Hemlata (born 16 August 1954) is an Indian classically trained playback singer in Bollywood. She is best known for her songs in the late 1970s, especially Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se song. She was nominated for Filmfare Best Female Playback Award five times in the period of 1977–81 and won once for Chitchor in 1977 for her classical rendition of "Tu Jo Mere Sur Mein" which was duet with K.J. Yesudas, composed by Ravindra Jain.

Early life and background

Hemlata was born in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

as ''Lata Bhatt'' into an Marwari Brahmin family and spent her childhood in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

. She was married to Yogesh Bali, the brother of Indian film actress Yogeeta Bali.

Career

Leading career

In association with Ravindra Jain, she had worked on many other songs. Among them is "''Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se''". According to the Binaca Geet Mala (a radio show that used to compile records of album sales), it became the number one song in the year 1978. Hemlata was also nominated for Filmfare award for the best female playback singer for this song. It has received millions of views on YouTube. Hemlata sang on Jain's cassette album ''Sahaj Dhara'' (1991) dedicated to Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, and sang songs from this album in two concerts in Brussels, Belgium in July 1992. In the 1990s,

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest b ...

had invited her to perform "Tista Nadi Si Tu Chanchala"

Performing career and albums

She has lent her voice for Ramanand Sagar's epics T.V. Serial Ramayan (She also appeared herself in one episode to perform traditional Meera Bhajan Payoji Maine Ram Ratan Dhan Payoji), as well as Uttar Ramayan (Luv Kush) and Shri Krishna throughout the series. She also rendered the Italian song O Sole Mio in concert in Italy during Easter 1992. Regarding these three albums, only Sarhadein was released by Tips. She was the only one

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

singer, who has been selected by the world community of

Sikhs Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

and the government of

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

as well as the Holy Akal Takht to perform Gurmat Sangeet live composed in original Ragas for the celebration of 300 years of Sikh Khalsa Panth at Shri Anandpur Sahib Akal Takht on 13 April 1999. ''Kini Tera Ant Na Paya'' was the only one album of Sikh Sangeet which was especially in her voice and inaugurated by the honourable Chief Minister of

Shri

Prakash Singh Badal Parkash Singh Badal ( pa, ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਾਦਲ; born 8 December 1927) is an Indian politician who was Chief Minister of Punjab state from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017. He i ...

and attended and blessed by honourable Prime Minister of India Shri

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...

. In November 2010, she was in news for filing FIR against the mother in law of Sonali Bendre for cheating Hemlata in a case of selling a bungalow in Lokhandwala, for Rs.25 million.

Awards and nominations

, - , rowspan="2", 1977 , "Tu Jo Mere Sur Mein" ('' Chitchor'') , rowspan="5",

Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer The Filmfare Best Female Playback Award is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female playback singer who has delivered an outstanding performance in a film song. Although the award cere ...

, , - , "Sun Ke Teri Pukar" ('' Fakira'') , , - , 1979 , "Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se" ('' Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se'') , , - , 1980 , "Megha O Re Megha" ('' Sunayana'') , , - , 1981 , "Tu Is Tarah Se Meri Zindagi Mein Shaamil Hai" ('' Aap To Aise Na The'') ,

Filmography

2000s

1990s

1980s

1970s

1960s

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hemlata Living people Bollywood playback singers Indian women playback singers 1954 births Singers from Hyderabad, India Rajasthani people Film musicians from Andhra Pradesh Singers from Rajasthan Women musicians from Rajasthan 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers Nepali-language singers from India Filmfare Awards winners