Sapna Awasthi Singh is a

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 ...

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 ...

best known for her "Banno Teri Ankhiyan Soorme" from '' Dushmani'' (1995), "Pardesi Pardesi" from '' Raja Hindustani'' (1996), " Chaiyya Chaiyya" from '' Dil Se..'' (1998), "Angoori Badan" from '' Jaanwar'' (1998) and "UP Bihar Lootne" from ''

Shool ''Shool'' () is a 1999 Indian Hindi-language action crime film directed by Eeshwar Nivas. Written and produced by Ram Gopal Varma, it portrays the politician-criminal nexus and the criminalization of politics in Bihar and its effect on the li ...

'' (1999).

Early life and career

Sapna Awasthi started training in classical music at a young age and completed ''Sangeet Vishaarad'' in Bhatkhande Music Institute,

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

. She began singing for the radio when she was fifteen, before performing on stage. She received her first break in

from composer Sameer Sen. Awasthi is from Kumaon region of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

and relocated 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 ...

after singing songs in

Krantiveer ''Krantiveer'' () is a 1994 Indian Hindi-language action crime film directed and produced by Mehul Kumar. The film stars Nana Patekar, Dimple Kapadia, Atul Agnihotri, Mamta Kulkarni in the lead roles. Farida Jalal, Paresh Rawal, Tinu Anan ...

(1994). She has sung for prominent musicians like Nadeem–Shravan, Anand–Milind,

Anu Malik Anwar Sardar "Anu" Malik (born 2 November 1960) is an Indian music composer, singer, music arranger and score composer. He is the recipient of a National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards, who primarily composes music for the Hindi film ...

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 ...

, Sandeep Chowta and others. Her biggest hit to date, as is usually believed, is not her duet 'Chaiyya Chaiyya' (co-singer Sukhvinder Singh) for

's '' Dil Se'' (1998), but 'Pardesi Pardesi' (co-singers

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 ...

and

Alka Yagnik Alka Yagnik (born 20 March 1966) is an Indian playback singer who works predominantly in Hindi cinema. One of the most prominent singers of 1990s era Bollywood, she has received several accolades, including two National Film Awards, two Ben ...

) for Nadeem-Shravan's '' Raja Hindustani'' (1996).

Discography

Hindi film songs

Assamese film songs

Accolades

References

External links

* Indian women playback singers Singers from Mumbai Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century Indian women singers 20th-century Indian singers Women musicians from Maharashtra {{India-film-bio-stub