008), and since then he has acted in numerous films. His directorial debut was in 2010 with Malarvaadi Arts Club, also written by him. He scripted and directed the film Thira in 2013, which introduced his younger brother Dhyan Sreenivasan as an actor. Vineeth's second directorial venture Thattathin Marayathu (2012) became one of the highest-grossing films of 2012. His first script for another director was Oru Vadakkan Selfie (2015), directed by G. Pajith. His most recent directorial was Jacobinte Swargarajyam (2016). Vineeth established the film production house named Habit of Life and produced its debut film Aanandam in 2017.
- Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna (Telugu: మంగళంపల్లి బాలమురళీకృష్ణ; 6 July 1930 – 22 November 2016) was an Indian Carnatic vocalist, musician, multi-instrumentalist, playback singer, composer, and character actor. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1978. He has garnered two National Film Awards (1976, 1987), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1975, the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honor in 1991, for his contribution towards arts, the Mahatma Gandhi Silver Medal from UNESCO in 1995, the Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2005, the Sangeetha Kalanidhi by Madras Music Academy, and the Sangeetha Kalasikhamani in 1991, by the Fine Arts Society, Chennai to name a few.Balamuralikrishna started his career at the age of six. In his life-time, he gave over 25,000 concerts worldwide. Apart from Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, he presented jugalbandi concerts (duets) with Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia , Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty and Kishori Amonkar, among others. He is also known for popularizing the compositions of Sri Bhadrachala Ramadasu, Sri Annamacharya, and others. Balamuralikrishna's concerts combined sophisticated vocal skills and rhythmic patterns of classical music with the popular demand for entertainment value. Balamuralikrishna presented concerts in many countries, including the US, Canada, UK, Italy, France, Russia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, countries in the Middle East, and elsewhere. Apart from his native tongue, Telugu, he has also composed in other languages including Kannada, Sanskrit, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, and Punjabi.He appeared as a featured soloist with an award-winning British choir, performing the "Gitanjali Suite" with words from Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel Prize-winning poetry and music by "Dr. Joel", the noted UK-based Goan composer. His clear diction in several languages prompted an invitation to record Tagore's entire Rabindra Sangeet compositions in Bengali, preserving them for posterity. He has sung in French, and even ventured into jazz fusion, collaborating with the top Carnatic percussion teacher, Sri T.H. Subash Chandran, in a concert for Malaysian royalty. In February 2010, he presented a three-day concert in Visakhapatnam.
Suchitra
Suchitra Karthik Kumar (born Suchitra Ramadurai, 14 Aug 1982), known by the mononym Suchitra, is an Indian Tamil radio jockey and Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu playback singer. She sang over 100 songs in three languages. She is married to a south indian actor Karthik Kumar who is a well known for his stand-up comedy and a few movies.- Kumaravadivel Natarajan (born 10 October 1960), known professionally as Vadivelu, is an Indian film actor, comedian and playback singer. Since the 1990s, he has performed in supporting and lead roles as a comedian in Tamil films. While having worked in more than 200 films, Vadivelu received awards in the Best Comedian category for his performances in Kaalam Maari Pochu (1996), Vetri Kodi Kattu (2000), Thavasi (2001), Chandramukhi (2005), Imsai Arasan 23m Pulikesi (2006), Marudhamalai (2007) and Kathavarayan (2008). His popularity led to his media-coined nickname, Vaigai Puyal, meaning "Vaigai storm", referring to the river that flows through his hometown Madurai.
- Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, composer, and singer. He was popularly known as Mellisai Mannar (Tamil for "The King of Light Music"). He composed songs for more than 700 Indian films across languages primarily in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. He has also acted and sung in a few Tamil films. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa conferred the Thirai Isai Chakravarthy (Tamil for "The Emperor of Cine Music") title on him in August 2012 and presented him with 60 gold coins and a new car.Viswanathan composed film music together with composer and violinist T. K. Ramamoorthy from the 1950s to 1965, as Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy for 100 Films.
- Vijay Antony is an Indian music composer, playback singer, actor, film editor, lyricist, audio engineer and film producer working in the Tamil, Telugu and Kannada film industries. He made his debut as music director in 2005. He is the first Indian to win the 2009 Cannes Golden Lion for the song Naaka Mukka advertising film in the Best Music category. The song propelled his fame and was played at the 2011 Cricket World Cup. With his debut film being Naan in 2012, he is known for his films in the action, drama and thriller genres.
- Swathi Reddy (born 19 April 1987) is a Russian-born Indian film actress and television presenter who predominantly works in Telugu Cinema along with Tamil and Malayalam films. Her nickname Colors Swathi comes from her stint in the Telugu television show Colours, which was telecast on Maa TV. After playing supporting roles, she made her debut as a leading actress in the Tamil film Subramaniapuram (2008). Her role in the Telugu film Ashta Chamma earned her the Filmfare Award and Nandi Award for Best Actress.
- Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra, often credited as K. S. Chithra or simply Chithra, is an Indian playback singer and carnatic musician from Kerala. Chithra also sings Indian classical, devotional, and popular music. She has sung more than 25,000 songs in a number of Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tulu, Rajasthani, Urdu, Sanskrit, and Badaga, as well as foreign languages such as Malay, Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese, English and French. She is considered as the one among the "First ladies" of India who was honoured by the President of IndiaChithra is a recipient of six National Film Awards (most by any female singer in India), eight Filmfare Awards South and 36 different state film awards. She has won all the four south Indian state film awards. She was honored with India's civilian honor Padma Shri in 2005. She is the first Indian woman who was honored by House of Commons, British Parliament, United Kingdom in 1997. She is the only singer from India who was honored by the Government of China at the Qinghai International Music and Water Festival in 2009. she is the only singer from South India who has received the MTV Video Music Award – International Viewer's Choice at Metropolitan Opera House, New York, United States in 2001. In 2018, She was honoured by Mr. Craig Coughlin, Speaker of the General Assembly, New Jersey, United States of America. In 2019, she was honoured by Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, sovereign ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah and is a member of the Federal Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates, UAE for successfully completing 40 Years in Indian Film Industry. She is the only South Indian female singer who has presented her maiden concert at the world's prestigious concert hall Royal Albert Hall in London in 2001. Her song "Kannalane/Kehna Hi Kya" from the film Bombay (1995) was included in England The Guardian's "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear Before You Die" list.
- Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (born 10 January 1940) is an Indian musician and playback singer. Yesudas sings Indian classical, devotional and cinematic songs. He has recorded more than EightyThousand songs in a number of Indian languages, including Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Odia and Telugu as well as Arabic, English, Latin, and Russian, during a career spanning more than five decades.Yesudas has performed in most Indian languages except for Punjabi, Assamese, Konkani, and Kashmiri. He has also composed a number of Malayalam film songs during the 1970s and 1980s. Yesudas won the National Award for the Best Male Playback Singer record eight times, the Filmfare Awards South five times, and the State Award for the Best Playback Singer forty-three times, including awards given by the state governments of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and West Bengal. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1975, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and the Padma Vibhushan (second-highest civilian award) in 2017 by the Government of India for his contributions towards the arts. In 2011 Yesudas was honoured with the CNN-IBN outstanding achievement award having recorded more than 80,000 songs in a five-decade career. In 2006, he sang 16 film songs in four South Indian languages on the same day at AVM Studio, Chennai.
