Laxmikant-Pyarelal (Hindi: लक्ष्मीकान्त-प्यारेलाल, also known as LP or Laxmi-Pyare) were a popular Indian composer duo, consisting of Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar (1937–1998) and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma (born 1940). They composed music for about 635 Hindi movies from 1963 to 1998, working for almost all notable filmmakers including Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Feroze Khan, B.R. Chopra, Shakti Samanta, Manmohan Desai, Yash Chopra, Subhash Ghai and Manoj Kumar.

Early life[link]

Laxmikant[link]

Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar, was born on the day of “Laxmi Pujan” (Diwali), on 3 November in 1937. May be because of that his parent named him as Laxmikant. He spent his childhood amidst dire poverty in the slums of Vile Parle (E) Mumbai which in those days was comparable to today's Dharavi slums. His father died when he was child. Because of the poor financial conditions of the family he also could not even complete his academic education. Laxmikant's father's friend, a musician himself advised him and his elder brother to learn music. Accordingly Laxmikant learnt to play the mandolin and his elder brother learnt to play the tabla. In spite of spending two full years in the company of known mandolin player Hussain Ali, Laxmikant was never really given an opportunity to operationally learn how to play the instrument. However he mastered this art on his own. He began organising and performing in Indian Classical Instrumental Music concerts in order to earn some money. Later Laxmi did get the opportunity to learn the mandolin from known player Bal Mukund Indorker and also to learn the violin from Husnalal of the popular music duo Husanlal Bhagatram, especially in the 1940s.

Pyarelal[link]

Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma, was born in Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh, on 3 September in 1940. Pyarelal was the son of a renowned trumpeter Pt. Ramprasad Sharma (popularly known as Babaji), who taught him the basics of music. He started learning violin at the age of 8 and practised it 8 to 12 hours daily. He learnt to play violin from a Goan musician named Anthony Gonsalves. The song "My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves" of the movie Amar Akbar Anthony is regarded as a tribute to Mr. Gonsalves (the movie had music by Laxmi-Pyarelal). By the age of 12, his family's financial condition had deteriorated, which in turn forced him to earn money by playing in studios. Pyarelal then used to frequent visiting and playing the violin in studios such as Ranjit Studios, to earn money for his family.

Formation of composer duo[link]

When Laxmikant was about 10 years old, he once played mandolin in a Lata Mangeshkar concert in Radio Club, Colaba. Lata was so impressed that she talked to him after the concert.

Laxmikant and Pyarelal met at Sureel Kala Kendra, a music academy for children, run by the Mangeshkar family. After she came to know about their financially poor backgrounds, Lata recommended their names to music directors like Naushad, Sachin Dev Burman and C. Ramchandra. Similar financial backgrounds and age made Laxmikant and Pyarelal very good friends. They used to spend long hours at the recording studios, sometimes getting work for each other and even playing together whenever they got the opportunity.

Pyarelal often used to frequent the Bombay Chamber Orchestra and the Paranjoti Academy, where he would perfect his skills in the company of Goody Seervai, Coomi Wadia, Mehli Mehta and his son, Zubin Mehta. Laxmi-Pyare were not content with the payments being made to them for their music, so they decided to go to Madras (now Chennai). But, it was the same story there. So, they returned back. Once Pyarelal decided to leave India and go to Venice to play for symphony orchestras, just like Zubin. However, he stayed back at Laxmikant's insistence. Some of Laxmi-Pyare's colleagues at this time included Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (Santoor) and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (flute). Later, Shivkumar and Hariprasad also ventured in Hindi Cinema as Shiv-Hari.

Laxmi-Pyare worked with almost all reputed music directors (with the exception of O. P. Nayyar and Shankar-Jaikishan) of the 1950s. In 1953, they became assistants to Kalyanji-Anandji and worked with them as assistants till 1963. They worked as music arrangers for many music directors including Sachin Dev Burman (in Ziddi) and also for his son Rahul Dev Burman (in his first film Chhote Nawab). Laxmi-Pyare and R D Burman remained very good friends, even when Laxmi-Pyare started giving music independently. R D Burman played mouth organ for all songs of Dosti. Laxmikant once made a guest appearance playing role of himself as a Composer of Song "Dil Ki Baat" in Teri Kasam (1982), which had music by R D Burman.

