Kumar Sanu

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Kumar Sanu

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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name =
Alias = Kedarnath Bhattacharya
Born = birth date and age|1957|9|23 Kolkata, India
Died =
Instrument =
Genre = Playback singing
Occupation = Singer
Years_active = 1984–present

Kumar Sanu (alias Kedarnath Bhattacharya ( _bn. কেদারনাথ ভট্টাচার্য), born September 23, 1957 in Kolkata) is a leading playback singer of Bollywood.

Early life

Kumar Sanu's father Pashupati Bhattacharjee was an accomplished classical vocalist and composer. He trained Sanu as a singer and tabla player. After getting a degree in commerce from Calcutta University, Sanu began performing publicly in 1979, singing at shows and restaurants around Calcutta. He modeled his singing style after famous Bollywood singer Kishore Kumar.

Early career

In 1987, music director and singer Jagjit Singh offered Sanu the chance to sing in the Hindi film "Aandhiyan". Sanu then relocated to Mumbai, where Kalyanji-Anandji gave him chance to sing in the film "Jaadugar". Kalyanji-Anandji suggested that he change his name from Kedar Bhattacharya to Kumar Sanu because of the prevalent caste/region-based favoritism in Bollywood and to give him wider appeal outside of a strictly Bengali audience

1990s

Sanu's breakthrough came in 1990, in form of the film "Aashiqui". The music directors Nadeem-Shravan got Sanu to sing all but one of the songs. Sanu gained overnight success. The hit songs from Aashiqui included "Sanson ki zaroorat hai jaise", "Tu meri zindagi hain", "Nazar ke saamne", "Jaane jigar jaaneman", "Ab Tere Bin Jee Lenge Hum" and "Dheere, dheere se meri zindagi mein aana". He won the first of his record five consecutive Filmfare awards as Best Male Playback Singer. His next Filmfare Awards came for songs in the movies "Saajan" (1991), "Deewana" (1992), "Baazigar" (1993), and "" (1994).

Sanu became a favorite with Nadeem-Shravan. He rendered many hit songs in movies like "Sadak" ("Tumhe apna bana ne ki kasam khayi hai"), "Deewana" (title song), "Baazigar" (title song, "Kali kali ankhen"), "Saajan" ("Mera dil bhi kitna pagal hai"), "Pardes" ("Meri Mehbooba", "Do dil mil rahe hain"), and others.

In a career spanning two decades he has sung with many great music composers to name R.D. Burman, Laxmikant Pyarelal and Naushad besides Kalyanji Anandji. He broke a Guinness World Record by singing 28 songs in a single day in 1993.

Recent Years

His most recent hit songs include "Humraaz", "Yeh Dil Aapka Huwa" (Pakistan), "Karz", "Dil Ka Rishta", "Indian Babu", "Ishq Vishk", "Andaaz", "Qayamat", "Hungama" and "Footpath". He has also turned his trade at making music for Indian films and also recently as a producer for a new Bollywood film, Utthaan.

Currently, he is in the panel of judges on Sony TV for Waar Pariwaar, a reality show based on the bringing together of a singing gharana, (family of singers) he shares judging duties with fellow playback singer and multiple Filmfare Award winner Udit Narayan and Jatin Pandit of the famous music duo Jatin-Lalit. At the same time, he is one of the judges with Bollywood music composer Shantanu Moitra and veteran playback singer Usha Mangeshkar on Zee Bangla TV in a music reality show called Sa Re Ga Ma Pa - Vishwa Sera.

Awards

Filmfare Awards

;Filmfare Best Male Playback Award
* 1990: "Aab Tere Bin Jeelenge" - "Aashiqui"
* 1991: "Mera Dil Bhi Kitna Pagal Hai" - "Saajan"
* 1992: "Sochenge Tumhe Pyaar" - "Deewana"
* 1993: "Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhen" - "Baazigar"
* 1994: "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha" - ""

External links

*imdb name|id=0764384