New Delhi: Veteran playback singer Alka Yagnik was conferred the prestigious Padma Bhushan by President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday for her outstanding contribution to Indian music and playback singing. The honour was presented at the 65th Padma Awards ceremony, celebrating Yagnik’s illustrious career spanning more than four decades and her unparalleled contribution to Indian music that has shaped the voice of Hindi cinema.
Yagnik started her musical career in 1972 at the age of six by singing for Akashvani in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Her mother, Shubha Yagnik, was also a classical singer. Her mother’s determination brought Yagnik to Mumbai at the age of 10, where she waited for her debut in Hindi cinema. One day, Raj Kapoor learned about the child singer and introduced her to Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar, who gave her two choices: an immediate break in the industry as a dubbing artist or a later opportunity as a playback singer.
“Me singing for films, becoming a playback singer, was more a dream of my parents than my own, because I was not very ambitious at that time when I was much younger,” Yagnik said in an interview.
Her first song was for the film Payal Ki Jhankar (1980), followed by Laawaris (1981) with the hit song “Mere Angne Mein” and then Hamari Bahu Alka (1982). She got her big break with the song “Ek Do Teen” from Tezaab (1988). The song turned her into a star overnight and won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer.
While she is famous for singing songs in Hindi, she has lent her voice to many Indian languages such as Gujarati, Oriya, Assamese, Nepali, Rajasthani, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam.
Though she is a versatile singer, she loves singing soft, melodious, and dreamy numbers, such as songs from Taal.
“I feel my forte is singing soft romantic numbers,” she said. “By the grace of God, I have a voice which I can mould to any kind of song. But given a choice, I would probably choose the soft, dreamy numbers,” she added.
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The voice of 90s Bollywood
She started winning hearts as well as awards from the start of her career. She was awarded the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for “Ghoongat Ki Aad Se” from Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (1993) and the title song of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Her award-winning journey did not stop there.
She has won a total of seven Filmfare Awards for songs such as “Ek Do Teen“, “Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai” from Khalnayak (1993), “Zara Tasveer Se Tu” from Pardes (1997), and “Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dil Se” from Dhadkan (2000).
From the 1990s onward, Yagnik ruled Hindi cinema with her voice. Between 1990 and the early 2000s, she collaborated with some of Bollywood’s biggest composers, including Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Anu Malik, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin-Lalit, and AR Rahman. She sang songs such as “Taal Se Taal Mila” (Taal, 1999), “Aaye Ho Meri Zindagi Mein” (Raja Hindustani, 1996), “Agar Tum Saath Ho“, and “Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai” (Khalnayak, 1993). Her versatile singing style made her the first choice for actresses such as Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Kajol, and Rani Mukerji.
While her duets with many singers and collaborations with composers are famous, her songs with Kumar Sanu hold a special place in Bollywood music history. The collaboration between Sanu and Yagnik defined 1990s Bollywood romance, cementing them as one of Indian cinema’s most iconic playback duos.
Their seamless vocals deliver timeless love anthems across generations, such as “Mera Dil Bhi Kitna Pagal Hai” (Saajan), “Chura Ke Dil Mera” (Main Khiladi Tu Anari), “Baazigar O Baazigar” (Baazigar), “Raja Ko Rani Se” (Akele Hum Akele Tum), and “Woh Ladki Bahut Yaad Aati Hai” (Qayamat), all of which remain on romantic playlists even today.
Her film songs were always a hit, but she also invested her voice in independent albums. She started in 1997 with Tum Yaad Aaye, the first collaboration between Javed Akhtar and Alka Yagnik. This collaboration continued with albums such as Tum Aaye in 2002, composed by Raju Singh, and Shairana in 2003, composed by Shankar Mahadevan.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)