Music career[link]

In their early days, Laxmi-Pyare's music was very similar to Shankar-Jaikishan's music, as Laxmikant was a great fan of theirs. Once Shankar even changed his orchestration to make sure that his music did not sound like Laxmi-Pyare's. Laxmi-Pyare's first film as music directors was not released. The first released movie which featured them as music directors was Babubhai Mistry's Parasmani (1963), which was a mythological film. All the songs of the film became immensely popular esp. "Hasata Hua Nurani Chehara", "Wo Jab Yaad Aaye" and "Mere Dil Main Halki Si". Throughout their tenure as music directors, Laxmi-Pyare only used A-grade singers. Their mentors, Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammad Rafi, agreed to sing for them in spite of low budgets, and Laxmi-Pyare always remained indebted to them. In fact, both Mohammad Rafi and Lata have sung the maximum number of songs in their career for Laxmi-Pyare.They continued to give patronage to Mohammed Rafi, sometimes against filmmakers' wishes. They had a great rapport with Kishore Kumar as well. Kishore Kumar sang maximum songs (402) for LP among all male singers, followed by Rafi(about 365 songs).^{[citation needed]}

Laxmi-Pyare hit the big time with Rajshri Productions' 1964 film Dosti. The film had two newcomer heroes who never became popular, and the film was a success due to its music. Songs like Chahoonga main tujhe shaam savere and Rahi manava became very popular. At that time, many used to think that there was a single person by the name of Laxmikant Pyarelal. Laxmi-Pyare won their first Filmfare Best Music Director Award for the movie, ahead of stalwarts like Shankar-Jaikishan (for Sangam) and Madan Mohan (for Woh Kaun Thi?). Then came Lootera a super hit musical non star cast film which is remembered only because of Lata Manageshkar’s super hit songs with Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

In 1966 LP started cementing their place in Hindi Film Music. LP’s first musical hit film, with big star cast, Aaye Din Bahar Ke was released, followed by Pyar Kiye Jaa. Even in films with lesser-known actors, LP scored hit music: Sati Sawitri (Songs:"Tum Gagan Ke Chandram Ho", "Jeevan Dor Tumhi Sang Bandhi", "Kabhi To Miloge"); Sant Gyaneshwar (Songs: "Jyot Se Jyot Jagate Chalo", "Khabar More Na Line"); Hum Sab Ustaad Hai (Songs: "Pyar Batate Chalo", "Ajanabi Tum Jane Pehachane Se"); Mr. X in Bombay (Songs: "Mere Mehaboob Quayamat Hogi", "Chali Re Chali Re Gori", "Khoobsurat Haseena"); Shriman Fantush..(Songs: "Sultana Sultana Tu Na Ghabarana", "Yeh Dard Bhara Afasana").

In 1967, LP consolidated their position in the Hindi film inddustry with a series of hits by one after another. Non star cast film Farz was LP’s first golden jubilee musical hit followed by big star cast films like Anita, Shagird, yet another Golden Jubilee hit, Patthar Ke Sanam, Night In London, Jaal and another evergreen musical hit Milan. LP received their second Filmfare Trophy for Milan without any stiff competition. The rise of Laxmi-Pyare, Rahul Dev Burman, and Kalyanji-Anandji marked the end of an old era of Bollywood music, which belonged to Shankar-Jaikishan, Sachin Dev Burman, Naushad (Mausicar-e-azam), C. Ramchandra, Khayyam, Madan Mohan, O. P. Nayyar, Roshan and others. Big film producing names, like Prasad Productions, Rajashri Productions, J. Om Prakash, Raj Khosla, Manoj Kumar, Ramamand Sagar, Madan Mohla, Mohan Sahagal, V.Shantaram, Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra, Manmohan Desai, Subhash Ghai and many more, started replacing their regular music directors and preferred Laxmikant-Pyarelal on regular basis and in return LP have given an outstanding music to justify the replacement with big names.

The team of Laxmi-Pyare and lyricist Anand Bakshi churned out some of the most popular songs in Hindi Cinemas history. The combo composed songs for more than 250 movies. Anand Bakshi was the lyricist who wrote the maximum number of texts Laxmi-Pyare gave music to. He was actually the lyricist for all the films for which Laxmi-Pyare won Filmfare Awards, except their very first award.