- Pasupuleti Kannamba (Pasupulēţi Kannāṃba) (5 October 1911 – 7 May 1964) was an Indian actress, playback singer and film producer of Telugu cinema, Andhra Pradesh, India. She acted in more than 170 films and produced about 25 films in Telugu and Tamil languages during the 1930s to the 1960s.
- Nagercoil Sudalaimuthu Krishnan, popularly known as Kalaivanar (lit. Lover of arts) and also as NSK was an Indian film actor-comedian, theatre artist, playback singer and writer in the early stages of the Tamil film industry – in the 1940s and 1950s. He is considered as the "Charlie Chaplin of India."Born in Ozhuginachery, Nagercoil, in the princely state of Travancore, India on 29 November 1908, his stage and cine-screen comedy performances were unique and always carried a message for the people. "Kalaivanar" N. S. Krishnan died at the age of 49, on 30 August 1957.His Grand Daughter Ramya NSK Is playback singer also praticpated in Bigg Boss 2 Tamil.
Naresh Iyer
Naresh Iyer (born 3 January 1981) is a playback singer from Mumbai, India, born to a Tamil speaking family from Mumbai. He speaks fluent Tamil, Hindi and Marathi while he understands Malayalam. Naresh Iyer has rendered film songs in several Indian languages and has several chart hits to his credit. His rendition of "Roobaroo" from the movie Rang De Basanti composed by A. R. Rahman topped the music charts for many weeks in 2006 and won him the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer. He also won the Filmfare award in the R.D. Burman Musical Talent category. He is one of the few playback singers to have won both a Filmfare Award and a National Award in his professional debut singing year.- G. V. Prakash Kumar is an Indian actor, a composer of film scores and soundtracks, and a producer and singer. He has predominantly scored music for Tamil films. His first film was S Pictures' Veyyil (2006).
- Nagaraju Shiva Puttaswamy (born 12 July 1961), known by his screen name Shiva Rajkumar, is an Indian film actor, producer, playback singer and television presenter, best known for his work in Kannada cinema. He is the eldest son of actor Rajkumar. In his career spanning over three decades, Shiva has worked in over 125 films.After graduating with Bachelor of Science (Chemistry), Shiva made his debut screen appearance in films with Singeetham Srinivas Rao's Anand (1986), which fetched him the Cinema Express Award for Best Actor. His first three films, namely Anand, Ratha Sapthami (1986) and Mana Mechchida Hudugi (1987) were all highly successful, earning him the title Hat-trick Hero coined by the media and his fan followers.Shiva has worked in the film industry for over 30 years, featuring in films such as Anand, Ratha Sapthami (1986), Om (1995), Janumada Jodi, Nammoora Mandara Hoove, A.K. 47, Jogi, Bhajarangi, Killing Veerappan and Shivalinga which became milestones in the Kannada film industry and made records at the box office. He was conferred an honorary doctorate by Vijayanagara Sri Krishnadevaraya University in 2014. In the year 2010, he made his television debut with the talk show Naaniruvude Nimagagi, aired on Zee Kannada.. Shiva is also working as a co-producer for a web series named Hate You Romeo which is currently being shot in Vietnam.
- Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938), popularly known as S. Janaki, is an Indian playback singer and occasional music-composer from Andhra Pradesh. She is one of the best-known playback singers in South India and has recorded nearly 48,000 songs in films, albums, TV and Radio including solos, duets and chorus songs in 17 languages including those native to India (mainly in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Odiya, Bengali, and Tulu) and also in languages such as English, Japanese, Latin, Arabic and German. Starting in 1957 with the Tamil film Vidhiyin Vilayattu, her career has spanned over six decades.Janaki, who is fondly called "The Nightingale of Indian Cinema", has won four National Film Awards and 33 different State Film Awards. She is a recipient of an honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore, the Kalaimamani award from Tamil Nadu State Government and Karnataka Rajyotsava award from Government of Karnataka. In 2013, she refused to accept Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award of the Government of India and said that she deserves Bharat Ratna the highest civilian award of the Government of India for her contributions to music. She pointed that it is too little and had come "too late" and that South Indian artists were not given their due recognition.Widely acclaimed as one of the most versatile singers, her association with singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and composer Ilaiyaraaja is most talked about. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s her duets with P. B. Srinivas, S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas and Rajkumar topped the charts across all the South Indian languages. In October 2016, Janaki announced her retirement from singing for films and stage appearances. However, on intense pressure from the film fraternity, she made a comeback for the Tamil film Pannadi in 2018.
- Mita Vasisht (born 2 November 1967) is an Indian, film, television and theatre actress. She known for her range of roles that she has played in television from Space City Signma, Pachpan Khambe Laal Deewarein, Swabhimaan, Alaan (Kirdaar) to Trishna in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki and Jethi Maa in Kaala Teeka to film roles with a wide spectrum of directors with different cinema styles.
- Chinmayi Sripaada is an Indian playback singer, working mainly for the South Indian film industry. She is also a voice actor, television presenter and radio jockey. She is the founder and CEO of a translation services company called Blue Elephant. She is often credited as Chinmayee/Indai Hazaa but her birth name is Chinmayi. She rose to fame for her critically acclaimed song "Oru Deivam Thantha Poovae" from the National Award winning movie Kannathil Muthamittal.
