Kumar Sanu – the voice of Bollywood
There are few Bollywood playback singers who can compete with Kumar Sanu. The recipient of one of India’s highest civilian honours, the 2009 Padma Shri award, Sanu also won the Filmfare Best Make Playback Award five years in a row between 1991 and 1995. Also, by singing an astounding 28 songs in a single day in 1993, Sanu broke the Guinness World Record for the most songs recorded in a day. Today, Sanu often produces movies instead of singing in them – as well as frequently appearing as a judge on talent shows like Waar Parriwar and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa – but he still finds time to record the occasional single. His most recent record was ‘Lamha Ho Tum’, which was released on Valentine’s Day 2010.
Born in 1957, Sanu grew up in a musical household. His father, Pasupati Bhattacharjee was a well-known singer and composer, and Sanu duly followed in his footsteps by training as a singer and tabla player. After finishing his studies at Calcutta University in 1979, Sanu began performing at shows and restaurants around the city. Initially, he based his singing voice on the legendary Bollywood star Kishore Kumar, but as time went by, Sanu began to develop an individual style that was entirely his own.
Nearly a decade later, Sanu relocated to Mumbai. He had just sung in the movie ‘Aandhiyan’, thanks to singer and music director Jagjit Singh, and a career in Bollywood beckoned. He was then given the opportunity to sing in ‘Jaadugar’ by composer Kalyanji-Anandji, who suggested that Sanu change his name. Up until then, Sanu’s name had been Kedar Nath Bhattacharya, but this didn’t sit well in an industry where caste and region-based discrimination was rife. Kalyanji-Anandji thought that a name-change would give the singer a wider appeal outside a Bengali audience, and Kumar Sanu was born.
After a few years of building his profile, Sanu’s big break came in 1990, when he sang in the hit movie ‘Aashiqui’. Sanu sang every song in the movie except one, and the exposure propelled him to overnight stardom. The performance won Sanu the first of his Filmfare awards, which he followed up with ‘Saajan’ in 1991, ‘Deewana’ in 1992, ‘Baazigar’ in 1993 and ‘1942: A Love Story’ in 1994. The movie was also Sanu’s first collaboration with the famous Indian composing duo, Nadeem-Shravan, with whom he would work on a string of hit movies during the rest of the decade.
Although the most successful decade of Sanu’s career was undoubtedly the 1990s, he is still thought of by many Bollywood fans as having one of the best voices in the industry. Even though his releases are few and far between nowadays, Sanu’s recordings continue to sell in high numbers, and it’s likely that he’ll remain one the most famous names in playback singing for some time to come. If you want an education in the sounds of Bollywood, then look no further than the works of Kumar Sanu.
