Babul Supriyo (b. 15 December 1970) is an Indian

playback singer A playback singer, as they are usually known in South Asian cinema, or ghost singer in Western cinema, is a singer whose performance is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and the performers lip-sync the ...

, live performer, television host, actor and politician who currently serves as

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

of Information Technology and Electronics of the

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal, also known as the West Bengal Government, is the Administrative division, principal administrative authority of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal, created by the Constitution ...

. He was elected Member of Parliament from

Asansol Asansol is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest city in West Bengal. It is the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India by population. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Bardhaman district. Accordi ...

in the 16th and

17th Lok Sabha The 17th Lok Sabha was formed by the members elected in the 2019 Indian general election. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India. Counting started offici ...

and also served as the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in the

Union Council of Ministers The Union Council of Ministers is the Cabinet (government), principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of their functions.Article 74 of the ''Constitution of India' ...

. He officially resigned as MP on 19 October 2021 and was elected as a Member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on 16 April 2022 from Ballygunge Assembly seat. He started his career as playback singer in

Hindi cinema 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 ...

in the mid-nineties and has sung for many films since then. He primarily sings in

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, and Odia languages. However, he has also done playback singing in 11 other languages during his musical career. He entered politics in 2014 and joined Narendra Modi's

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. He previously served as Union Minister of State for

Ministry of Urban Development Ministry of Urban Development may refer to: * Ministry of Urban Development (Albania) *Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, India, formerly the Ministry of Urban Development * Ministry of Urban Development (Maharashtra), India *Ministry of Urban D ...

, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. Supriyo quit the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

and joined the

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (; AITC), simply known as Trinamool Congress, is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the Federated state, state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a Lis ...

Party in September 2021.

Early life

Supriyo was born and brought up in

Uttarpara Uttarpara or Uttarpara Kotrung is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Uttarpara is located at , within 10 k ...

, a suburb town of

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

on the banks of the

Hooghly River The Hooghly River (, also spelled ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli'') is the westernmost distributary of the Ganges, situated in West Bengal, India. It is known in its upper reaches as the Bhagirathi. The Bhagirathi splits off from the main branch of the G ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. His parents are Sunil Chandra Baral and Sumitra Baral. Babul comes from a musically inclined family and was greatly influenced by his grandfather, Banikantha NC Baral, a Bengali vocalist and composer. He won several inter-school and inter-college music compositions, and had performed in

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

and

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

. He attended Don Bosco School during which he became an "All India Don Bosco Music Champion" in 1983, and "The Most Enriching Talent" in 1985. He completed his bachelor's degree in commerce from Serampore College in 1991. When he entered the

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

industry, he changed his

birth name The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Supriya Baral to Babul Supriyo.

Personal life

Supriyo was introduced to Riaa at a

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as the "Padishah, Baadshah of Bollywood" and "King Khan", he has Shah Rukh K ...

concert in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. They got married in 1995. Their first child Sharmilee was born in 1996. Supriyo and Riaa divorced in October 2015. He remarried on 9 August 2016 to Rachna Sharma, an air hostess of

Jet Airways Jet Airways Limited, trading as Jet Airways, was an Indian full-service airline based in Delhi, with a training and developmental centre in Mumbai. Incorporated in April 1993 as a limited liability company, the airline began operations as an ...

Political career

An ardent admirer of

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 ...

and

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

, Supriyo was introduced to

in March 2014. In

2014 Indian general election General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...

, he was nominated by the party as their candidate for

, West Bengal and won it by defeating Dola Sen. He was inducted to

Narendra Modi's government Narendra may refer to: Places *Narendra (Karnataka) Narendra is a village in the southern state of Karnataka, India.Village code= 651500 Narendra, Dharwad, Karnataka It is located in the Dharwad taluk of Dharwad district in Karnataka. Temp ...

as the Union Minister of State,

; and Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation on 9 November 2014. He became the youngest minister. He served in these ministries till 12 July 2016, after which his portfolio was changed to Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. In the

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and vote ...

, Supriyo again won from the

as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate defeating

Moon Moon Sen Moon Moon Sen, also credited as Moonmoon Sen (born Srimati Sen; 28 March 1954), is an Indian actress, known for her works in Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Marathi films. She eventually starred in Bollywood films. S ...

by 1.97 lakh votes, and securing a total of 6.32 lakh votes. In May 2019, he became Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Member of Parliament On 19 September 2019, Supriyo was attacked by students after he was invited to attend an event at Calcutta's

Jadavpur University Jadavpur University ( abbr. JU) is a public state funded research university with its main campus located at Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established on 25 July in 1906 as ''Bengal Technical Institute'' and was converted into ...

. On 13 August 2019, Supriyo Babul, accused the state government of not giving food for the cyclone affected people in Fazarganj for 5 days. In the

2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election was the 17th quinquennial List of Indian state legislative assembly elections, legislative election held in Elections in West Bengal, West Bengal, to elect List of constituencies of the West ...

