Aarti Mukherjee

Aarti Mukherji
Birth name	Aarti Mukherji
Also known as	Aarti Mukherjee, Arati Mukhopadhyay
Born	1943 (age 72-73) West Bengal, India
Genres	Indian Music
Occupation(s)	Playback Singer
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	1955 - present

Aarti Mukherji (also known as Aarti Mukherjee or Arati Mukhopadhyay) is a Bengali playback singer who has also sung in Hindi films such as Geet Gata Chal (1975), Tapasya (1976), Manokamana and Masoom (1983).

Career

Aarti Mukherji was born in West Bengal, India. She belongs to a Bengali speaking family. In a TV show called "Dadagiri" she recollected memories of her early days. She stated there that she once got an opportunity to sing in the "All India Music Talent Programme" in 1955, when she was a 14- or 15-year-old girl who had dreams to go to Bombay and achieve the level of fame as Lata Mangeshkar.

Arati Mukhopadhyay was trained in Indian Classical Music from a young age. She sang primarily for Bengali films. She won the music contest, "Metro-Murphy Contest", where the judges were music directors like Anil Biswas, Naushad, Vasant Desai and C. Ramchandra. This paved way for a career as a playback singer. She got her first break in 1958 Hindi film Sahara starring Meena Kumari and music by Hemant Kumar, but the music of that film was not so successful. After a string of films like Do Dil Char Rahe (1959, music by Anil Biswas, starring Meena Kumari) and Boy Friend (1961, which starred Madhubala and music by S-J), she decided to move to Bengali films. As most composers they chose Mangeshkar or others, Mukherji faced strong competition. The first Bengali film she provided vocals for was called Kanna, released in 1962.

Later successes

In the late 1960s, her voice was used to be on-screen voice of leading actress Suchitra Sen, instead of Sandhya Mukherjee. In 1966, she sang in the film "Golpo Holeo Sotyi", which earned her BFJA Award for Best Female Playback Singer. In 1976, she received the award for the film Chhutir Phande. She lent her voice for the leading actresses of the late sixties till eighties such as Madhabi Mukherji, Sharmila Tagore, Aparna Sen, Debashri Roy, Tanuja etc. Together with Asha Bhosle she gradually became the most prominent Bengali playback singer in the 1970s, replacing Sandhya. She sang two songs in the Rakhee Gulzar film Tapasya in 1976. She performed vocals in 96 films in 6 languages: Bengali (66), Hindi (20), Oriya (5), Assamese (2), Gujarati (2) and Manipuri (1).

She continued success in the seventies that inspired her to try her fate in Bollywood once again. In 1983, R. D. Burman gave her to sing the song "Do naina aur ek kahani" in the film Masoom as the voice of Shabana Azmi. The song was a considerable success. It earned her a Filmfare award for best female playback singer in 1983. She has also performed a classical song "Kabhi Kuch Pal" in the film Rang Birangi, a female duet with Anuradha Paudwal in 1983. Mukherji became the on-screen voice of actress Tanuja. Her popular songs include 'Radha banshi chara janena', 'Ek boishakhe dekha holo dujonar', 'Ei mon jochonay ango vijiye', 'ja ja behaya pakhi jana', 'na de de da, tu na tum', 'tokhon tomar ekush bochor bodhoy'. She also has a number of famous non-film songs to her credit. She lent her voice to a number of Hindi compositions as well.

Politicis

She joined the BJP in September 2014.

Awards

She won the National Film Award as well as Filmfare Award as Best Female Playback Singer Award for the song "Do naina" in Shekhar Kapur's Masoom. BFJA's Best Female Playback Award- 1976 for the film "Chhutir Phande" and BFJA's Best Female Playback Award- 1967 for the film "Golpo Holeo Satyi"

Discography

Year	Film	Language	Notes
1985	Lallu Ram	Hindi
1985	Rusvai	Hindi
1985	Ram Tere Kitne Nam	Hindi
1984	Shatru	Bengali
1983	Indira	Bengali
1983	Rang Birangi	Hindi
1983	Amar Geeti	Bengali
1983	Aashar Akash	Oriya
1983	Desire	Oriya
1983	Masoom	Hindi	Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer
1982	Rajbabhu	Bengali
1981	Surya Sakshi	Bengali
1981	Tike Hasa Tike Luha	Oriya
1981	Ulka	Oriya
1980	Dadar Kirti	Bengali
1980	Ek Baar Kaho	Hindi
1976	Geet Gaata Chal	Hindi
1980	Manokaamnaa	Hindi
1980	Baata Abaata	Oriya
1980	Megha Mukti	Oriya
1979	Tarana	Hindi
1979	Ganadevata	Bengali
1979	Ashaati Beej	Gujrati
1979	Nagin Aur Suhagan	Hindi
1978	Saajan Bina Suhagan	Hindi
1978	Ganga Ki Saugand	Hindi
1977	Baba Taraknath	Bengali
1977	Anand Ashram	Bengali
1977	Janam Janam Na Saath	Gujrati
1977	Solah Shukrawar	Hindi
1976	Nidhiram Sardar	Bengali
1976	Hangsaraj	Bengali
1976	Harmonium	Bengali
1975	Tapasya	Hindi
1975	Chhutir Phande	Bengali
1974	Bikele Bhorer Phul	Bengali
1974	Alor Thikana	Bengali
1973	Basanata Bilap	Bengali
1973	Sriman Prithviraj	Bengali
1972	Andha Atit	Bengali
1972	Ajker Nayak	Bengali
1972	Bhaiti	Assamese
1972	Brojendrogi Luhongba	Manipuri
1971	Dhanyee Meye	Bengali
1971	Jal Bin Machhli Nritya Bin Bijli	Hindi
1971	Aranya	Assamese
1970	Manjari Opera	Bengali
1970	Samantaral	Bengali
1970	Bilambita Lay	Bengali
1969	Khamoshi	Hindi
1969	Teen Bhubaner Pare	Bengali
1969	The Fiancee	Bengali
1968	Gar Nasimpur	Bengali
1967	Badhu Bharan	Bengali
1966	Joradighir Chowdhury Paribar	Bengali
1965	Abhaya O Srikanta	Bengali
1965	Do Dil	Hindi
1965	Subernarekha	Bengali
1963	Deya Neya	Bengali
1962	Kanna	Bengali
1961	Boy Friend	Hindi
1960	Angulimaal	Hindi
1958	Sahara	Hindi

Popular Songs:

• "Do Panchhi Do Tinke"
• "Kabhi Kuchch Pal Jeevan Ke"
• "Do Naina, Ek Kahani"
• "Bolo Na Bolo Na Soi"
• "Prajapati Sethay Ghore"
• "Kon Kule Aaj Bhirlo Tari"
• "Swapna Niye"
• "Sujyi Alo De"
• "Anugatajane Keno Karo Eto"
• "Sara Mora Kajra Churaya Tu Ne" ( with Rafi -Do Dil - 1965)

External links

• Aarti Mukherjee at IMDb
• Aarti Mukherji at Bollywood Hungama
• "Aarti Mukherjee on Calcuttaweb". Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)