Rekha Bhardwaj is an Indian

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

and live performer. She has received two

Filmfare ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of India's most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, ...

and one National Awards. In addition to

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 ...

, she has also sung in Bengali,

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 ...

, Punjabi and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

languages.

Personal life

Bhardwaj was born in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

and is one of six siblings (5 sisters and a brother). She married

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, composer and playback singer

Vishal Bhardwaj Vishal Bhardwaj (born 4 August 1965) is an Indian filmmaker, music composer, and playback singer. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema, and is the recipient of nine National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award. Bhardwaj made his debut as a mu ...

in 1991. She first met him in 1984 when preparing for the annual function of Hindu College in New Delhi.

Professional career

Bhardwaj was initially trained in music by her older sister at their home. She went on to receive formal training under Pandit Amarnath. Bhardwaj's first album titled 'Ishqa Ishqa' was released in 2002, ten years after its conception. Its success got her recognition and helped bag her career-defining songs like "''Namak Ishq Ka''" in the 2006 film Omkara (composed by her Husband Vishal Bharadwaj) followed by "''Sasural Genda Phool''" (a Chhattisgarhi folk song recreated by AR RAHMAN) in 2009 film Delhi-6.

Awards and honours

* 2015 Nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Playback Singer (female) for the song "''Humari atariya pe''" from the 2014 film

Dedh Ishqiya ''Dedh Ishqiya'' () is a 2014 Indian Slapstick film, slapstick black comedy film directed by Abhishek Chaubey and starring Arshad Warsi, Naseeruddin Shah, Madhuri Dixit, Huma Qureshi and Vijay Raaz. Produced by Raman Maroo of Shemaroo Entertainm ...

* 2014 Nominated for Hum Award for Best Original Soundtrack for the song ''Kabhi Ashna Kabhi Ajnabi'' from the 2013 Pakistani TV serial Humnasheen *

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Mirchi Music Awards ''Mirchi Music Awards'' are presented annually by ''Radio Mirchi'' to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Hindi language film music industry of India. The awards, given in seventeen different categories, were i ...

for Raag-based song of the year for "Ek Ghadi" from ''

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

'' * 2012 Co-winner of Filmfare Award for Best Playback Singer (female) with

Usha Uthup Usha Iyer Uthup (born 8 November 1947) is an Indian singer known for her deep contralto voice and her versatility across genres and languages. A prominent figure in Indian music since the 1970s, she has received a Filmfare Award, and was honoure ...

for the song "''Darling''" from the 2011 film

7 Khoon Maaf ''7 Khoon Maaf'' (; read as "''Saat Khoon Maaf''"), released internationally as ''Seven Sins Forgiven'', is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language black comedy film directed, co-written and co-produced by Vishal Bhardwaj. The film stars Priyanka Chopra ...

* 2011 National Award for the song "''Badi dheere jali''" from the 2010 film

Ishqiya ''Ishqiya'' () is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language slapstick black comedy film directed by debutante Abhishek Chaubey starring Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, and Salman Shahid, with cinematography by Mohana Krishna, and was produ ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Mirchi Music Awards for Female Vocalist of The Year for "Darling" from ''

'' * 2010 Filmfare Award for Best Playback Singer (female) for the song "''Sasural Genda Phool''" from the 2009 film '' Delhi-6'' *

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Mirchi Music Awards for Female Vocalist of The Year for the song "Sasural Genda Phool" from ''Delhi-6''

Discography

Bhardwaj has been a

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 ...

for various films in various languages.

Hindi

Other languages

Other works

In addition to films, Bhardwaj has also sung for TV serials, etc.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhardwaj, Rekha 1964 births Living people Bollywood playback singers Hindi-language singers Indian women playback singers Hindu College, Delhi alumni Best Female Playback Singer National Film Award winners Filmfare Awards winners 20th-century Indian women singers 20th-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian women singers Women musicians from Delhi Singers from Delhi