, Babul Supriyo ran from Tollyganj (Vidhan Sabha constituency) as the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and lost by more than 50,000 votes. Probably stung by an unexpected defeat, Supriyo stated that Bengal had made a 'historic mistake' by voting for TMC. However the Facebook post was later deleted. On 31 July 2021, Babul Supriyo announced on social media his decision to quit politics and also resign as a

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

MP. However, days later he decided to complete his tenure as MP. He then edited his Facebook post deleting the "won't join any party" remark raising speculations. On 18 September 2021 he joined TMC in presence of Abhishek Banerjee. On 16 April 2022 he was elected as a Member of the

West Bengal Legislative Assembly The West Bengal Legislative Assembly (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paścimabaṅga Vidhānasabhā'') is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of West Bengal, located in eastern India. It consists of 294 members directly elected from single-seat ...

from Ballygunge Assembly seat.

Singing career

After a brief work at the

Standard Chartered Bank Standard Chartered PLC is a British multinational bank with operations in wealth management, Wholesale banking, corporate and investment banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retai ...

, Supriyo chose singing as a full-time career. He moved to

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 ...

in 1992 to make a career in

. Kalyanji gave him a break, and took him to perform abroad at their live shows. In 1993 he toured

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and USA with

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

. He also toured US with Asha Bhonsle in 1997 and 1999. Besides playback singing, he has also done several stage shows. Babul Supriyo performed at Powai Sarvajanin Durgotsav in 2011. His breakthrough came with "Dil Ne Dil Ko Pukara" in '' Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai'' in 2000, the debut film of

Hrithik Roshan Hrithik Roshan (; born 10 January 1974) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He has portrayed a variety of characters and is known for his dancing skills. One of the highest-paid actors in India, he has won many awards, including si ...

. Some of his other popular

songs are "Pari Pari Hai Ek Pari" ('' Hungama''), "Hum Tum" ('' Hum Tum'') and "Chanda Chamke" ( ''Fanaa''). He is the anchor of the hit television show ''K for Kishore''. He sang the opening themes of

Balaji Telefilms Balaji Telefilms is an Indian company that produces Indian soap operas in several Indian languages. Balaji Telefilms also owns Alt Balaji, the platform known for producing adult rated content. Balaji Telefilms also produces reality TV, comedy ...

serials.

Albums

*''Monoroma Tilottama'' (1997) *''Hoyto Tomari Jannya'' (1999) *''Sochta Hun'' (2003) *''Kuch Aisa Lagta Hai'' *''Untitled - Babul Supriyo'' (2008) *''Kotobaaro Bhebechhinu'' (Rabindra Sangeet) (2009) - Asha Audio *''Jodi Jantem'' (Rabindra Sangeet) (2010) - Asha Audio *''Babul Baul'' (2014) *''Mone Robe'' (2011, Rabindra Sangeet album comprising 10 songs sung by Babul Supriyo & Alka Yagnik) *''Just Tomake'' *''What The Folk'' *''Timeless'' *''Suna Pharua'' (2016, Odia)

Discography

As a playback singer

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Bengali songs

Kannada songs

Odia songs

Supriyo sang ''Phaguna re Phaguna'' in

Mohammad Mohsin Mohammad Mohsin called popularly as ''Mohsin'' was an Indian actor friend of Yasir, director and producer. In his movie career spanning more than 30 years across Bollywood, Odisha and West Bengal, he has acted and directed in many commercially ...

's movie ''Santana'' which made him a household name in

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

. Subsequently, he sang many songs in Odia.

Marathi songs

Awards and honours

* 2002: Honorary citizenship by the State Council of Atlanta. * 2002:

Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards commonly referred as BFJA Awards, is given by The Bengal Film Journalists' Association. The BFJA is the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937 to serve the developing film journalism ...

: Best Male Playback for '' Tak Jhal Mishti'' * 2003: Kalakar Awards – Best Playback Singer for Kasautii Zindagii Kay * 2004: Kalakar Awards – Best Playback Singer for Mayer Anchal * 2006: Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Male Playback Award for ''Subho Drishti''. * 2007: Zee Gold Awards – Best Playback Singer for Kasautii Zindagii Kay * 2016: Walked at Grande finale show of Indian Federation for Fashion Development's India Runway Week season 6 for designer Agnimitra Paul

Criticism

Babul Supriyo has been criticised for his communal politics before joining

. He frequently made derogatory remarks on Rohingyas and

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

minorities of India.

References

, -

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Supriyo, Babul Living people 1970 births People from Uttarpara Bengali Hindus Bengali singers Indian male singers Bollywood playback singers Bengali playback singers Hindi-language singers Odia playback singers Don Bosco schools alumni University of Calcutta alumni Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award winners Rabindra Sangeet exponents Male actors in Bengali cinema India MPs 2014–2019 Lok Sabha members from West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from West Bengal Narendra Modi ministry People from Asansol India MPs 2019–2024 National Democratic Alliance candidates in the 2019 Indian general election 20th-century Indian male singers 20th-century Indian singers Kasautii Zindagii Kay West Bengal MLAs 2021–2026 Singers from West Bengal State cabinet ministers of West Bengal Trinamool Congress politicians from West Bengal