Mahalakshmi Iyer is an Indian playback singer, best known for her

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 ...

, Assamese and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

songs. She has sung in many other Indian languages as well, including Telugu,

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati and

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

Career

Playback singing

Mahalakshmi made her playback debut with the film '' Dus'' in 1997'','' but the film never completed and released due to the sudden passing of the film's director. The album however was released in 1999 as a tribute. She sang the track ''Ae Ajnabee'' with

Udit Narayan Udit Narayan Jha (born 1 December 1955) is an Nepali and Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured mainly in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. He has also sung in various other languages including Telugu language, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil ...

for

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

Mani Ratnam Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...

's '' Dil Se..'' which was her first release as a playback singer and considered to be her debut. Mahalakshmi continued singing for Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy and

A.R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinema ...

in many films which followed. Since then she has also sung many serials,

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

s, and original albums. She was part of several successful soundtracks such as '' Mission Kashmir'', '' Yaadein'' and '' Saathiya'' and worked with some of the biggest music composers like

, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Vishal–Shekhar, Nadeem–Shravan,

Jatin–Lalit Jatin–Lalit is a renowned Indian music director duo consisting of brothers Jatin Pandit and Lalit Pandit. They are celebrated for their contribution to Bollywood music during the 1990s and early 2000s. The duo is known for their melodious com ...

and more. She has sung for many

Yash Raj Films Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. Since 2012, it has been led by his son Aditya Chopra. The company mainly produces and distributes Hindi films. History In 19 ...

' biggest hits like '' Dhoom 2'', '' Bunty Aur Babli'', '' Salaam Namaste'', '' Fanaa'', ''

Ta Ra Rum Pum ''Ta Ra Rum Pum'' is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language sports drama film directed by Siddharth Anand and written by Habib Faisal. Produced by Aditya Chopra under the Yash Raj Films banner, the film stars Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji, alongside ...

'' and '' Jhoom Barabar Jhoom''. She was known for her performances in songs like "Kabhi Sham Dhale" from '' Sur – The Melody of Life'' (2002), "Har Taraf" from '' Rishtey'' (2002) and for hit songs like "Chup Chup Ke" from '' Bunty Aur Babli'' (2005), "Aaj Ki Raat" from '' Don: The Chase Begins Again'' (2006) and "Bol Na Halke Halke" from '' Jhoom Barabar Jhoom''. She sang on the Academy Award-winning song " Jai Ho" for

in the film ''

Slumdog Millionaire ''Slumdog Millionaire'' is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel '' Q & A'' (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Patel ...

'' (2008). Specifically, she sang the

words between the short "Jai Ho" chants, as well as portions of the verses (most of which were sung by

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhwinder Singh (born 18 July 1971) is an Indian playback singer who primarily sings Bollywood songs. He sang " Jai Ho" in the film '' Slumdog Millionaire'', for which he won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Televisi ...

). In the past, she rendered background vocal to the very famous Ghazal of

Pankaj Udhas Pankaj Udhas (17 May 1951 – 26 February 2024) was an Indian ghazal and playback singer known for his works in Hindi cinema, and Indian pop. He started his career with the release of a ghazal album titled ''Aahat'' in 1980 and subsequently rec ...

named Aur Ahistaa. She has also rendered her voice to many private album remixes notably ''Aaja Piya Tohe Pyar'' and ''Baahon Mein Chali Aao'', which was originally rendered by the legendary

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar (; born Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. He ...

Television songs

In 2013, Mahalakshmi Iyer sang a song with Udit Narayan titled "Ek dil banaaya, phir pyar basaaya", penned by Raghvendra Singh music direction of Navin Manish for Rajshri 's TV show Jhilmil Sitaaron Ka Aangan Hoga on Sahara One.

Film songs

Assamese songs

Tamil songs

Telugu

Non-film songs

Awards and honours

* Grammy Award as Vocalist on the recording of "''Jai Ho"'' from the film "Slumdog Millionaire" *Alpha award for Best Playback for ''Adhar'' * Maharashtra State Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer At 51st

Maharashtra State Film Awards Maharashtra State Film Awards, one of the prestigious awards of Marathi cinema, are awarded by the Government of Maharashtra to Marathi language films and artists. They were first awarded in 1963. The Maharashtra State Film Awards are adjudicat ...

For Song "Datle Reshami Dhuke" From Film Timepass. *''Maharashtra Kala Niketan'' Award for ''Suna Yeti Gharaat'' * 2016 Filmfare nomination for Best Female Playback Singer – Tamil – "Un Mele Oru Kannu" ( Rajini Murugan)
Best playback singer - Orissa State Award
for ''Dheu Kere Kule (From the film "Mimamsa")''

References

External links

*

OpenBeast interview

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iyer, Mahalakshmi Assamese playback singers Bollywood playback singers Indian women playback singers Indian women pop singers Kannada playback singers Living people Marathi-language singers Marathi playback singers Performers of Hindu music Place of birth missing (living people) Singers from Mumbai Tamil playback singers Women musicians from Maharashtra 1976 births 20th-century Indian women singers 20th-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers