Sunidhi Chauhan (born Nidhi Chauhan[1] on 14 August 1983) is an Indian playback singer, best known for her Hindi film songs in Bollywood. She has recorded songs for Urdu, Oriya, Punjabi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati and Nepali films,which made her a leading singer in India and across the world. She has sung the remix track called "Heartbeat" with Enrique Iglesias.[2]
Chauhan began to sing at the age of four[3] and was discovered by a local TV anchor.[4] She won recognition through a televised singing contest, Meri Awaz Suno, which she won, and made her entrance into playback singing with the Hindi film Shastra.[4][dead link]
Her breakthrough was Ram Gopal Varma's film Mast, in which she sang the hit song "Ruki Ruki Si Zindagi."[4] She has been nominated for fourteen Filmfare Awards, winning it on two occasions as well as a Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent. She has won two Star Screen Awards, two IIFA Awards and one Zee Cine Award.
== Early ca was born in New Delhi. She started her singing career as a child, giving her first performance at the age of four, in a local temple in Delhi.[3] She did her early studies in Greenway Modern School, Dilshad Garden in Delhi. Thereafter, she began to participate in, and sing for, competitions and local gatherings. When the famous stage and TV anchor Tabassum spotted her talent, she made her sing live in her show Tabassum Hit Parade and asked her family to shift to Mumbai. Tabassum then introduced her to Kalyanji and Anandji Bhai. Her family shifted to Mumbai in a bid to further develop the young singer's skills, and Chauhan became the lead singer in Kalyanji's 'Little Wonders' troupe.[4]
Recognition first met her in 1996, through the music show Meri Aawaz Suno — the first such televised contest in India — which was broadcast through the Indian national television channel, Doordarshan. She won the competition and bagged the top prize of recording an album, Aira Ghaira Nathu Khaira, with HMV.[4]
Unluckily for Chauhan, Aira Ghaira Nathu Khaira was promoted as a children's album and failed to get the recognition it deserved.[4] In 2002, Chauhan observed this in an interview: "My first song and the contest did not help me much. Nothing happened for a while. But by then, I had made up my mind that I will pursue singing as a career."[5]
Chauhan stepped into the world of playback singing with the 1996 Bollywood film, Shastra,[2][4] after Aadesh Srivastava asked her to lend her voice to the song "Larki Deewaani Dekho, Ladka Deewaana."[5] She followed it with work in films like Gang, Veergati, Dahek, Bade Dilwala, Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat and Samar. By the age of nineteen, Chauhan had lent her voice to over 350 songs.[5]
Early life and background
Chauhan was born in Delhi. Her father is a minor theatre personality who pushed her into the music industry from a young age. She has a younger sister, Suneha.[14]
Chauhan, who believes herself to be "the most versatile singer today," attributes her success to her parents and Indian singer Sonu Nigam.[2] She has cited Sadma (1983) as her favourite film; gymnastics and cricket as her favourite sports; and Akshaye Khanna and Madhuri Dixit as her favourite actors.[15] Chauhan also loves western music and cites Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson as her inspirations. She has noted that one of her ambitions is to achieve global fame like they did.[4] She is known for her admiration of international divas Celine Dion and Whitney Houston.
After entering the film industry, Chauhan upgraded her wardrobe and lost twelve kilos by jogging and working out.[5] In an early interview, she revealed a "secret dream" of seeing herself as a Bollywood actress, saying, "I have many acting offers too, but I don't want to rush it. Frankly, I would like to do just one or two films to fulfill that secret dream of seeing myself as an actress. But my life is singing and my aim is to keep singing better."[5]
In 2002, at the age of 18, Chauhan married director and choreographer Bobby Khan, after working on the music video for "Pehla Nasha."[16] It was reported that the couple married in a secretly arranged ceremony, attended only by very close friends and vigilantly watched over by security.
Chauhan was initially happy with the marriage. In an interview, she said : "My in-laws don't make me feel I am 'married'. I don't feel I have stepped into a new house. I am so comfortable. And Bobby is a darling. I am very, very happy."[5]
On the downside, the marriage caused a rift between the young singer and her parents, who considered the union unsuitable and consequently disowned her.[17] However, Chauhan and Khan separated a year later, bringing about a reconciliation between the estranged parents and daughter.[18] Chauhan, who lived with mentor, actor and TV anchor, Annu Kapoor and his wife Arunita during the separation, filed for divorce the same year, citing that she had realized she and Khan "wanted different things from life."
On April 27, 2012, Sunidhi Chauhan tied the knot with childhood friend and music composer Hitesh Sonik at a low profile wedding ceremony in Mumbai,[19] but the reception the couple threw saw some colleagues from the industry in attendance. Asha Bhonsle, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Smita Thackeray, Alka Yagnik, Konkona Sen Sharma were spotted at the reception.[20]
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