- Thesingu Rajendar (born 9 May 1955), better known as T. Rajendar, Vijaya T. Rajendar or T. R., is an Indian film actor, director, composer, screenwriter, songwriter, cinematographer, producer, playback singer and distributor who works primarily in Tamil film industry. He is also a politician in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.The Best Movies Directed by T. RajendarSee all
- 1Vasantha Azhaippukkal20 Votes
- 2Rayil Payanangalil30 Votes
- 3Oru Thayin Sabhatham41 Votes
- Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and film actor who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for over fourteen years between 1991 and 2016. From 1989 she was the general secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), a Dravidian party whose cadre revered her as their Amma (mother) and Puratchi Thalaivi (revolutionary leader) . Her critics in the media and the opposition accused her of fostering a personality cult and of demanding absolute loyalty from AIADMK legislators and ministers, who often publicly prostrated themselves before her.Jayalalithaa first came into prominence as a leading film actress in the mid-1960s. Though she had entered the profession reluctantly, upon the urging of her mother to support the family, Jayalalithaa worked prolifically. She appeared in 140 films between 1961 and 1980, primarily in the Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages. Jayalalithaa received praise for her versatility as an actor and for her dancing skills, earning the sobriquet "Queen of Tamil Cinema". Among her frequent co-stars was M. G. Ramachandran, or MGR, a Tamil cultural icon who leveraged his immense popularity with the masses into a successful political career. In 1982, when MGR was chief minister, Jayalalithaa joined the AIADMK, the party he founded. Her political rise was rapid; within a few years she became AIADMK propaganda secretary and was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament. After MGR's death in 1987, Jayalalithaa proclaimed herself his political heir and, having fought off the faction headed by Janaki Ramachandran, MGR's widow, emerged as the sole leader of the AIADMK. Following the 1989 election, she became Leader of the Opposition to the DMK-led government headed by Karunanidhi, her bête noire. In 1991 Jayalalithaa became chief minister, Tamil Nadu's youngest, for the first time. She earned a reputation for centralising state power among a coterie of bureaucrats; her council of ministers, whom she often shuffled around, were largely ceremonial in nature. The successful cradle-baby scheme, which enabled mothers to anonymously offer their newborns for adoption, emerged during this time. Despite an official salary of only a rupee a month, Jayalalithaa indulged in public displays of wealth, culminating in a lavish wedding for her foster son in 1995. In the 1996 election, the AIADMK was nearly wiped out at the hustings; Jayalalithaa herself lost her seat. The new Karunanidhi government filed several corruption cases against her, and she had to spend time in jail. Her fortunes revived in the 1998 general election, as the AIADMK became a key component of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 1998–99 government; her withdrawal of support toppled it and triggered another general election just a year later. The AIADMK returned to power in 2001, although Jayalalithaa was personally disbarred from contesting due to the corruption cases. Within a few months of her taking oath as chief minister, in September 2001, she was disqualified from holding office and forced to cede the chair to loyalist O. Panneerselvam. Upon her acquittal six months later, Jayalalithaa returned as chief minister to complete her term. Noted for its ruthlessness to political opponents, many of whom were arrested in midnight raids, her government grew unpopular. Another period (2006–11) in the opposition followed, before Jayalalithaa was sworn in as chief minister for the fourth time after the AIADMK swept the 2011 assembly election. Her government received attention for its extensive social-welfare agenda, which included several subsidised "Amma"-branded goods such as canteens, bottled water and salt. Three years into her tenure, she was convicted in a disproportionate-assets case, rendering her disqualified to hold office. She returned as chief minister after being acquitted in May 2015. In the 2016 assembly election, she became the first Tamil Nadu chief minister since MGR in 1984 to be voted back into office. That September, she fell severely ill and, following 75 days of hospitalisation, died on 5 December 2016 due to cardiac arrest.
- Shreya Ghoshal (born 12 March 1984) is an Indian playback singer. She has received four National Film Awards, seven Filmfare Awards including six for Best Female Playback Singer, nine Filmfare Awards South, four Kerala State Film Awards and two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. She has recorded songs for film music and albums in various Indian languages and has established herself as a leading playback singer of Indian cinema. Ghoshal aspired to become a playback singer from an early age. At the age of four, she started learning music. At the age of six, she started her formal training in classical music. At the age of sixteen, she was noticed by the mother of film-maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali when she entered and won the television singing reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa (called Sa Re Ga Ma at that time). Following that, she made her Bollywood playback singing debut with Bhansali's romantic drama Devdas (2002) for which she received a National Film Award, a Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer and a Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent. Apart from playback singing, Ghoshal has appeared as a judge on several television reality shows and she also appears in music videos. She performs in musical concerts around the world. She has been honored by the United States state of Ohio, where Governor Ted Strickland declared 26 June 2010 as "Shreya Ghoshal Day". In April 2013, she was honoured in London by the selected members of House of Commons of the United Kingdom. She also featured five times in the Forbes list of the top 100 celebrities from India. In 2017, Ghoshal became the first Indian singer to have her wax figurine in Madame Tussauds Museum.
- Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy composing trio team for Indian films.
- Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 23 September 1957), better known as Kumar Sanu, is an Indian playback singer who mainly sings for Hindi and Bengali films, and is popular for rendering his voice in Bollywood movies of the 1990s and early 2000s. He was awarded the Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer Award for five consecutive years. In 2009, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his achievements. Sanu notably holds the Guinness World Record for most songs recorded by a singer in 24 hours with 28.
Pamela Chopra
Pamela Chopra is a film producer and screenwriter.- Venkat Prabhu is a director who is known for directing "Mankatha," "Chennai 600028 II: Second Innings," and "Masss."
- Monica Dogra is an American singer and actress of Indian origin. She is one half of the Mumbai-based electro rock duo Shaa'ir and Func. She made her acting debut in the Bollywood film Dhobi Ghat.
- Vishal Bhardwaj (born 4 August 1965) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, music composer and playback singer. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema, and is the recipient of seven National Film Awards in four categories. Bhardwaj made his debut as a music composer with the children's film Abhay (The Fearless) (1995), and received wider recognition with his compositions in Gulzar's Maachis (1996). He received the Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent for the latter. He went on to compose music for the films Satya (1998) and Godmother (1999). For the latter, he garnered the National Film Award for Best Music Direction. Bhardwaj made his directorial debut with the children's film Makdee (2002), for which he also composed the music. He garnered critical acclaim and several accolades for writing and directing the Indian adaptations of three tragedies by William Shakespeare: Maqbool (2003) from Macbeth, Omkara (2006) from Othello, and Haider (2014) from Hamlet. He has also directed the caper thriller Kaminey, the black comedy 7 Khoon Maaf (2011), and the satire Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013). In addition, Bhardwaj produces films under his banner VB Pictures. He has co-written and produced the films Ishqiya (2010), its sequel Dedh Ishqiya (2014), and the crime drama Talvar (2015), among others. He has composed the musical score for each of his directorial and production ventures, and frequently collaborates with the lyricist Gulzar. He is married to playback singer Rekha Bhardwaj.The Best Movies Directed by Vishal BharadwajSee all
- 1Omkara59 Votes
- 2Maqbool50 Votes
- 3Kaminey: The Scoundrels46 Votes
- M. Jayachandran is a film score composer, singer, and musician in Indian films. He has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director for a record number of seven times. In 2005, he also won the state award for best male singer. In 2015, he won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the film Ennu Ninte Moideen. He has composed music for more than one hundred films.
Saluri Koteswara Rao
Saluri Koteswara Rao (also known as Koti) is an Indian composer notable for his work in the South Indian film industry. He has composed music for more than 475 movies in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada. The son of music director Saluri Rajeswara Rao, in early 1980s Koti teamed with Somaraju (Raj), son of T. V. Raju, and the resulting duo was known as Raj-Koti. He won Nandi Award for Best Music Director for the film Hello Brother (1994). He started his music career as an assistant to music director K. Chakravarthy Composers like Mani Sharma and A. R. Rahman worked as assistants with Koti during the initial part of their career. Roshan Saluri, son of Koti is also introduced as film score composer. Another son Rajeev Saluri started his career as an actor.- Lata Mangeshkar (pronunciation ) (born 28 September 1929) is an Indian playback singer and music director. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. She has recorded songs in over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, though primarily in Marathi, Hindi, and Bengali. The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed on her in 1989 by the Government of India. In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour and is only the second vocalist, after M. S. Subbulakshmi, to receive this honour. France conferred on her its highest civilian award (Officer of the Legion of Honour) in 2007. She is the recipient of three National Film Awards, 15 Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, two Filmfare Special Awards, Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and many more. In 1974, she became the first Indian to perform in the Royal Albert Hall. She has four siblings—Meena Khadikar, Asha Bhosle, Usha Mangeshkar, and Hridaynath Mangeshkar—of whom she is the oldest.