Style of music[link]

Laxmi-Pyare composed Indian classical music as well as Western music. But they were most popular for their folk tunes and semi-classical music. In Shagird, they created Rock-n-Roll-style foot-tapping melodies. The film Karz is worth specially mentioning here where LP successfully, gave disco-like music, in this film they had experimented with a ghazal "Dard-e-dil Dard-e- jigar" by westernizing it. The song is strongly remembered even now, and the duo the Filmfare Best Music Director Award for the year. Although it's tune "Ek Hasina Thi" is a Blatant lift from George Benson's 'We as love' (1977).^[1]

Although not as a rule, Laxmikant mostly looked after vocals and Pyarelal used to take care of orchestration. Both had vast knowledge of various music generes, musical instruments and orchestra management.

Binaca Geet Mala[link]

LP dominated the Weekly Countdown programme called "Binca Geet Mala", the most popular and famous musical radio programme of its time. It's first broadcast was in 1953 by Radio Ceylon and it's host was the inimitable Ameen Sayani. The Binaca Geet Mala ranked the most popular Bollywood film songs according to sales in select shops in select cities.

In the third quarter of 1963, LP’s first ever songs Hasta Hua Nurani Chehara form Parasmani hit the “Binaca Geet Mala”. After that LP’s songs were regularly and prominently aired on “Binaca Geet Mala”. There used to be sixteen songs in each of the weekly “Binaca Geet Mala” programme, more than half the numbers of the songs were of LP. There are certain weekly Binaca Geet Mala programmes in which more than 13 out of 16 songs of LP were broadcast when LP were on right on top of their carrier. BGM used to broadcast annual (Vasrshik ) programme giving the orders of the top 32 songs of every year. In this programme also LP were having upper hand. Not only that, on an average, there used to be at least more than 15 songs used to be of LP, that too about 50 % of the songs in between top to first ten positions. The Binaca Geet Mala records shows that Laxmikant-Pyarelal have completely dominated this musical programme.

Popular Songs[link]

Total 174 songs of LP appeared in Binaca Geetmala Finals..

Relationship with leading singers[link]

Lata Mangeshkar played a major role in shaping up the careers of LP. She sang the maximum numbers of songs for them. She sounded extremely melodious under LP. Lata Mangeshkar and Laxmikant-Pyarelal shared a long, close and rewarding association. From 1963, to the next 35 years, Lata Mangeshkar and Laxmikant-Pyarelal were to chalk up around 700 songs together, which accounted for one in every 10 Hindi film songs recorded by the Melody Queen, and one of every four songs composed by the duo^{[citation needed]}. Their work includes a variety and range; there were chart-slammers and classics, and chaalu numbers as well as connoisseur choices.

LP also produced some memorable songs rendered by Kishore Kumar namely "Mere Mehboob Quayamat hogi", "Ye Dard Bhara Afsana", "Ye Jeevan Hai", "mere Diwane Pan Ki", "Aap Ke Anurodh Pe", "Ik Ritu Aaye", "Gadi bula rahi hai", "Ruk jana Nahi" and "Om Shanti Om" amongst many others.

LP worked with Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Asha Bhosle, Manna Dey, Mahendra Kapoor, Amit Kumar, Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan, Shailender Singh, S.P.Balasubrahmanyam, Anuradha Paudwal. However, they also gave big breaks to many newcomers like, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Mohammed Aziz, Suresh Wadkar, Shabbir Kumar, Sukhwinder Singh, Vinod Rathod, Roop Kumar Rathod etc.

After Laxmikant's death[link]

After Laxmikant's death, Pyarelal has done some work independently. When the playback singer Kumar Sanu turned music director, he approached Pyarelal to arrange music for him. Pyarelal was approached to assist in the music of Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om song "Dhoom Tana", but no credit was given to him on the album, as per Pyareji's insistence. In 2009 Pyarelal won the Sachin Dev Burman International Award for Creative Sound and Music at the Pune Film Festival.^[2]

Awards[link]

After Laxmikant-Pyarelal made debut as a music director duo in 1963, they were nominated for the Filmfare Awards (Best Music Director) almost every year. Many times, they were nominated for three or more numbers of films in a particular year. At the same time LP narrowly missed the awards for musical hits like Aaye Din Bahar Ke, Intquam, Do Raste, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Shor, Daag, Bobby, Ek Duje Ke Liye, Utsav, Sur Sangam, Farz, Shagird, Tezaab, Hero, and Mr. India.

Awards[link]

Laxmikant-Pyarelal have won seven Filmfare Awards.

