Vasundhara Das

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Vasundhara Das
Vasundhara das.jpg
Das at Yahoo! Bangalore.
Background information
Born 1977
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Genres pop, soul, dance, Hindustani classical, Western
Occupations Singer, actress, environmentalist, record producer, songwriter.
Instruments Vocals, Guitar
Years active 1999–present
Associated acts Arya, World Music band, with Roberto Narain on drums
DRUMJAM as a Drum circle facilitator.

Vasundhara Das (born 1977), is an Indian recording artist, songwriter, composer, actress and environmentalist. Best remembered for her debut playback song "Shakalaka Baby" for the soundtrack of Mudhalvan (1999), Das went on to record many songs in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam feature films.[1] She earned a nomination in Filmfare best singer category for her songs "Aaja Gufaon Mein" and "Rabba Rabba" from the film Aks (2001).

Das's first acting role was as the star of the feature film Hey Ram opposite the celebrated actor Kamal Haasan. She was also considered for the lead role in director Mani Ratnam's film Alaipayuthey which eventually went to actress Shalini Kumar. She further acted in other Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films and found moderate success and recognition as an actress.

Das is the co-founder of world music band "Arya" which performs concerts across the world. She is also a part of the musical troupe named "DRUMJAM" and works as a Drum circle facilitator.[2]

Contents

Early life [edit]

Vasundhara Das was born into a Tamil speaking Hebbar Iyengar Brahmin family[3] in Bangalore.[4] She studied at Cluny Convent High School, Bangalore, and Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, graduating in Economics and Mathematics.

She began training in Hindustani Classical music at the age of six. She used to run away from home to avoid taking music lessons. In her college days she was part of an all-girl band. She can play some Flamenco strums on her guitar.

She speaks Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Telugu and English.[5]

Vasundhara Das married her long-time friend Roberto Narain. Roberto belongs to the music troupe, ‘Arya’ and is also a skilled musician.

Career [edit]

Actor [edit]

Vasundhara began acting with the Kamal Haasan film Hey Ram (1999) and started her playback singing career with A. R. Rahman's Tamil film Mudhalvan. She was considered for the role of heroine by Mani Ratnam in his movie Alaipayuthey opposite R. Madhavan. She played heroine alongside Mohanlal in the blockbuster Malayalam movie Raavanaprabhu, the female lead role opposite Ajith Kumar in the Tamil movie Citizen, and heroine opposite Kannada super star Darshan in the movie Lankesh Pathrike directed by noted film maker Indrajith Lankesh. She also appeared in the Hindi T.V. serial Rab Ne Banadi Jodi and a popular Hindi movie Monsoon Wedding.

Singer [edit]

She moved her base from Bangalore to Mumbai[6] and founded a musical band named Arya with Roberto Narain. The band comprises musicians from various backgrounds in world music ranging from Hindustani and Carnatic classical music to Jazz, Latin, rock and pop. Roberto Narain plays the drums and Vasundhara provides Western and Indian vocals. Arya’s music can be broadly classified as World Music. Arya’s first performance was at the prestigious festival La Mar de Musicas in Spain in 2003. The band toured the United States in September 2004.

Her breakthrough as a playback singer came with "Shakalaka Baby", the song for which she is best known for.[7][8] She sang it for the 1999 Tamil film Mudhalvan, under composer A. R. Rahman. She later recorded most of her hit songs with Rahman in Tamil as well as in Hindi. Her breakthrough in Bollywood came in the 2001 film Aks with songs like "Rabba Rabba" for which she was nominated for the 2002 Filmfare Best Female Playback Award.

She has sung one song "Pattu viral thottu vittadhaal" for Ilaiyaraaja in the Tamil movie Dhanush directed by A.M. Gurumani. She has sung an English song in the Hindi film Lagaan for the British character played by Rachel Shelley, again under A. R. Rahman. Her most famous Hindi song is "It's the time to Disco" in the film Kal Ho Na Ho sung for Preity Zinta . She is also well known for the song "Kattipudi Kattipudi Da" in the movie Kushi. She often sings for the actress Preity Zinta among others. She has also sung for the hit movie Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa.

Vasundhara Das singing live at a concert in Bangalore

She has recorded her own album of non-film songs. She has sung in French, English, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. She has also sung a song called "Tide" with Ashu and Dhruv for the show Channel V Jammin{'}]; the song is included in the Jammin' album. She performed in Yuva Dasara 2011 at Mysore, Karnataka. Her latest performance happened in Ekatvam organised by Mahindra Satyam at Hyderabad on 28 January 2012.

Discography [edit]

Studio albums
  • 2005 - Meri Jaan
Film songs

Filmography [edit]

Year Title Role Language Notes
1999 Hey Ram Mythili Iyengar Tamil/ Hindi Debut feature film
2001 Monsoon Wedding Aditi Verma Hindi
2001 Citizen Indhu Tamil
2001 Ravanaprabhu Mundackal Janaki Malayalam
2003 Lankesh Patrike Preethi Kannada
2003 Film Star An inmate Hindi
2004 Vajram Gemini Malayalam
2006 Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana Anjali Hindi
2007 Ek Dastak Priya Hindi
2008 Boss Malayalam

Music influences [edit]

  • Hindustani
  • Rock and Funk
  • Spanish

References [edit]

  1. ^ http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-25/did-you-know-/31506163_1_music-lessons-vasundhara-das-music-class
  2. ^ http://www.drumjam.in/vasundhara-das.html
  3. ^ "Sify Movies - Vasundhara Das Interview". Sify.com. Retrieved 3 January 2013. 
  4. ^ Vasundhara Das Biography - Cinebasti.com
  5. ^ Table for Two: Zest like that - The Times of India
  6. ^ The Hindu : Metro Plus Kochi / Cinema : Heart talk
  7. ^ The Hindu : Karnataka / Mysore News : Vasundhara rocks Yuva Dasara
  8. ^ The Hindu : Metro Plus Mangalore / Music : Been there, sung that

External links [edit]

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