Some Lesser Known Facts About Anuradha Paudwal

Arun Paudwal's wife is the well known Bollywood singer Anuradha Paudwal. Their daughter Kavita Paudwal also became a singer. citation needed He died on 1 November 1991. Paudwal was a versatile and popular musician, who composed the music. Anuradha Paudwal married Arun Paudwal, a music composer. Anuradha Paudwal son name is Aditya and daughter name is Kavita who is also a singer by profession. On 12 September 2020, her son Aditya died of kidney failure. When she was married to Arun, she was mere 17 years old and Arun was 27.

In the petition, Karmala claims that when she was a four-day-old baby, she was handed over by Anuradha Paudwal and her husband and music composer Arun Paudwal to foster parents Ponnachan and Agnes. . In January 2020, a 45-year-old woman from Kerala claimed that she was the daughter of Anuradha Paudwal. The woman, Karmala Modex, claimed that she was born in 1974 and the singer gave her up to her foster parents Ponnachan and Agnes when she was just an infant.

• She was born in a Konkani family in Karwar, Uttara Kannada, Karnataka. However, she was brought up in Mumbai.

• Anuradha says that her interest in music was triggered off by a Lataji song that she had heard on the radio.

• When she was in 4th standard, she dreamt of hearing Lataji’s voice live.

• In an interview, she revealed that she was born with a hoarse voice.

• In her childhood, she fell seriously ill with a severe attack of pneumonia. She lost her voice almost completely and got bed-ridden for 40 days. In those 40 days, she listened to just one voice; Lataji’s.

• When Anuradha was admitted to the hospital, one of her uncles gifted her a recording of Bhagwad Geeta in the voice of Lataji, and when she recovered, her voice had changed completely. After that, she started moulding her voice.

• Lata Mangeshkar is no less than a God to Anuradha Paudwal as she credits all her successes to her. She says, “I learnt under several gurus. But her voice has remained my inspiration. It’s like an institution.”

• Anuradha actively participated in her school and college functions and had won several awards. The very first award that she won was for one of Lataji’s Meera bhajans.

• At one such school function, due to her hoarse voice, she was disqualified with the judges’ remark, “Voice unfit for Sugam Sangeet.”

• When she was in her teenage, she fell in love with Arun (a Music Composer). Initially, her father didn’t approve of their marriage because of Arun’s connection with the film industry. Her father believed that girls from respectable families didn’t become a part of show business.

• When she got married to Arun, she was 17 and Arun was 27.

• Arun always encouraged her to sing. In fact, he became her close mentor and critic as well.

• Once, Arun brought her to one of Lataji’s (Lata Mangeshkar) recordings. Anuradha was listening so carefully that she could sing the song live on ‘Yuva Vani,’ a very popular Marathi programme; heard by a lot of people. Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Hridaynath Mangeshkar, and several top composers called the radio station to find out who’d been singing. It took them a while to figure out that it was Alka Nadakarni (maiden name of Anuradha Paudwal). They all offered to launch Anuradha Paudwal, but at that time she was not temperamentally inclined.

• It was the legendary musician, SD Burman, who was the first to offer her a song (actually, a Shiva Shloka) in the 1973 Hindi film, Abhiman (starring Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri).

• When Abhiman was released, about 25 to 30 of her family members, friends and neighbours went to to the Plaza Theatre just to see Anuradha’s name in the credits.

• Anuradha Paudwal’s 1st solo was in the film, Aap Beati, (starring Shashi Kapoor and Hema Malini).

• Anuradha Paudwal won her first major film award for the song “Mera Man Baje Mridang….” from the film Utsav (1984). She was surprised with the award as she had been hoping to win for Hero’s ‘Tu Mera Janoo Hai….’

• When she sang the song, ‘Tu Mera Janoo Hai….’ in Subhash Ghai’s film Hero (starring Jackie Shroff and Meenakshi Seshadri), it became a chartbuster. Initially, it was Lataji’s song, however, due to some reasons, the song went to Anuradha Paudwal.

• In most of the Subhash Ghai‘s films, Anuradha Paudwal was the signatory singer. She also sang a Gayatri Mantra which even today is a part of Mukta Arts emblem.

• In the mid-1980s, Anuradha Paudwal recorded 23 songs with Nadeem-Shravan. Later, the songs were used in three films directed by Mahesh Bhatt– Aashiqui, Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin and Sadak.

• In the 1990s, she became the voice of Madhuri Dixit, who was on the verge of becoming a superstar. Remember “Bahut Pyaar Karte Hain Tumko Sanam”, the song just refused to go out of the music charts.

