Udit Narayan - Papa kehte

Udit Narayan is, without a doubt, the reigning king of male playback singers. He was born to on the border of India and Nepal.Udit's capability as a playback singer knows no bounds, as he has been magnanimously acclaimed in every kind of melody - soulful, romantic, fast-paced and recently, even pop. Udit has an extremely versatile tone which appears to flawlessly suit every Indian hero on screen. And today, innumerable awards and accolades later, Udit Narayan possesses one of the largest arrays of hit songs in the industry.

Udit Narayan was born on the 1st of December to father who was a farmer,Hare Krishna Jha and mother Bhuwaneshwari Devi. He belogs to the Brahmin caste. Narayan studied at Kunauli Bazaar (Saharsa), where he passed his S.S.C. and later obtained his intermediate Ratna Laxmi Campus (Kathmandu).

Udit Narayan began his career in Nepal singing for Kathmandu Radio Station where he used to sing Maithli and Nepali folk songs. Udit worked for Kathmandu Radio for almost eight years before the Indian Embassy offered him the chance to study classical music at a prestigious school in Mumbai,Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan on a music scholarship. He wasted no time and came to Bombay in 1978. But success did not come instantly. Only after years of study and several unnoticed recordings did he hit gold with his vocals for Aamir Khan in 1988's Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. Fans marvel at his versatility, but his trademark is his"golden smile," so called because, during upbeat songs, one seems to actually *hear* the smile on his lips.

While he was still training in classical music Udit had also started doing the mandatory rounds of music director's offices. Like all aspiring singers he too had to face the bitter disappointment of false promises from the music directors who kept saying that they were impressed by his voice. However it was Rajesh Roshan who gave him his first break for the film Unees Bees in 1980 starring Rakesh Roshan and Mithun Chakraborty. Even after he sang for Unees Bees nothing clicked for him as the film flopped and the struggling period continued. For over a decade he had to work very hard and nothing seemed to work for him.

In 1988 came Qayamat Se Qayamat Takand with songs like 'Ae Mere Humsafar', Akele Hain To Kya Gham Hai' and of course the evergreen 'Papa Kehte Hain'for which he won his first Film Fare award. Surprisingly the film had a totally new set up except for Producer Nasir Hussain and lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri. The film launched the careers of quite a few people. Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla the lead pair were one of them, composer duo Anand Milind another, director Mansoor Khan, female Playback singer Alka Yagnikwho was languishing after Laawaris and of course Udit Narayan.

The musical success of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak made Udit Narayan an overnight star. He was hailed as the 'screen voice' of Aamir Khan particularly after the songs of Dil and songs like 'Pehla Nasha' from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandaronce again proved to be chartbusters. But Udit went on to sing hit songs in films starring other actors as well a case in point being Betaand Laadla starring Anil Kapoor which had songs like 'Koyal Si Teri Boli' and 'Ladki Hai Kya' respectively. Of course who can forget 'Jaadu Teri Nazar' and 'Tu Mere Saamne' rendered for Shah Rukh Khan in Darr. He went on to sing other hit songs like 'Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna', 'Ruk Ja O Dil Deewane' and 'Najaane Mere Dil Ko Kya Ho Gaya' for Shah Rukh Khan again in the mega musical blockbuster Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge. After the songs of Dil To Pagal Hai,Kuch Kuch Hota Haiand 'Ae Ajnabi' from Dil Se he is now being hailed as the screen voice of Shah Rukh Khan. But he has also sung super hit songs for actors like Govinda, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar making him one of the few male playback singers to have sung for all the top actors.

He is married to Deepa Narayan Jha and has a son named Aditya Narayan. Udit Narayan lives with his family in Mumbai, India. During his career, he sung in more than 2600 Hindi films and in 15 indian language films like Hindi, Bengali, Assamess, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannad, Telegu, Garwali, Manipuri, Haryanvi and Maithili. Udit Narayan also acted in two Nepali films : Kusumey Rumal and Peerati.

Some of his private albums are Bhajan Sangam ,Bhajan Vatika ,I love You ,Dil Deewana , Yeh Dosti ,Love is Life,Jhumka de Jhumka, ,Sona No Ghadulo , Dhuli Ganga , Ma Tarini, and many more… Udit Narayan has performed approximatively 1050 stage shows in India and abroad like U.S.A, Canada, West Indies, Far East, U.K, South Africa and many European countries.