• 1964: Best Music Director - Dosti
• 1967: Best Music Director - Milan
• 1969: Best Music Director - Jeene Ki Raah
• 1977: Best Music Director - Amar Akbar Anthony
• 1978 Best Music Director - Satyam Shivam Sundaram
• 1979: Best Music Director - Sargam
• 1980: Best Music Director - Karz

Nominations[link]

• 1970: Best Music Director - Do Raaste
• 1972: Best Music Director - Shor
• 1973: Best Music Director - Bobby
• 1973: Best Music Director - Daag: A Poem of Love
• 1974: Best Music Director - Roti Kapda Aur Makaan
• 1975: Best Music Director - Dulhan
• 1979: Best Music Director - Jaani Dushman
• 1980: Best Music Director - Aasha
• 1981: Best Music Director - Ek Duuje Ke Liye
• 1982: Best Music Director - Prem Rog
• 1983: Best Music Director - Hero
• 1985: Best Music Director - Meri Jung
• 1985: Best Music Director - Pyaar Jhukta Nahin
• 1985: Best Music Director - Sur Sangam
• 1988: Best Music Director - Tezaab
• 1989: Best Music Director - Ram Lakhan
• 1991: Best Music Director - Saudagar
• 1993: Best Music Director - Khalnayak

Achievements[link]

• As musicians, Laxmikant Pyarelal have worked for every reputed music director of the 1950s with the exception of O.P. Nayyar.
• Laxmikant Pyarelal have given music to over 600 Hindi films.
• Laxmikant Pyarelal are also winners of Indian Government’s prestigious Lata Mangeshkar Award.
• Singer Lata Mangeshkar has sung the maximum number of songs in her career ever for this duo.
• In the third quarter of 1963, LP's first ever songs "Hasta Hua Nurani Chehara" form Parasmani hit the Binaca Geetmala. After that LP's songs were regularly and prominently aired on the radio show. There used to be sixteen songs in each of the weekly Binaca Geetmala programme, more than half the numbers of the songs were of LP. There are certain weekly Binaca Geetmala programmes in which more than 13 out of 16 songs of LP were broadcast^{[citation needed]}.
• Even today, LP’s music is very popular all over India, even in the interior hearts of the country, and their music has always been more well-known than they personally ever were, contrary to all their contemporaries.
• Bobby has been rated the 17th best soundtrack ever by Planet Bollywood on their "100 Greatest Bollywood Soundtracks".^[3] Other soundtrack in the list include Amar Akbar Anthony (25), Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (27), Dosti (32), Hero (36), Ek Duuje Ke Liye (44), Karz (50), Ram Lakhan (59), Kranti (61), Tezaab (65), Do Raaste (74), Milan (75), Khalnayak (77), Prem Rog (85).

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Pyarelal's IMDB entry
• Laxmikant's IMDB entry
• A Website Dedicated to LP with Official Support
• Filmography of Laxmikant-Pyarelal (over 490 movies)
• List of hindi songs from Laxmikant-Pyarelal (over 825 songs)
• Lyrics of Hindi Movie Songs composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal

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Rishi Kapoor
Born	(1952-09-04) 4 September 1952 (age 59) Chembur Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Other names	Chintu Ji
Occupation	Actor, Producer, Director
Years active	1970, 1973–present
Spouse	Neetu Singh (1980–present)
Children	Riddhima Kapoor Sahani, Ranbir Kapoor

Rishi Kapoor (Hindi: ऋषि कपूर) (born 4 September 1952^{[citation needed]}) is an Indian Bollywood actor, film producer and director.

Early life[link]

Born in south mumbai, Kapoor is the second son of film director and star Raj Kapoor. He did his schooling with his brothers at Campion School,Mumbai. His brothers are well-known actors: Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor.

Career[link]

Rishi Kapoor debuted in his father's 1970 film Mera Naam Joker, playing his father's role as a child. Rishi Kapoor had his first lead role opposite Dimple Kapadia in the popular 1973 film Bobby which became an instant hit among youngsters. Since then he played leading roles as the romantic lead in over 100 films. He made a popular pairing with future wife Neetu Singh in films such as Khel Khel Mein (1975), Kabhie Kabhie (1976), Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) and Doosra Aadmi (1978). In the 1980s he appeared in hit films like Karz (1980), Naseeb (1981), Kaatilon Ke Kaatil (1981), Prem Rog 1982), Coolie (1983), Saagar (1985), Nagina (1986) and Chandni (1989). In the 1990s he continued to appear in hits like Henna (1991) which was his father's last directorial film later completed by his brother Randhir, Bol Radha Bol (1992), Deewana (1992) and Damini - Lightning (1993). After several box office failures from the mid 1990s, he eventually moved on to supporting roles in the 2000s. In 1999 he directed the film Aa Ab Laut Chalen, starring Aishwarya Rai, Akshaye Khanna, Kader Khan, Paresh Rawal and Jaspal Bhatti