- Sujatha Mohan (credited as Sujatha) is an Indian playback singer who is popular for singing in Malayalam and Tamil movies. She has also sung for Telugu, Kannada and Hindi movies. She has sung many songs in Malayalam, making her the fourth most prolific Malayalam singer.
- Karthik (born 7 November 1980) is an Indian playback singer. Karthik started his professional career as a backing vocalist and has since been working as a playback singer. He has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and in other languages like Odia, Bengali and Hindi. Karthik is known for his versatility in the industry which gave him opportunity to sing a variety of songs.
- Devi Sri Prasad (born 2 August 1979) is an Indian music composer, lyricist, singer, and director. He is best known for his works in the cinema of South India, especially in Telugu and Tamil cinema. He has won eight Filmfare Awards, seven of which are Filmfare Best Music Director South Awards and one Special Jury Award, five CineMAA Awards - Best Music Director, & one Nandi Award for Best Music Director. Devi also choreographed a song in the Telugu film Kumari 21F. As of 2019, he has composed music for more than 100 films.
- Anuradha Paudwal (born 27 October 1954) is an Indian playback singer who works in Bollywood. She was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award, by the Government of India in 2017. She is a recipient of the National Film Award and a four-time winner of the Filmfare Award.
- Runa Laila (born 17 November 1952) is a Bangladeshi playback singer. She is one of the best-known singers in South Asia. She started her career in Pakistan film industry in late 1960s. Her style of singing is inspired by Pakistani playback singer Ahmed Rushdi and she also made a pair with him after replacing another singer Mala. Her playback singing in films – The Rain (1976), Jadur Banshi (1977), Accident (1989), Ontore Ontore (1994), Tumi Ashbe Bole (2012), Devdas (2013) and Priya Tumi Shukhi Hou (2014) - earned her seven Bangladesh National Film Awards for Best Female Playback Singer.
- Usha Uthup (8 November 1947) is an Indian pop, filmi, jazz, and playback singer who sang songs in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Darling, which she recorded with Rekha Bhardwaj for the film 7 Khoon Maaf, won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 2012.
Ramesh Vinayakam
Ramesh Vinayakam is a film score composer.- Hariharan (born 3 April 1955) is an Indian playback and ghazal singer, whose songs have been featured mainly in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi and Bhojpuri films. He is an established ghazal singer and one of the pioneers of Indian fusion music. In 2004, he was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India and is a two-time National Award winner. Hariharan, associating with Lesle Lewis, formed Colonial Cousins, a two-member band. They have cut many private music albums and also scored music for few feature films in Tamil cinema and Bollywood cinema.
- Madhu Balakrishnan is an Indian playback singer who sings in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Tulu.
- Javed Ali is an Indian playback singer who predominantly sings in Hindi language Bollywood films. He has also sung in various regional languages like Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
- Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his voice, versatility and range; his songs were varied from fast peppy numbers to patriotic songs, sad numbers to highly romantic songs, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans to classical songs. He was known for his ability to mould his voice to the persona and style of an actor, lip-syncing the song on screen in the movie. He received six Filmfare Awards and one National Film Award. In 1967, he was honoured with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India. In 2001, Rafi was honoured with the "Best Singer of the Millennium" title by Hero Honda and Stardust magazine. In 2013, Rafi was voted for the Greatest Voice in Hindi Cinema in the CNN-IBN's poll.He has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in various regional Indian languages as well as foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi-Urdu and Punjabi over which he had a strong command. He has recorded as many as 7405 songs in many languages. He has sung in many regional Indian languages including Konkani, Assamese, Bhojpuri, Odia, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Magahi, Maithili. Apart from Indian languages, he also sang songs in many foreign languages including English, Farsi, Arabic, Sinhalese, Creole and Dutch.
Jyotsna Radhakrishnan
Jyotsna Radhakrishnan (born 5 September 1986) is a playback singer in Malayalam cinema. She is based in Thrissur, Kerala.- Vijay Yesudas is an Indian film playback singer and occasional actor. He has sung over 300 film songs.The son of acclaimed singer K. J. Yesudas, Vijay made his debut as a singer with the 2000 Malayalam film Millennium Stars, which had music composed by Vidyasagar. Vijay's known for his work predominantly in the South Indian film industry, especially Malayalam and Tamil films as well as in other Indian languages such as Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi. Vijay Yesudas won three Kerala State Film Awards for Best Singer for the songs "Kolakkuzhal Vili Ketto" in Nivedyam (2007), "Akaleyo Nee" in Grandmaster and "Mazhakondu Mathram" in Spirit (2012), and "Poomuthole" in Joseph (2018). He has also won four Filmfare Awards for Best Singer and four SIIMA Awards for Best Male Playback Singer. He made foray into acting by playing the villain role in the Tamil film Maari (2015) and the lead role in the Tamil film Padaiveeran (2018).
