Vidya Rao is an Indian

Hindustani classical Hindustani classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent's northern regions. It may also be called North Indian classical music or ''Uttar Bhartiya shastriya sangeet''. The term ''shastriya sangeet'' literally means classica ...

singer and writer. She is popular for her

Thumri Thumri () is a vocal genre or style of Indian music. The term "thumri" is derived from the Hindi verb ''thumuknaa'', which means "to walk with a dancing gait in such a way that the ankle-bells tinkle." The form is, thus, connected with dance, dram ...

and

Dadra Dadra is associated with the Hindustani classical music of the Indian subcontinent. Dadra tala This is a Hindustani classical '' tala'' (rhythmic cycle), consisting of six beats in two equal divisions of three. The most commonly accepted theka ...

. She wrote a book on the late

Naina Devi Mata Naina Devi is a town and a municipal council in Bilaspur district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. History According to legends and also written in Veds and Purans, Goddess Sati burnt herself alive in Yagna, which distressed L ...

, ''Heart to Heart: Remembering Nainaji.'' Her daughter

Aditi Rao Hydari Aditi Rao Hydari (born 28 October 1986) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi cinema, Hindi, Tamil cinema, Tamil, and Telugu cinema, Telugu films. Born into the Tyabji family, Tyabji–Hydari family, she made her acting debut with the Mal ...

is an actress.

Early life

Vidya Rao was born in Wanaparthy and grew up in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. She did her graduation from Madras and later joined the

Delhi School of Economics Delhi School of Economics (DSE), popularly referred to as D School, is an institution of higher learning within the Delhi University. The Delhi School of Economics is situated in University of Delhi's North Campus in Maurice Nagar. Establishe ...

to do M.A. in

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

Career

She worked with Centre for Women's Development Studies as a researcher for five years before quitting to concentrate on music. She renders poetry of mystics like,

Amir Khusro Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253 – 1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau, sometimes spelled as, Amir Khusrow or Amir Khusro, was an Indo-Persian culture, Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar, who lived during the per ...

Kabir Kabir ( 15th century) was a well-known Indian devotional mystic poet and sant. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Gar ...

etc. She was set to make her acting debut through

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 '' Raavanan'' (2010) as the mother of

Aishwarya Rai Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (; Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil language, Tamil films. Rai won the Miss World 1994 pageant and later established herself as one of the most-popu ...

's character. However, her scenes were cut from the film's final version.

Personal life

She was married to Ehsaan Hydari. They have a daughter, Tollywood and Bollywood actress,

References

External links

The Love Life of Vidya Rao, Thumri Singer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, Vidya Living people Hindustani singers Thumri Indian women classical singers Indian women non-fiction writers Indian women biographers Delhi School of Economics alumni Singers from Hyderabad, India Women writers from Telangana Women Hindustani musicians 20th-century Indian biographers Year of birth missing (living people) Women musicians from Andhra Pradesh 20th-century Indian women singers 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century women writers Telugu people Konkani people