His last film as a romantic lead was the delayed release Karobaar: The Business of Love (2000). He has since then played supporting roles in films like Yeh Hai Jalwa (2002), Hum Tum (2004), Fanaa (2006), Namaste London (2007), Love Aaj Kal (2009) and Patiala House (2010). He also appeared in the British films Don't Stop Dreaming (2007) and Sambar Salsa (2008). He reunited onscreen with Neetu Singh in the film Do Dooni Chaar (2010).

Kapoor has acted in Heena, directed by his brother, Randhir Kapoor and his father, the late Raj Kapoor, and in Prem Granth, a movie produced by the three Kapoor brothers (Rishi, Randhir and Rajiv Kapoor, directed by Rajiv Kapoor).

Rishi has acted in the movie Chintu Ji in which he plays himself. The film has references that pertain to Raj Kapoor, his father, his mother, his wife and his earlier films like Chandni, Mera Naam Joker and others.^[1] In 2012 he appeared in a villainous role in Agneepath and in the multi-starrer Housefull 2 where he appeared with brother Randhir for the first time.

Personal life[link]

Rishi Kapoor is married to actress of the seventies, Neetu Singh. Initially when Kapoor told his parents that he wanted to marry Singh, they refused, as did Singh's parents. It is famously known that Kapoor went to Singh's house while he was sick and had a fever to go ask for Neetu Singh's hand in marriage. His determination did not go unnoticed, and eventually both sides agreed. The couple tied the knot in 1981 after a highly publicized engagement. Kapoor was 29 at the time. Today Kapoor and Singh are happily married and have two children; Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor and designer Riddhima Kapoor Sahani. Rishi is the paternal uncle of today's actresses Karishma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor.

Awards[link]

National Film Awards[link]

• 1971 - National Film Award for Best Child Artist for Mera Naam Joker

Filmfare Awards[link]

Winner

• 1974 - Filmfare Best Actor Award for Bobby
• 2008 - Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2011 - Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for Do Dooni Chaar

Nominated

• 1980 - Filmfare Best Actor Award for Sargam
• 1983 - Filmfare Best Actor Award for Prem Rog
• 1986 - Filmfare Best Actor Award for Tawaif
• 1990 - Filmfare Best Actor Award for Chandni
• 2010 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award for Luck By Chance

Other Awards[link]

• 1970 - Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards: Special Award for Mera Naam Joker.^[2]
• 2006 - Zee Cine Award for Lifetime Achievement
• 2007 - MTV Lycra Awards: Maha Style Icon of the Year 2006.[2]
• 2008 - FICCI "Living Legend in Entertainment" Award.^[3][4]
• 2008 - Lifetime Achievement Award at the 10th Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image International Film (M.A.M.I).^[5]
• 2009 - Honoured by Russian Government for contribution to cinema.^[6]
• 2010 - Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Love Aaj Kal.^[7]
• 2010 - Star Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor for Luck By Chance
• 2011 - Zee Cine Awards: Best Lifetime Jodi along with Neetu Singh.^[8]
• 2011 - Stardust Award for Best Actor for Do Dooni Chaar.^[9]

Filmography[link]

Following is the filmography of Rishi Kapoor along with his "Lead Female Actors".

Television[link]

• Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah...Mr. Duggal

References[link]

External links[link]

• Rishi Kapoor at the Internet Movie Database

Kavita Krishnamurthy Subramaniam
Kavita Subramaniam, 2008
Background information
Birth name	Sharada Krishnamurthy
Also known as	Kavita Krishnamoorthy, Kavita Krishnamurti
Born	(1958-01-25) January 25, 1958 (age 54)
Origin	Delhi, India
Genres	Playback singing, fusion, pop
Occupations	Playback singer, fusion artiste
Years active	1980–present

Kavita Subramaniam née Kavita Krishnamurthy (born Sharada Krishnamurthy on 25 January 1958) is a well-known Indian film playback singer.^[1] She is classically trained and has sung a wide range of classical-based songs. In her career, she has worked with a variety of music composers,^[2] including R. D. Burman and A. R. Rahman.^[3] She is also the recipient of four Filmfare Best Female Playback Awards, including 3 consecutive awards in the period 1994–1996 and the prestigious Padmashri which she received in 2006.