Nazriya Nazim
Nazriya Nazim is an Indian film actress who has starred in Malayalam and Tamil films. She started her career as an anchor on Malayalam television before pursuing a career as an actress. She made her debut as a child artist with Palunku and then as a lead actress in the Malayalam film Maad Dad. She has gone on to star in films such as Neram, Raja Rani, Ohm Shanthi Oshaana, Vaayai Moodi Pesavum, and Bangalore Days.Raghu Kunche
Raghu Kunche is an Indian Film Music Director, Playback Singer, Actor, Lyricist, Dubbing Artist and Anchor in the Telugu Film Industry, currently residing in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. He has won 5 NANDI awards given by the state government of Andra Pradesh.Aalap Raju
Aalaap Raju (born 6 June 1979) is a playback singer and a bass player from Chennai, India. His rendition of Enamo Aedho from the movie Ko composed by Harris Jayaraj topped the music charts for several months in 2011 and won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer – 2011. He has sung for music directors like Harris Jayaraj, Thaman, G.V Prakash, Deepak Dev, D.Imman, and Sreekanth Deva. His other noticeable songs include Vaaya moodi summa iru da from Mugamoodi, Engeyum Kadhal from Engeyum Kadhal, Endhan Kann Munnae from Nanban, Kadhal Oru Butterfly and Akila Akila from Oru Kal Oru Kannadi, Anjana Anjana from Vandhan Vendran, Kuthu Kuthu from Ayyanar, Endhuko Yemo from Rangam, Nenjodu Cherthu from Yuvvh, Theeyae Theeyae from Maattrraan, Jal Jal Osai from Manam Kothi Paravai, and Maya Bazaar from Ennai Arindhaal.Rahul Nambiar
Rahul Nambiar is an Indian playback singer and live performer. An MBA and M.Com-graduate, he won the Swapthaswarangal show in 2001 and began singing live. He later ventured into playback singing, performing for many leading South Indian film composers in various languages, while also launching an independent band named Rahlaap with bass player Aalap Raju.Chittor V. Nagaiah
Chittoor V. Nagaiah (born Vuppaladadiyam Nagaiah Sarma) was a multilingual Indian film Actor, Thespian, Composer, Director, Producer, Writer and Playback Singer from Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, India. Indian film journalist and the editor of Film India, Baburao Patel, described Nagiah as The Paul Muni of India. In his honour, the Chittoor Nagaiah Kalakshetram of arts was established in Chittoor city of Andhra Pradesh.Nagaiah was closely connected to Rama Vilasa Sabha, a Telugu theatre association in Chittoor City . He performed and directed several stage plays, such as Sarangadhara, Viswamithra Chitra Nilayam, Savitri, Bruhannala and Ramadasu. He staged the roles of Telugu Saint-poets Pothana, Vemana, Ramadasu and Tyagaraja. Nagaiah developed a life-time association with B. N. Reddy, at this juncture H. M. Reddy formed Rohini Pictures with the association of B. N. Reddy. The firm started its first venture in Telugu through the film Gruhalakshmi in 1938, in which Nagaiah played a significant role. Later, the association worked through several films with Vauhini Studios including social films such as; Vande Matharam (1939), Sumangali (1940), Devata (1941), Swarga Seema (1945) and Beedhalapatlu. (1947).Nagaiah made significant contributions to Telugu cinema, and starred in about two hundred Telugu films. Regarded as one of the finest Indian method actors, and the first Telugu matinee idol, his forte was usually playing intense characters, often immersing himself in study of the real character's traits and mannerisms. Nagaiah was the lead protagonist in the most expensive 1940 Telugu production, Viswa Mohini, touted to be the first film on the Indian motion picture world. He was the producer, director, composer and actor for pioneering works; he essayed 14th-century poet Pothana in Bhakta Potana (1942), 17th-century saint Tyagaraja in Thyagayya (1946), 12th-century saint Gora Kumbhar in Chakradhari (1948), and the social problem film Naa Illu (1953). In 1964, Nagaiah essayed 17th-century saint Kancharla Gopanna in Ramadasu for which he won the National Film Award. Nagaiah also starred in about one hundred and sixty films in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. He received the Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1965 for his contributions to Indian cinema.- Madhushree (born Sujata Bhattacharya) is an Indian singer, who sings in Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films. A familiar voice in A. R. Rahman's compositions, Madhushree hails from a musically inclined family, having previously been trained in classical and western styles music. Her father wanted her to be a classical singer, Madhushree joined the Rabindra Bharati University and completed her masters, but her desire was always to be a playback singer.
Shweta Mohan
Shweta Mohan is an Indian playback singer. She has received four Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer, one Kerala State Film Awards and one Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. She has recorded songs for film music and albums in all the four South Indian languages namely, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada along with the Hindi language and has established herself as a leading playback singer of South Indian cinema. Some of her inspirations are Sujatha Mohan(her mother), Alka Yagnik and K.S. Chitra- Vijay Prakash is an Indian singer and music composer. He has given his voice for Hindi films such as Blue, Yuvvraaj, Swades, Kaal, Lakshya, Matrubhoomi, Tere Naam, Cheeni Kum, Raavan and Force. He has also performed in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi movies. He is one of the judges for the Kannada reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee Kannada and has also performed shows with Zakir Hussain.He won the Karnataka Government's 'Best Playback Singer' award for the year 2016 for the song 'Nammooralli Chaligaladalli' from the film Beautiful Manasugalu.He is also one of four artists credited for the song "Jai Ho", which won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Specifically, he sang the portion with the words "Jai Ho" that takes an extended high pitch at numerous junctures of the song. The song also won a Grammy Award in the category "Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media." He has also won the very prestigious Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Artist - Kannada for the song 'Gatiya Ilidu' from the Kannada film 'Ulidavaru Kandante.
Prashanthini Vasudevan
Prashanthini (Tamil: பிரசாந்தினி) is a playback singer singing predominantly in Tamil. She is the daughter of famous veteran playback singer Malaysia Vasudevan and sister of Yugendran.- Prashanta Nanda (born 2 May 1947) is an Odia movie actor and politician in the Indian state of Odisha. He is currently a Member of Parliament at Rajya Sabha the Upper house of Indian Parliament from Odisha. He worked in the Odia film industry as an actor, director, screenwriter, lyricist and playback singer. He was also the former Minister of State of Odisha.
Saindhavi
Saindhavi (born 3 January 1989) is a Carnatic music singer and an Indian film playback singer.- Shilpa Rao (born Apeksha Rao; 11 April 1984) is an Indian singer. Raised in Jamshedpur, she moved to Mumbai at the age of 13. She completed her Master's in Applied Statistics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, before working as a jingle singer for three years. During her college days, Mithoon offered her to record the song "Tose Naina" from Anwar (2007), making her Bollywood career debut. Rao rose to widespread prominence with the release of "Khuda Jaane" from Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008). She was nominated for the Best Female Playback Singer award for the song, in 54th Filmfare Awards. The following year, she collaborated with Ilaiyaraaja for Paa (2009), where she performed the song "Udi udi Ittefaq Se" for which she received another nomination in the same category during 55th Filmfare Awards ceremony. In 2012, Rao teamed up with A.R. Rahman and came up with the song "Ishq Shava" from Jab Tak Hai Jaan which was a commercial success, followed by Pritam-composed "Malang" from Dhoom 3 (2013) and Vishal-Shekar's "Meherbaan" in Bang Bang! (2014). Rao's collaborations with Amit Trivedi were particularly described "delightful hearings" with songs like "Manmarziyan" from Lootera (2013), being critically acclaimed. She had the honour of becoming the first and the only musician from India to get a chance of singing in the famous and critically acclaimed Coke Studio Pakistan with the song "Paar Chanaa De" (2016). Rao received critical complement for her voice in the song "Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo" from the deluxe edition of the Ae Dil Hai Mushkil soundtrack (2016). These accomplishments have led Rao to become one of the top female singers in India. Rao is particularly known in the media for trying new styles in her songs and singing for different genres. Rao, who considers her father as her biggest inspiration in the music career, has supported charitable organisations for a number of causes.
