Angaraag Mahanta (born 24 November 1975), known by his stagename Papon, is an Indian playback singer and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

from

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. Papon has also sung in many languages apart from Assamese like

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, Bengali, Tamil and Marathi. He is the lead vocalist and founder of the folk-fusion band ''Papon and The East India Company''. He is the son of the noted Assamese singer Khagen Mahanta and Archana Mahanta.

Career

Papon started his musical journey in the year 1998 with the Assamese song "Nasaba Sokule" from the album ''Snigdha Junak''. In 2004 he released his first album, ''Junaki Raati''. Papon made his debut in Bollywood with the song "Om mantra" from the film ''Strings - bound by faith'' in 2006. In 2011, his song was "Jiyein Kyun" from the movie '' Dum Maro Dum'' which was his first big hit''.'' In 2014, he sang "Lakeerein", which is a poem by Gulzar, for the film '' Kya Dilli Kya Lahore'' and "Sun RI Bavli" for Nagesh Kukunoor's film '' Lakshmi''. In 2015, he sang "Moh moh ke dhage" for the film '' Dum Laga Ke Haisha'' and "Humnava" in '' Hamari Adhuri Kahani'' (2015). In 2016, he sang "Bulleya" for the film ''

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

.'' In August 2016, Red Bull released "Hometown Heroes," a seven-part documentary web series that revisits the story of Papon's youth and rising career. Papon's 2018 song "Baba Bolta Hain Bas Ho Gaya", from the movie '' Sanju'', comments on differences between the real Sanju and the "reel" Sanju.

Television

In 2013, Papon was responsible for the theme song for MTV Roadies X: Battle for Glory – "Jajabor" (Jajabor being an Assemese word for yayavar - "traveler"). In 2017, he was one of the judge in The Voice India Kids.

Film

Band

In 2007, Papon formed an electronic folk-fusion band called Papon and The East India Company. The band consists of Papon on vocals, Brin Desai and Hameem Kader on live electronics, Jinti on lead guitars, Kirti on percussion and Dipu on bass and Tanmay on Drums The six members came from backgrounds varying from Assamese folk to metal and blues to

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

. The band has performed twice at the SAARC Music Band Festival in New Delhi, the Eastwind Festival, and the Kovalam Literary Festival and has performed overseas with Sutasi in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. The band took a two-year break in the wait for a solo album which was released internationally at the end of 2011. The band is back in action in November with 4 big festivals in the same month. They also played at the October Fest in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, NH7 Weekender fest in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

and the Rock for Rights concert in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

Personal life and education

His father, Khagen Mahanta, died on 12 June 2014. He now lives in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

with his wife Shweta Mishra Mahanta. They have two children. He initially went there for Architecture but later enrolled himself to a degree in English Literature in Delhi University. He spent some time in Ramjas College before he shifted to Motilal Nehru College.

Controversies

Papon, who was a mentor and judge on The Voice India Kids, on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

live-streaming from his own page was seen putting Holi colors on an 11-year-old girl, and was alleged on media and social media to have kissed her. On 24 Feb 2018, The police lodged a case against him after a complaint from the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights. Along with the other contestants present on the video streaming and their respective guardians, the parents of the minor also denied allegations against Papon stating that it was fatherly love shown by Papon and there was no kiss. He left the reality TV show as judge due to the allegations. A court of law later found insufficient reason to charge Papon based on the police investigation reports and closed the case and stated that the case arose due to a mistake of fact.

Collaborations

Papon has featured in albums which carry the labels of MDR Records, in a collaboration with Times Music, and has also featured in the soundtrack of

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

films '' Dum Maaro Dum'', '' I Am Kalam'', ''

Soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

'', ''Patang'', and most recently ''Barfi!''. He also featured on the Indian leg of the show Coke Studio @ MTV. He performed on the show Global Indian Film Awards with MIDIval Punditz, Kailash Kher and Shubha Mudgal. He also appeared on Star world India, Episode six of The Dewarists with Rabbi Shergill and recorded a song "Khule Da Rabb". Papon has also worked with Shantanu Moitra in the 4th season of The Dewarists for 'O Megh' which is inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's poem of same name.

Discography

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Papon Living people Indian male singer-songwriters Indian singer-songwriters Bollywood playback singers Assamese playback singers Musicians from Guwahati People from Nagaon district People from Guwahati Indian male pop singers Screen Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners Indian male playback singers Singers from Assam Singers from Guwahati Indian folk-pop singers 1975 births Ramjas College alumni