Early life[link]

Born Sharada Krishnamurthy^[4] in a Tamil Iyer family in New Delhi, India to T.S. Krishnamurthy, an employee of Education Ministry. She began her music training with her aunt, Mrs. Bhattacharya, who taught her Rabindra Sangeet.^[3] She began her formal training in Hindustani classical music under Balram Puri, a classical singer.

At the young age of eight, Kavita won a gold medal at a music competition. Subsequently, she kept winning many such gold medals as she kept participating in the Inter-Ministry Classical Competition in New Delhi in the mid 1960s.

Performing career[link]

At the age of nine, she got an opportunity to record a Tagore song in Bengali with the legendary Lata Mangeshkar under the auspices of the music composer and singer Hemant Kumar. Although the young Sharada was aspiring to be working with Indian Foreign Services, Kavita moved to Bombay when she was just 14 to try her luck as a playback singer in the Hindi film industry. She is an alumnus of St. Xaviers' College, Bombay from where she did her BA Honors Economics. She was also very active in the St. Xaviers' Music Group during her college days. During the annual college festival (Malhar), she accidentally met Ranu Mukherjee, the daughter of Hemant Kumar. Ranu took the initiative of reintroducing Kavita to her father.^[4] He was impressed by her grounding in music, so he began using her as a singer during his live performances. In one such performance, playback singer Manna Dey spotted her and employed her to sing advertisement jingles. Through her aunt's strong contacts, she met Jaya Chakravarthy, the mother of actress Hema Malini,^[4] who later took the initiative of introducing Kavita to the music director Laxmikant (one half of the composer duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal) in late 1976.

Playback singing[link]

Laxmikant gave her an option to work as a dubbing artiste or a career in playback singing later. Kavita chose the former and impressed Laxmikant with her extremely strong grasp of Hindustani classical music. Initially, she used to record songs and cut demos of songs intended for singers like Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. In her struggling phase, she received the patronage of music composers Laxmikant—Pyarelal, who backed her so strongly that she was labelled as a singer exclusively working with them which gave many music directors an excuse to avoid working with her.

In 1980, she first sang the song, "Kaahe Ko Byaahi" in the film Maang Bharo Sajana, which featured her singing in her own voice. Unfortunately, the song was dropped from the final cut of the film. In 1985, her career took off with her first major hit, "Tumse Milkar Na Jaane Kyon" from the Hindi film Pyaar Jhukta Nahin. Post the success of the song, it opened up various opportunities beyond the Laxmikant-Pyarelal camp. However, "Hawa Hawaii" and "Karte Hain Hum Pyaar Mr. India Se", two popular songs from the equally popular movie Mr. India (1987), proved to be a turning point in her career. (The songs were composed by music composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal, the latter being a duet with Kishore Kumar and lip-synced on screen by actress Sridevi). Her collaboration with Laxmikant-Pyarelal produced several hits.

The 1990s thrust Kavita to being known as one of the leading female playback singers. Her performance as a singer in the film 1942: A Love Story, composed by R.D. Burman won her a lot of popular acclaim. She went on to work with several music directors of Hindi films of the 1990s, such as Anand-Milind, A. R. Rahman, Ismail Darbar, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin Lalit, and Anu Malik. During her stint as a playback singer, she sang duets with the leading male singers of her times, from Kishore Kumar and Suresh Wadkar to Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Udit Narayan, and Sonu Nigam. Her female duets mostly have been with Alka Yagnik, Anuradha Paudwal, and Sadhana Sargam.

Post her marriage to violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam in Bangalore on 11 November 1999, Kavita got extremely selective and cut down on her film singing. She started expanding her artistic range to areas which were never explored. She was the main featured soloist in the Global Fusion album released by Warner Bros., featuring musicians from five continents. As she actively started exploring fusion music, Kavita travelled around the world including to the US, UK, Europe, Africa, Australia, the Far East, the Middle East, and South America. She performed in concert halls including Royal Albert Hall in London, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.., Madison Square Garden, The Lincoln Center in New York, the Zhongshan Music Hall in Beijing, The Esplanade in Singapore, The Putra Jaya World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, and Gewandhaus Leipzigm.