Priya Himesh
Priya Himesh (also credited as Priya Hemesh) is an Indian multilingual Playback singer for the feature films. She sings predominantly in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Odia movies. Priya is the recipient of Filmfare Awards South for her Telugu song "Ringa Ringa" in the film Aarya 2. she sang a song in Thulasi Telugu movie.Sriram Parthasarathy
Mahathi
Mahathi (Tamil: மஹதி) is a Carnatic musician and playback singer for film songs in several Indian languages.- Uttam Kumar (born as Arun Kumar Chatterjee; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980) was an Indian film actor, director, producer and singer who predominantly worked in Indian Cinema. Kumar is widely regarded as one of the most popular and beloved actors ever in India. Through his career he earned commercial as well as critical success, and he remains as an Indian cultural icon.Considered as the most popular film star of Bengali cinema, popularly known as "Mahanayak", Kumar managed to have a huge fan following, that mainly concentrated in the regions of West Bengal, India and Bangladesh. He was a recipient of many awards over his lifetime, including National Film Award for Best Actor. A Metro Station in Kolkata was renamed in his honour.Best Of Uttan Kumar MoviesSee all
- 1Nayak: The Hero222 Votes
- 2Saptapadi183 Votes
- 3Harano Sur135 Votes
- Sonu Nigam (born 30 July 1973) is an Indian playback singer, composer, live performer, host, and actor. He sings predominantly in Hindi and Kannada language films. He has also sung in English, Bengali, Manipuri, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Tulu, Assamese, Odia, Nepali, Maithili, Malayalam and various Indian languages. Nigam has also released Indian pop albums and acted in a number of films. He has been one of the highest paid Indian singers. He is often regarded as a "Modern Rafi" and is now considered as one of the most versatile singers of the Hindi film industry. He is also regarded as the "Lord of Chords".
- Kaithapram Damodaran (born 4 August 1950), popularly known as Kaithapram, is a lyricist, music director, actor, singer, screenwriter, and performer of Carnatic music. He is the son of the late singer Keshavan Namboothiri (popularly known as Kannadi Bhagavathar, a disciple of Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar) and Aditi Antharjanam. He generally performs in the Malayalam language.
- Teja (born Dharma Teja Jasti, 22 February 1966) is an Indian cinematographer turned director, known for his works in Telugu cinema and bollywood. He ventured into direction with hits such as Chitram, Nuvvu Nenu, Jayam and Nijam with Mahesh Babu. He has garnered several state Nandi Awards, and Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu for Nuvvu Nenu.Teja debuted as cinematographer with Ram Gopal Varma's 1992 bilingual film Raat, for which he won Nandi Award for Best Cinematography. As a cinematographer, He is known for his works in films such as Baazi, Ghulam, Sangharsh, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hain, Krodh, Krishna, Shastra, Rakshak, Money, Tere Mere Sapne, and Vishwavidhaata. Teja also shared cinematography works in hits such as Kshana Kshanam, Rangeela, Drohi, Antham, Gaayam, and Govinda Govinda.
Raghubir Yadav
Raghuvir Yadav is an actor who appeared in "Water," "Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India," and "Salaam Bombay!."- Udit Narayan (born 1 December 1955) is an Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured mainly in Bollywood movies of Hindi language. He has also sung in various other languages including Telegu, Tamil, Kannada, Odia, Nepali, Bhojpuri, Bengali. He has won 4 National Film Awards (of which 3 as a singer, for 2 songs in 2001, 1 each in 2002 and 2004 along with 1 as a producer in 2005) and 5 Filmfare Awards with 20 nominations among many others. He had to struggle a lot even after his debut in 1980 in Bollywood playback. He got to sing with legends Mohammed Rafi in his Bollywood Playback debut in movie Unees-Bees in 1980 and also with Kishore Kumar in the 1980s. He finally made his mark in 1988 movie Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak starring Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla, his song "Papa Kehte Hain" was his notable performance which earned him his first Filmfare Award in the 1980s and he established himself in Bollywood Playback Singing. He is the only male singer in the history of the Filmfare Awards to have won in over three decades (the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s).After the success of the movie Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak in 1988 which turned out to be All Time Blockbuster movie in Bollywood with more than 8 million sales of the sound track became one of the highest selling albums in the 1980s. The soundtrack was a breakthrough for the careers of Anand-Milind, as well as T-Series, one of India's leading record labels. after which he was one of the favourites of music directors. His originality of voice was appreciated by all of the music lovers across the globe. Since his childhood he had idols as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar whom he'd listen on his radio. In the 1990s he sung for a thousands of songs including Hindi and Nepali languages. Recognising his contribution, his majesty King of Nepal Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev awarded him with the Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu in 2001 after which for his contribution to Indian cinema and music, he was awarded the Padma Shri in 2009, and in 2016 he was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India, an honour that has been awarded to only a handful of singers, in recognition of his achievements in various film industries across India, and Chitragupta Cineyatra Samman 2015 for his contribution to Bhojpuri Cinema. As many as 21 of his tracks feature in BBC's "Top 40 Bollywood Soundtracks of all time".
Poul Reichhardt
Poul David Reichhardt (2 February 1913 – 31 October 1985) was a Danish actor, well known for his roles in Danish 1940s/1950s comedies. Later on, he also played more serious and varied roles; he has also starred in Huset på Christianshavn, Matador and as various minor characters in the Olsen-banden films. For almost thirty years Reichhardt was a leading Danish heroic charmer in movies and partly also on stage. His acting debut was in 1931 as an extra in the play Styrmand Karlsens flammer in Nørrebros Theater. Already during the 1930s he won himself a name, this was cemented during World War II and from 1945 he stood as the movie hero par excellence: the plain, regular, quick-witted, sometimes hot-tempered, but often humorous man playing in melodramas and comedies. His versatile talent of acting and singing created him a widespread area as an artist. Poul Reichhardt got a special popularity during his performing in the so-called Morten Korch movies in the 1950s based upon novels written by a just as popular Danish regionalist light literate – here he normally played the honest young farmer fighting for his happiness and for his love. Often criticised for playing in low quality products he always did his best even in poor roles and his temporary overplay and loudness was compensated by his engagement and self-irony. Perhaps his best movie roles were as a resistance man (De røde Enge - "The Red Meadows", 1945), and as the soldier in Soldaten og Jenny, ("The Soldier and Jenny", 1947. His ability as a singer even made him opera roles (Papageno in The Magic Flute) and though normally considered a typical "man of the people" he also mastered the role as a man of the world. Besides his many popular roles Reichhardt also, mostly on stage, emerged into a respected character actor (Biff and later Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Archie in Osborne's The Entertainer, several Shakespeare roles). He also dubbed the animated films Fantasia and The Sword in the Stone when they were released in Danish. Not leaving the heroic line until relatively late he won a new popularity in elder roles also on TV. Perhaps his most popular one was as the blustering and intolerant but yet sympathetic furniture remover Olsen in the series Huset på Christianshavn ("The House on Christianshavn"). A heart-stroke in 1985 ended one of the most successful Danish post war movie careers with the death of Poul Reichhardt Reichhardt is the father of actor Peter Reichhardt.Bijibal
Bijibal Maniyil is a National Award-winning Indian composer and playback singer in the Malayalam film industry.Jassie Gift
Jassie Gift is an Indian film music composer and playback singer from Thiruvananthapuram, India. He composes songs for Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil films. He became famous after his song "Lajjavathiye" in the film 4 the people became a hit. Jassie won the Best Music Director award at The Bangalore Times Film Awards 2011.- Alka Yagnik (born 20 March 1966) is an Indian playback singer. She is noted in Indian cinema for a career spanning over three decades. She holds a record of being the only nominee in the category of Female Playback Singer, as in the year 1994 she had three solo nomination and the fourth one was with Ila Arun. She is a record seven-time winner from a record of 36 nominations of the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer, a two-time recipient of the National Film Award as well as several other music awards and honours listed below. Further, as many as twenty of her tracks feature in BBC's "Top 40 Bollywood Soundtracks of all time" review. She has consistently been rated as the No.1 Global Artist on YouTube. She is the 3rd topmost female playback singer who has sung maximum number of female solos in her Bollywood career. She has sung 20,000 plus songs in over 1000 films.
