Sukhwinder Singh live performance of "Maula Maula" from the film The Attacks of 26/11
July 18 is Sukhwinder Singh's birthday!
Sukhwinder Singh is an Indian singer, composer, and lyricist, but is most popular for being a playback singer in the Indian film industry. His rich resonating voice has reached high demand from composers and has helped launch numerous film soundtracks into “Super Hit” status in India and abroad. Many of his most popular hits have been under such popular and critically acclaimed composers as A.R. Rahman and Sandeep Chowta.
This award-winning singer has done playback for a variety of Bollywood heroes including Farhan Akhtar, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Arjun Rampal, Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Ajay Devgan, Abhishek Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Tusshar Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Sanjay Dutt, Ranbir Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor, Shabbir Ahluwalia, Rohit Roy and Sunny Deol.
Besides his playback work he has released the albums Nasha Hi Nasha and Is Dil Se where he sings his own compositions.
To celebrate his birthday, here's an online memory game highlighting just a few of the films that feature songs sung by Sukhwinder. See how many you recognize.
Sukhwinder's greatest success is arguably the song "Chaiyya Chaiyya" for Mani Ratnam’s 1998 film Dil Se..., composed by A. R. Rahman, for which he won the "Best Male Playback" award at the 1999 Filmfare Awards in India. A remix of the song was used in Spike Lee’s film Inside Man. According to an interview in The Times of India,
"That was my first song and it is very special to me. In fact, when I first met A R Rahman for the project, he thought I was a lyricist. However, I somehow convinced him that I can sing. When he heard me sing he was so happy with my voice that he straightaway asked me to sing the Chaiyya Chaiyya song."
His popularity increased after he sung Chak De India - an Indian patriotic song in the Hindi film Chak De! India. He is often recognized for his playback singing for Shah Rukh Khan. Five of the six songs he recorded for SRK have gone on to become major hits - "Chaiyya Chaiyya" from Dil Se.., "Dard-E-Disco" from Om Shanti Om, "Chak De India" from Chak De! India, "Haule Haule" from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and "Marjaani" from Billu.
Another major hit is the Oscar-winning song "Jai Ho" from the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
In a December 2012 interview on IndiaInk, Sukhwinder explained:
"I do not make music for the purpose of winning an Oscar or Grammy award or nominations. When I get signed to do a song, I do not think about whether this song will be for a Hollywood film, Bollywood film or whatever. For me, the quality of the song is my priority. I love music, and I am in love with music, and that is very important for any singer. And even after that, I am attracted to music. For me it is not about winning an Oscar, but it is about getting inspiration and delivering."
Here is the amazing item number "Chaiyya Chaiyya" sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Sapna Awasthi from the film Dil Se ... as picturized on Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika Arora with choreography by Farah Khan.
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