- Monali Thakur
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Monali Thakur Origin Kolkata, India Genres Classical, Filmi Occupations Playback singer Years active 2006 - present Monali Thakur (born November 3, 1985 in Kolkata, India) is an Indian playback singer who sings mainly in Bollywood movies.
Contents
Biography
Thakur comes from a musical family, as her father is Bengali singer and actor Shakti Thakur[1] and her sister Mehuli Thakur Goswami is also a professional playback singer.[2] Being a child, she has also appeared in a Bengali television soap, Aalokito ek Indu, in which she played the lead role Indu.
Thakur got her start by singing in school and college competitions and performing at local functions,[3] and then rose to popularity after placing ninth in Indian Idol 2, the Indian version of Pop Idol. She was never in the Bottom 3 until her elimination, and immediately after she was eliminated, judge Anu Malik offered to help her find a future singing opportunity,[2] which turned out to be a playback song in the movie Jaan-E-Mann.
In spite of coming from a musically enriched family, she had to struggle a lot hard even after Indian Idol to get a strong foothold in the music industry. Finally, she got an offer to sing for music director Pritam to sing two songs for the hit movie Race in 2008 - "Khwab Dekhe (Sexy lady)" and "Zara Zara Touch Me". She was originally scheduled for only one song, but her first recording impressed the film's directors Abbas and Mustan enough for them to book her a second.[1] "Zara Zara Touch Me" was enormously successful, becoming the fourth-most-played song on Indian radio during the first half of 2008.[4] It also spawned a lawsuit by Taiwanese-American singer Leehom Wang, however, with Lee-hom claiming that "Zara Zara Touch Me" was too similar to the song "Deep in the Bamboo Grove" from his album The Sun and Moon in My Heart, which had been released in December 2004.[5]
Since then there had been no looking back for her. She had sung for a number of movies in Bollywood and truckloads in Bengali,[6] and is working on her first solo album. As of June 2008, Thakur claimed that the album included a planned nine tracks, of which six had already been written by Thakur and Sachin Gupta, and would be in a blend of rock and classical styles.[6] She had sung songs like Jingle and Hai Junoon Remix in Badmaash Company and New York, respectively. However, her parts in both of these songs are not featured in the albums.
She also got nominated for best singer in IIFA Awards for the song "Zara Zara Touch Me".
Filmography
- Aiyaa (Hindi) (2012) "Aga Bai"
- Kucch Luv Jaisaa (Hindi) (2011) "Naina"
- Anjaana Anjaani (2010) - "Anjaana Anjaani Ki Kahani"
- Badmaash Company (2010) - "Jingle Jingle"
- Prince (2010) - "Ishq Mein"
- Dulha Mil Gaya (2010) - "Dilrubaon Ke Jalwe"
- Mr. Bhatti on Chutti (2009)
- Billu (2009) - "Khudaya Khair"
- Golmaal Returns (2008) - "Meow"
- Race (2008) - "Zara Zara Touch Me", "Khwaab Dekhe (Sexy Lady)"
- Jaan-E-Mann (2006) - "Kubool Kar Le"
- Dil Kabaddi (2008)
- Krishnakanter Will (Bengali) (2007)
and many more in Bengali.
Songs
External links
References
- ^ a b Pavithran, Eva. "Oomph In Her Voice", Verve magazine, Volume 16, Issue 5, May, 2008.
- ^ a b "Monali Thakur out of Idol race!", Telly Chakkar, February 7, 2006.
- ^ Shruti, I.L. "Katrina liked my voice", The Deccan Herald, August 26, 2008.
- ^ "And the most popular songs playing on radio are…; AirCheck India takes stock", exchange4media News Service, July 5, 2008
- ^ "‘Race’ song in plagiarism row", Indo-Asian News Service, August 6, 2008.
- ^ a b Das, Mohua. "The zara zara girl", The Telegraph (Calcutta), June 12, 2008.
Categories:- 1985 births
- Living people
- Indian female singers
- Indian playback singers
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