R. P. Patnaik
Ravindra Prasad Patnaik is an Indian music composer with more than 75 films to his credits in three south Indian languages (Telugu, Tamil and Kannada (about 30 films)). He won three Filmfare Awards and three Nandi Awards. His Mother tongue is Telugu, though he was born in Orissa while his father was working in Orissa. Patnaik had entered the film industry with a desire to become a film director, and began first as a music director with the movie Neekosam. Cinematographer-turned-director Teja gave him a break with Chitram, that Patnaik made his directorial debut with the 2008 film Andamaina Manasulo. As of March 2016, he finished his fifth Telugu language film Tulasi Dalam. His brother Gautam Patnaik is a director who made his directorial debut with Keratam (2011). R.P.Patnaik is composing, singing and directing all the 78 songs of Sri Nanduri Subbarao's ENKI PAATALU with the title "ENKI PAATA.. RP NOTA" In collaboration with Aditya Music. The first song released on 25 June titles 'Gunde Gonthukalona'G. K. Venkatesh
Gurajada Krishnadas Venkatesh (GKV) (21 September 1927 – 13 November 1993) was a prominent composer of film music in Kannada cinema during the 1960s, 1970s and until the late-1980s. He also composed music for Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu movies. He produced numerous master pieces of Kannada film music. He also brought in Western background score into Kannada films and scored music for all Bond movies of Dr.Raj in the 1960s to 1970s.- Kamala Kumari (born 6 January 1945), known by her mononymous stage name Jayanthi, is an Indian actress known for her work in Kannada cinema. She is noted for her contributions to different genres of films from the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. She has appeared in over 500 films, including films in the Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Marathi languages. She has received two Karnataka State Film Awards for Best Actress, the President's Medal for Best Actress and two Filmfare Awards for Best Actress. She has been cited as Kannada cinema's "most bold and beautiful" actress by various media outlets, a title for which she has received substantial publicity. The Kannada film industry has honored her with the title "Abhinaya Sharadhe", (Goddess Sharada in acting).
- Prabodh Chandra Dey (1 May 1919 − 24 October 2013), known by his stage name Manna Dey, was an internationally acclaimed Indian playback singer, music director, musician and Indian classical vocalist. He is considered one of the most versatile and celebrated vocalists of the Hindi film industry. He was one of the playback singers credited with the success of Indian classical music in Hindi commercial movies. He debuted in the film Tamanna in 1942. After the song "Upar Gagan Bishal" composed by S D Burman he saw success and went on to record more than 4,000 songs till 2013. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 1971, the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2007.Dey sang in all the major regional Indian languages, though primarily in Hindi and Bengali. Dey also sang in Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Maithili, Punjabi, Assamese, Odia, Konkani, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, and Nepali. His peak period in Hindi playback singing was from 1953 to 1976.
- Sukhwinder Singh (born 18 July 1971) is an internationally acclaimed Indian Bollywood playback singer. Singh is famous internationally for singing "Jai Ho" from the film Slumdog Millionaire which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. His rendition for the 2014 released film Haider fetched him the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer. One of his most famous songs is "Chaiyya Chaiyya" for which he won the Best Male Playback Award at the 1999 Filmfare Awards. The song, from Mani Ratnam's 1998 film Dil Se.., was composed by A. R. Rahman, written by Gulzar, and sung in duet with Sapna Awasthi. It was also featured in the musical Bombay Dreams and, in remixed arrangements, in the titles and credits segments of Spike Lee's 2006 film Inside Man.
- Anuradha Sriram (born 9 July 1970) is an Indian carnatic and playback singer who hails from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She has sung more than 3,000 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films.
C. Ramchandra
Ramchandra Narhar Chitalkar (12 January 1918 – 5 January 1982) was a renowned music composer in the movie industry of India. In the composer's role, he mostly used the name C. Ramachandra, though he also used the names Annasaheb (in the movies Bahadur Pratap, Matwale, and Madadgaar), Ram Chitalkar (in the movies Sukhi Jeevan, Badla, Mr. Jhatpat, Bahadur, and Dosti), and Shyamoo (in the movie Yeh hai duniya). Further, he often sang and acted in Marathi movies under the name R. N. Chitalkar. For his career as an occasional playback singer he used only his surname Chitalkar. Chitalkar sang some renowned and unforgettable duets with Lata such as Kitna haseen hai mausam in film Azad or Shola Jo bhadke in Albela.- Mukesh (born Mukesh Madhavan on 5 March 1956) is an Indian film actor, producer, television presenter, and politician known for his work predominantly in Malayalam cinema, while having appeared in a few Tamil films.He is best known for his comedic roles in films. He was the chairman of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Academy. Mukesh is the current Member of the Legislative Assembly (M.L.A.) representing the Kollam constituency of Kerala state.
- Madhavan Raveendran (Malayalam: മാധവൻ രവീന്ദ്രൻ), (born Kulathupuzha, Kollam, 9 November 1943 – died Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 3 March 2005), fondly known as "Raveendran Master", was a popular South Indian music composer and playback singer from Kerala. He was referred to as the aristocratic music director of Malayalam who had a distinctive style of his own. He composed more than 150 films primarily for the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. He also composed a few albums, including Vasantha Geethangal, Ponnonatharangini and Rithugeethangal. Raveendran successfully composed melodies based on Hindustani Ragas also. He is also noted for his beautiful orchestration.
Anuj Gurwara
Anuj Gurwara is a Filmfare Award-winning playback singer, master of ceremonies, actor, voice artist, radio jockey and television show host from India.- Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (Urdu: راحت فتح علی خان ) (born 9 December 1974), is a Pakistani musician, primarily of Qawwali, a devotional music of the Muslim Sufis. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and son of Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan and also the grandson of Qawwali singer Fateh Ali Khan. In addition to Qawwali, he also performs ghazals and other light music. He is also popular as a playback singer in Bollywood and the Pakistan film industry.
- Sharman Joshi (born 28 April 1979) is an Indian film and theatre actor. He has worked on and directed stage productions in English, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati languages, but is mostly known for his work in Hindi films. He made his acting debut in Godmother (1999). He made his debut as a co-lead actor in the Bollywood (Hindi) film Style (2001); this was followed by supporting roles in hit films such as Rang De Basanti (2006), Golmaal (2006), Life in a... Metro (2007), 3 Idiots (2009), Ferrari Ki Sawaari (2012), Hate Story 3 (2015), and 1920 London (2016). He is playing a lead role in the Bollywood movies Kaashi in Search of Ganga and 3 Storeys. He is best known for his role as Raju Rastogi in the movie 3 Idiots.