Although primarily a playback singer, Kavita has sung with orchestras as a soloist; she collaborated with Western artists from jazz, pop and classical fields. She has lent her voice for many ghazal and devotional music albums. Both as a fusion music singer and as a playback singer, Kavita has performed throughout India.

She became the screen voice of some of the famous Bollywood actresses like Shabana Azmi, Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit, Manisha Koirala and Aishwarya Rai.

Pop and devotional singing[link]

Due to her participation in fusion and pop music, Kavita has lent her voice for several pop and devotional albums. The most prominent ones being:

• Koi Akela Kahan
• Meera Ka Ram
• Mahalakshmi Stotram
• Pop Time
• Sai Ka Vardaan
• Shagufthagi
• Dil Ki Awaaz (2006)
• Athens
• Asmita
• Mahiya

TV[link]

Kavita Subramaniam has been making appearances in various music reality shows as a guest judge owing to her popularity as a playback singer. She is currently judging the show Idea: Bharat Ki Shaan. This show airs on Doordarshan at prime time.

Personal life[link]

Kavita Krishnamurthy married violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam in Bangalore on 11 November 1999. They have no children. Subramaniam has three children from his previous marriage. Their daughter Seetha is a law graduate and is currently working on an English album. Narayanan, the middle one, is working to be a qualified doctor. The youngest, Ambi Subramaniam, is a featured soloist in the Bangalore-based band "Astral Symphony" and has recorded and given several concerts with his parents.

Kavita and her husband are now planning a music institute in Bangalore. The Institute would be named after her late father-in-law Lakshminarayana, who was also her husband's guru. The idea is to make it a global institute. The institute would teach both Indian and Western music. She wants dedicated students to learn from the works of Mozart so that they could collaborate with Western musicians who come to India for tours. The seeds have been sown with violin classes. She says that she is not going to be involved in too many classes. Her role in the institute would be to supervise the teaching process and conduct workshops on how to interpret a song. Her secret desire is to create the best music library that India has ever had, which includes, a vast variety of world music. Subramaniam has already collected a lot of material to which they want teachers, dedicated students and enthusiasts to have access.

Bollywood Songs[link]

Awards[link]

Kavita Krishnamurty has received several awards and honours. She was the recipient of three consecutive Filmfare awards from 1995–1997.

Civilian Awards:

• 2005 – Padma Shri – India's fourth highest civilian honours

Filmfare Awards

• 2003 – Best Female Playback Singer(shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – Dola Re Dola (Devdas)
• 1997 – Best Female Playback Singer – Aaj Main Upar (Khamoshi: The Musical)
• 1996 – Best Female Playback Singer – Mera Piya Ghar Aaya (Yaraana)
• 1995 – Best Female Playback Singer – Pyaar Hua Chupke Se (1942: A Love Story)^[3]

Star Screen Awards

• 1997 – Best Female Playback Singer – Aaj Main Upar (Khamoshi: The Musical)
• 2000 – Best Female Playback Singer – Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam)

Zee Cine Awards

• 2003 – Best Female Playback Singer (shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – Dola Re (Devdas)
• 2000 – Best Female Playback Singer – Nimbooda (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam)

IIFA Awards

• 2003 – Best Female Playback Singer (shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – Dola Re (Devdas)

Other Awards

• Yesudas Award (2008) by Swaralaya, for exceptional contribution to Indian music.
• Kishore Kumar Journalists'/Critics' Award in Calcutta (2002)
• Bollywood Award, held in New York (2000)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kavita Krishnamurthy

• Kavita Krishnamurthy at the Internet Movie Database
• L. Subramaniam and Kavita S.
• Artist: Kavita Krishnamurthy on Google Music
• Kavita Krishnamurthy's Tribute To Jagjit Singh

Poonam Dhillon
Born	Poonam Dhillon (1956-04-18) April 18, 1956 (age 56) Kanpur, India
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1978–present
Spouse	Ashok Thakeria (1988–1997 Divorced)
Children	Anmol, Paloma
Website
http://www.poonamdhillon.com

Poonam Dhillon is an Indian Hindi film, theatre and TV actress. She is best known for her 1979 film, Noorie, for her six films with Rajesh Khanna Red Rose, Dard, Nishaan, Zamana, Awam (from 1980 to 1987) and Sohni Mahiwal (1984), Samundar, Saveray Wali Gaadi (1986) and Naam (1986).