Anuradha Paudwal

Anuradha Paudwal (born 27 October 1954) is an Indian playback singer who works predominantly in Hindi cinema.

She has been described in media as one of the most prominent Bhajan singer and also as one of the most successful playback singers of 80s and 90s era of Bollywood.

In 1970s, she sang a few popular songs which were praised by the music composers as well as public, but doesn't get much popularity.

At that time she sang as a dubbing artist.

She obtained popularity from her song Tu Mera Janu Hai along with Manhar Udhas in film Hero.

She had been asked to 'dub' this song for the actual singer - Lata Mangeshkar.

Later Lataji was to have sung the song for the actual recording.

But when music director duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal heard Anuradha's version, they determined that since the movie had an actress, Meenakshi Seshadri, making her debut, it was only appropriate that the song should also be sung by a fresh voice.

After that in mid-80s, she sang along with Mohammed Aziz, and this duo was highly liked by public.

It was at this time that Anuradha Paudwal started to climb the ladder of success.

After that she sang songs with established singers of that time and worked with many music composers.

At that time she met Nadeem–Shravan who were struggling at that time.

She listened to some of their songs and asked them to compose music for her.

They composed 23 songs which were sung by her along with Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Babla Mehta among others.

Paudwal made her debut from a Sanskrit verse in the 1973 Hindi film Abhiman, composed by S. D. Burman.

She has also sung in films including Marathi, Tamil, Odia, Nepali, Bengali and Kannada.

Before entering in Bollywood she sang in a Radio program.

She started her music journey in 1973 from film Abhiman where she sang a Sanskrit verse for Jaya Bhaduri.

The recipient of several accolades including a National Film Award, four Filmfare Awards (winning consecutively during 1990–92) and two Odisha State Film Awards, she has been honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri, the country's fourth-highest civilian honour for her contribution in the field of arts.

Her contribution in Indian devotional music and Bollywood Industry gained her the titles such as "Bhajan Queen", "Melody Queen".

She was honored with honorary degree of D.Litt.

by D. Y. Patil University, the second singer to receive this degree after Lata Mangeshkar.

She is engaged in social work and had a foundation named Suryodaya Foundation.

In her career spanning over five decades Paudwal has recorded more than 9,000 songs and more than 1,500 bhajans in several languages including Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Sanskrit, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Assamese, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Nepali and Maithili.

She is ranked NO. 31 in Youtube's Music Charts and Insights list of top global artist as of 3 February 2022.

She has been on chart since last 237 weeks.

She has been awarded a doctorate in music by DY Patil University felicitated by the house of commons in England and awarded the Cultural ambassador to Indian devotional by the United Nations in New York.

Ten songs out of them are to be released as Chahat album, which were later released as film songs in Aashiqui movie in 1990.

When music of the film Aashiqui was released, it became popular in no time.

It established Anuradha Paudwal as a successful playback singer.

After that Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, and Sadak were released in 1991, which were also immensely successful.

Several other albums release at that time made her an established singer and she was often given preference over Mangeshkar sisters.

When she was at the peak of her career, she decided to sing exclusively for T-Series.

And after this her immensely successful Bollywood career started falling slowly and other female playback singers like Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurti and Sadhana Sargam came into prominence.

After quitting Bollywood she started singing devotional songs.

One day before Navratri Gulshan Kumar asked Anuradha Paudwal to sing devotional songs of maa Durga.

Anuradha sang those bhajans and when these were released in market these sold immediately.

After this she started singing devotional songs one after one and never look back again.

Her Bhajans are extremely popular in India specially her Shiv and Durga bhajans.

Apart from Hindu Bhajans she also sang some Islamic, Christian, Jain, Boddha, and Sikhh Devotional songs.