Madhushree (born Sujata Bhattacharya, 2 November 1969) is an Indian

playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not ap ...

who sings in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

films. A familiar voice in

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

's compositions, Madhushree hails from a musically inclined family, having previously been trained in classical and western styles music. Her father wanted her to be a classical singer, she joined the

Rabindra Bharati University Rabindra Bharati University is a public research university in Kolkata, India. It was founded on May 8, 1962, under the Rabindra Bharati Act of the Government of West Bengal in 1961, to mark the birth centenary of the poet Rabindranath Tagore. ...

and completed her master's degree, but her desire was always to be a playback singer.

Early life

Madhushree was born as Sujata Bhattacharya in a Bengali family in

Kolkata 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, comme ...

to Amarendranath and Parbati Bhattacharya, who were her initial teachers. She was taught classical music by Sangeetacharya Pt. Amiya Ranjan Bandyopadhyay, a noted exponent of the Bishnupur Gharana and excelled in

Thumri Thumri () is a vocal genre or style of Indian music. The term "thumri" is derived from the Hindi verb ''thumuknaa'', which means "to walk with a dancing gait in such a way that the ankle-bells tinkle." The form is, thus, connected with dance, dr ...

and

Khayal Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian/Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with romantic poetry, and allows the perfo ...

. Later she started working for the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, through which she was deputed to teach classical music in

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...

Career

Madhushree came to Mumbai to find a break in the playback singing industry. Initially, she recorded her music on CDs and sent it to notable people of

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" ...

. One such CD reached

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and political activist. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2 ...

. On

's recommendation, she then made her

playback singing A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

debut through

Rajesh Roshan Rajesh Roshan Lal Nagrath (born 24 May 1955) is an Indian Hindi cinema music director and composer. He is the son of music director Roshan and singer Ira Roshan. Personal life Rajesh Roshan has a Punjabi Hindu father and Bengali Brahmin m ...

's ''

Moksha ''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriologic ...

''. She has then gone on to sing songs in films like '' Yuva'', ''

Aayitha Ezhuthu ''Aayutha Ezhuthu'' is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language political action film written and directed by Mani Ratnam. It is loosely based on the life story of George Reddy, a scholar from Osmania University of Hyderabad. It stars Suriya in the lead ...

'', ''

Kal Ho Naa Ho ''Kal Ho Naa Ho'' (, ), also abbreviated as ''KHNH'', is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy drama film directed by Nikhil Advani, written by Karan Johar with dialogue by Niranjan Iyengar, and produced by Yash Johar. The film stars ...

'', '' Ham Hain Ispal Yahan'' and ''

Kuch Naa Kaho ''Kuch Naa Kaho'' (Hindi: कुछ ना कहो, translation: ''Don't Say Anything'') is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama directed by Rohan Sippy, starring Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan and Arbaaz Khan. It was released on ...

'', '' Tu Bin Bataye'', '' In Lamhon Ke Daaman Me''. She sang three songs in

's Tehzeeb, for which she has been credited as Sujata Bhattacharya. Madhushree is known for "Kabhi Neem Neem" from ''Yuva'' (2004), for which she received the prestigious ''Sony Stardust Award'' as the ''Best Female Sensation'' (Playback Singer). She also sang a song 'In Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein' from the movie

Jodhaa Akbar ''Jodhaa Akbar'' is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language epic historical romantic drama film directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. It stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the titular roles. Set in the 16th century, the film shows the life and ...

, music directed by A. R. Rahman and ''Soja Zara'' of ''Bahubali 2 – The Conclusion'' ( ''Nominated for Best Playback Singer by Mirchi Awards-2018''). She won the 20th Edition of Lions Gold Award for ''All Time Film Versatile Playback Singer'' and the ceremony was held at Bhaidas Hall in Mumbai. She was a judge on Zee Bangla ''Saregamapa'' (2017) with

Shantanu Moitra Shantanu Moitra (born 22 January 1968) is an Indian score composer, musician and pianist who has composed songs for the Hindi film industry, and is most known for his scores in the films '' Parineeta'' (2005), ''Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi'' (2005 ...

Kumar Sanu Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 20 October 1957), better known as Kumar Sanu, is an Indian playback singer. He is known as the King of Melody in Bollywood. He is famous for singing thousands of Bollywood Hindi songs. Apart from Hindi, he has al ...

, Jeet Gannguli and Palak Muchhal

Discography

Hindi

Tamil/Bengali/Kannada

Telugu

Albums

* Debut Album: Lagi Lagan Released: 08-08-08 Released by: Royant Music & Big Music Music by: Robby Badal Songlist: #"Piya Lagi Laganiya" #"Lagi Lagi" #"Manat Nahi" #"Aye Na Balam" #"Jabse Shyam Sidhare" #"Babul Mora" #"Piya Lagi laganiya" (Video Edit) #"Lagi Lagi" (House Remix) #"Barsan Lagi"

Accolades

References

External links

Madhushree's official website
* {{Authority control Living people Bengali Hindus Bengali singers Bollywood playback singers Indian women playback singers Singers from Kolkata Tamil playback singers Telugu playback singers Rabindra Bharati University alumni 1969 births 21st-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian women singers Women musicians from West Bengal