- Anil Krishna Biswas (अनिल कृष्ण विश्वास / অনিল বিশ্বাস; 7 July 1914 – 31 May 2003) was an noted Indian film music director and playback singer from 1935 to 1965, who apart from being one of pioneers of playback singing, is also credited for the first Indian orchestra of twelve pieces and introducing orchestral music and full-blooded choral effects, into Indian cinema. A master in western symphonic music was known for the Indian classical or folk elements, especially Baul and Bhatiyali in his music. Out of his over 90 films, most memorable were, Roti (1942), Kismet (1943), Anokha Pyaar (1948), Taraana (1951), Waaris (1954), Pardesi (1957) and Char Dil Char Rahen (1959). He was also the pioneer in using the counter melody in film scores, employing technique of western music, ‘cantala’, where one line overlaps the other in contra-melody, recitative prose songs as in Roti (1942), besides he was the first one to start extensively using the Ragmala. Another important element that he introduced was western orchestration, using indigenous instruments both in the songs as well as in their melodic interludes, a trend that soon caught on and paved way for the musicals of Indian cinema today.He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1986, given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama.
Murali
Murali Chokkalingam is a film score composer.Mahendra Kapoor
Mahendra Kapoor (9 January 1934 – 27 September 2008) was an Indian playback singer. In a long career spanning decades, his repertoire included popular songs such as 'Chalo ek baar phir se Ajnabi ban jayen hum dono' (Gumrah) and 'Neele gagan ke tale' (Hamraaz). His name however became most closely associated with patriotic songs including 'Mere Desh Ki Dharti' in Manoj Kumar's film Upkaar. In 1972, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. He lent his voice to actor Manoj Kumar in most of his films and had a lengthy association with director-producer B.R. Chopra.Sharreth
Sujith Vasudevan I, better known by his stage name Sharreth' (Malayalam: ശരത്), is an Indian music director and singer. He predominantly composes film scores and songs for Malayalam films, but has gone on to compose for Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films too. He won the Filmfare Award for the best music director in 2008. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director in 2011 for the film Ivan Megharoopan. He was also the first recipient of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Classical Music Singer for his song Bhavayami in the film Meghatheertham. He was one of the permanent judges of Idea Star Singer till the end of Season 5 and played a huge role in making the show a rage across Kerala. From 26 September 2011, he has become a judge along with Bhavagayakan P. Jayachandran on the Amrita TV musical reality show Super Star – the Ultimate. From May 2012, he has become a judge along with Ouseppachan and S. P. Shylaja on the Kairali TV Ghandharava sangeetham 2012. From February 2013, he has become a judge along with K. S. Chithra, Sreenivas and Sujatha on the Mazhavil manorama Indian Voice season 2 and Indian Voice Juinor. His memoir (written by Sanjeev Pillai) titled Aathmaraagam (ആത്മരാഗം) was published by Litmus Publications (an imprint of D C Books) in 2014. Now he is the permanent judge of Mazhavil Manorama musical reality show paadam nammukku paadam- Kavita Krishnamurthy is an Indian film playback singer who has sung songs in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, English, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Nepali, Bengali, Konkani and Odiya Etc. Trained in classical music, Kavita Krishnamurthy has recorded more than 25,000 songs in 16 languages in a career span of 30 years. Working with almost all the music composers including Laxmikant–Pyarelal, Naushad, S H Bihari, Kaifi Azmi, Anjan, O P Nayyar, Khayyam, Hemant Kumar, Ravinder Jain, Bappi Lahiri, Sameer, Anand Bakshi, Javid Akthar, Anu Malik, R. D. Burman, Hamsalekha, Zubeen Garg and A. R. Rahman. She is also the recipient of four Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Awards, including three consecutive awards in the period 1994–1996, and the Padmashri which she received in 2005. In 1999, she married violinist L. Subramaniam and residing in Bengaluru. Kavita was born Sharada in a Tamil Iyer family in New Delhi, India to T.S. Krishnamurthy, an employee of the Education Ministry. She began her music training at the insistence of her aunt, Protimma Bhattacharya who enrolled her with Suruma Basu, who taught her Rabindra Sangeet. She began her formal training in Hindustani classical music under Balram Puri, a classical singer. At the young age of eight, Kavita won a gold medal at a music competition. She won many medals participating in the Inter-Ministry Classical Competition in New Delhi in the mid 1960s.
Rahul Seth
Rahul Seth is a lyricist, playback singer and composer.- Ninad Kamat is an Indian Bollywood film actor. Some of his movies are Zabardast, Kabhi Up Kabhi Down, Shiva, Lage Raho Munnabhai, 7½ Phere, Viruddh, Dus, Parineeta, Zeher, Sangharsh, Doli Sajake Rakhna and Jai Gangaajal. He has also worked as a playback singer in Shiva and Darna Mana Hai. He is one of India's foremost voicing talents, having given his voice to thousands of commercials. He has dubbed for Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Will Smith, Jim Carrey and more.
- Surinder Kaur (25 November 1929 – 14 June 2006) was an Indian singer-songwriter. While she mainly sang punjabi folk songs, where she is credited for pioneering and popularising the genre, Kaur also recorded songs as a playback singer for Hindi films between 1948 and 1952. She was often referred to as the "nightingale of punjab", and was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2006.In a career spanning nearly six decades, her repertoire included Punjabi Sufi Kafis of Bulleh Shah and verses by contemporary poets like Nand Lal Noorpuri, Amrita Pritam, Mohan Singh and Shiv Kumar Batalvi giving memorable songs like, "Maavan 'te dheean", "Jutti kasuri", "Madhaniyan", "Ehna akhiyan 'ch pavan kiven kajra" and "Ghaman di raat". In time her wedding songs, most notably "Lathe di chadar", "Suhe ve cheere waleya" and "Kaala doria", have become an indelible part of the Punjabi culture.
Sugandha Mishra
Sugandha Mishra, is an Indian singer and television presenter. She was the finalist in the reality show Hero Honda - Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar. She also was a contestant on The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. She was classically trained from her Grandfather The Legendary Pt. Shankar Lal Mishra, disciple of Ustaad Amir Khan Sahib. Sugandha is the 4th Generation of her family into singing and belongs to the Indore gharana. She has a masters degree in music and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Music. She started her career as a Radio Jockey in BIGFM, India for a prime time morning show. She has sung many jingles,bhajans and playback in documentaries,plays and short films. She was the Third Runner-up in the Reality Show Zee Hero Honda - Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar.[1] She was also a finalist of The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. Sugandha, apart from giving voice to songs in Bollywood Movies like SHREE and Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal, has also done many singing and Comedy shows and has also acted and hosted various Television shows. Sugandha was invited to perform on actor Dilip Kumar's 90th Birthday.
