Udit Narayan is one of the most popular singers of the Hindi film industry. This multi talented playback singer has sung in numerous films and in many different languages. This great singer was born in a small village named Bharadah in Nepal. His initial years were full of struggles and he started off his career with a brief stint with the Nepal Radio. He used to sing Maithili, Nepali and Bhojpuri songs during the 1970's. By the end of the 70's he moved to Bombay to pursue music under scholarship. He received training in Indian classical music for six years in Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan. Check out his life history with this short biography on Udit Narayanan.
In the year 1980, he got his break to sing in a Hindi film when music director Rajesh Roshan offered him to sing in the movie Unees Bees. It was big thing for Udit, as he got an opportunity to sing with his mentor, the great Mohammed Rafi. He was noticed but his real big break came in the year 1988. He sang a very famous song "Papa Kehte Hain" from the movie Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, which went on to become that year's biggest hit. This song gave him instant stardom and he went on to bag his first Filmfare award.
This movie was also the launch pad of actors Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla and female playback singer Alka Yagnik. After the huge success of this movie, Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik sang for movies like Dil and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, which went on to become huge hits. Udit Narayan also tried his hand at acting and did some Nepali movies like Kusume Rumal and Pirati, which were not much successful. But he sang in some of the most famous Nepali movies and became a famous singer in Nepal.
Though Udit Narayan was gaining much popularity, he got overshadowed by Kumar Sanu, who another famous Indian playback singer. For five years, though he was nominated in the Best Male Playback singer category, it was Kumar Sanu who finally won. In the year 1995, his career had a turning point when he sang the hit song "Mehendi Laga Ke Rakhna" for the movie Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaaenge. The song went on to become a huge hit and won accolades from one and all. He won the Filmfare award for the Best Male Playback singer that year. He won his third Filmfare award the next year itself for the song "Pardesi" from the movie Raja Hindustani.
Udit Narayan is one of the most acclaimed singers of the present generation and has been praised by senior and established singers and composers for his original style and voice quality. He is the onscreen voice of the three major superstars of Indian cinema namely Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan. Many acclaimed music directors prefer to work with him since he is able to gel with almost everyone and give the exact feel to the song.
He is one of the top choices of acclaimed music directors like A.R. Rahman, Nadeem Shravan, Rajesh Roshan, Shankar Mahadevan, etc. He is also a hit with major directors like Yash Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Karan Johar. Some of his superhit movies are Darr, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Mohabbatein, Swades, Veer Zaara, Aashiqui, Lagaan, Taal, Beta, Swades, Rangeela, etc.
Udit Narayan has not just made his mark in Bollywood, but has also sung many songs in other languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Oriya, etc. he has proved himself after much struggle in life. Though he is plagued by controversies regarding his personal life; that does not stop him from belting out hits and give his best to music. His son Aditya Narayan is also a budding singer and has sung many songs for child artistes in different movies.
