Songs From India

Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak also gave bollywood a successful pair of Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik as playback singers. They sung together in several blockbuster hits including Dil, Raja, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar etc. in between he also became very famous in Nepali movies and even tried his hand at acting in movies like Pirati and Kusume Rumal. These movies did not do very well but however, Udit Narayan had established himself as the most famous Nepali singer.

In the Hindi film industry, another playback singer Kumar Sanu was already creating waves and the rivalry between the two resulted in some of the best songs of that era. In the hindsight, Kumar Sanu managed to go away with all the awards till the year 1995 when Udit Narayan made a strong comeback with the movie ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaaenge’. The song ‘Mehendi Laga Ke Rakhna’ became a huge hit and he also bagged the best playback singer award for the same. His next award did not take much time as he won it again next year for the song ‘Pardesi Pardesi’ for the movie Raja Hindustani.

Udit Narayan has attained fame and respect for his original voice and cheerful songs. He is also the most natural singers around who is able to give exact feel to the song. His major hits include, Darr, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Taal, Swadesh, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Veer Zaara, Mohabbatein, Lagaan, Rangeela and any more. He has also sung songs in other languages like, Tamil, Kannada, Oriya, Telugu, and Bengali etc. 

Udit Narayan has managed to carve a niche for himself in the tough business of playback singing. He has one of the most original voices in the film industry. Udit Narayan is also a favorite with top notch music directors. His talent can be understood from the fact that he has sung for numerous heroes and in many languages. He is not only popular but has also managed to remain humble and that’s certainly a great quality to have. Born in a small village called ‘Bharadah’ in Nepal, Udit Narayan faced lot of struggles in his early days. His passion for singing brought him to Nepal radio. Therafer he sung songs in Maithili, Nepali and Bhojpuri languages. That was way back in 1970’s. But he was not satisfied with the progress he was making. His ambitions brought him to bollywood, the pinnacle for playback singers. His stint in Mumbai also involved six years of classical music training in Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan.

His first break materialized in form of movie ‘Unees Bees’ in the year 1980. He was also fortunate to sing with the legendary Mohammad Rafi. But his moment of fame came with the movie, Qayamat Se Qayamat tak in the year 1988. He also won the Filmfare award for the song ‘Papa Kehte hain’ for the same movie. This movie also launched the career of famous bollywood stars Amir Khan and Juhi Chawla. Since that movie, Udit narayan has never looked back.

During his struggling days, Yesudas joined an art institute named ‘Kalabhavan’, and started to give public concerts. That was the beginning of his popularity. Finally he got his first break as a playback singer in 1961 for the Malayalam movie, ‘Kalpadukal’. Since then, he never looked back. Soon he started to get offers from all the regional south Indian movies and he sang for Tamil, Telgu, Kannada, and Malayalam movies. Yesudas also sang for hindi movie and got popularity for songs like ‘Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyaara’ and ‘Jab Deep Jale Aana’ among others. For the ‘Gori Tera’ song, he also received National award for Best Singer in 1979.

He is credited to win National award for impressive seven times. Apart from that, numerous state awards and other accolades have been bestowed upon him. He has also received ‘Padamshri’ in 1977. Government of Kerala gave him the title of ‘Asthana Gayakan’. Annamalai University, Chennai conferred upon him an honorary doctorate degree for his contributions to music and art. Acknowledging his huge talent and contribution to music, Indian government gave him the prestigious ‘Padma Bhushan’ in January 2002.

K J Yesudas is an extremely humble person who believes in ‘One caste, One  religion and One God for all’ philosophy. He still practices and listens to Carnatic classical and classical celebrities like Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, Dr. Bala Murali Krishna etc are his favorites. He has also released several albums of different genres including, religious, classical music, light music etc. He continues to mesmerize music fans with the divine voice.