• With her songs in the films- Aashiqui, Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, and Sadak, she rose to the pinnacle of her singing career. However, at the same time, she was going through a personal low as in the year 1983, she lost a daughter who was just one month old. Her husband, Arun, was also very ill. She became mentally fatigued. In the early 1990s, she started retreating from the film industry and announced to sing only for T-Series and took to singing devotionals. This stand benefited Alka Yagnik who just zoomed to the top. The choice of devotional over material was due to her deep interest in spirituality.

• She had developed a great bonding with the T-Series Mogul Gulshan Kumar. However, when he was shot dead in August 1997, her attitude to success changed. She says, “Today, when I have a hit, it feels nice, but that’s it.”

• After her husband, Arun’s death, her son, Aditya, became one of the youngest music composers in the film industry. Her daughter, Kavita Paudwal, is also a playback singer.

Where is Anuradha Paudwal these days?

Just a few years ago it seemed that she was ready to obliterate all her
peers in the 'new' generation of singers. She was at her peak around '90-91
with the mega-success of 'Aashique,' 'Dil,' 'Dil Hain Ke Manta Nahin,' 'Lal
Dupatta Mulmul Ka,' and to a lesser extent, 'Saajan,' 'Jeena Marna Tere
Sang,' 'Jeena Teri Gali Mein,' etc.

Her success had to do mainly with two things:

Kavita Paudwal Wiki

1. In the era of the 'democratization' of Indian pop music, arguably starting
in the early 80's after the death of Mohd. Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar's ease
into a more sedentary recording schedule, for the generation that was
trained into accepting Lata's voice as the standard for excellence, it was
Ms. AP that stepped in to emulate a 'young-Lata' type of singing style. She
benefitted more from this than, say, Suman Kalyanpur, who even
though sounded more like Lata, was Lata's comtemporary and had to withstand
the pressure of making her presence felt in the midst of the juggernaut that
was the 'Mangeshkar Monopoly.' The same can be said for Shabbir Kumar,
Mohd. Aziz, Anwar and a host of others that came into the limelight after
the incomparable Rafi's demise. The most extreme beneficiary of this type
of 'success' has to be Kumar Shanu's sometimes amazing ability to sound like
Kishore Kumar. But I digress.

Anuradha Paudwal Husband Photo

Ms. Paudwal had a few things going for her. Being from a Marathi family
well-connected to Bollywood insiders, she got her break early. I am not
sure exactly when her career in Hindi background vocals started, but it
would be safe to say that she started making her name in the very late
'70's. To my knowledge, sh jus the only one of the current female background
vocalists to have the distinct honor of having sung opposite Mohd. Rafi. 'Bol
meri Jaan,' from 'Jaani Dushman' (1979) comes to mind readily.

2. The second reason for her success was her relationship with Gulshan
Kumar and his T-Series cassette label. Beginning in the mid-80's, GK's
shrewedness in marketing began to payoff as he was able to virtually
monopolize the soundtracks for Hindi movies. Only a few giants, most
notably Raj Kapoor and anything to do with a score that was dominated by the
Mangeshkar sisters, for obvious reasons, continued to sell under the
arch-rival HMV label. GK/AP did a remarkable job in eliminating AP's
contemporaries such as Alka Yagnik and Kavita Krishnamoorthy from the
most soundtracks marketed by T-Series.

The height of Ms. P's obsession with removing her competion had to be the
incidence involving a song from 'Dil.' More than one song on the soundtrack
was originally recorded by Alka Yagnik. After test marketing indicated that
the songs would be a huge success (I think it may have been 'Mujhe Neend na
aye,' and 'Hamne ghar choda hain'), GK/AP re-issued the same soundtrack
with, viola, Paudwal singing the same songs. I remember reading that even
All India Radio raised objection in having to pull the Alka Yagnik songs off
the airwaves.

I suspect that this is the same reason a mega-score such as 'Tezaab' has
never been COMPLETELY released on compact disc by T-Series. Only a song
here or a song there appears on one or more 'greatest hits' types of CD's. This
is possibly because 1) Alka Yagnik had one of the best-selling songs of the
'80s with 'Ek Do Teen,' while the Anuradha/Amit Kumar number 'Jeena Nahin
Mujhe hain marna,' paled in comparision and 2) Laxmikant-Pyarelal would have
raised a major stink about Gulshan Kumar trying to dub the song in
Anuradha's voice.

A. Paudwal's fall from those lofty heights of popularity can also be
pinpointed to some significant developments:

1. She tried to dictate Nadeem Shravan's recordings thru her T-Series
influence. Even though N/S have a looooong way to go before fullfilling the
promises of say, Shanker-Jaikishen, Naushad or Laxmikant Pyarelal, to name
but a few, N/S WERE the reigning champs of the pop parade from '90 to '93.
One just does not meddle in the recording affairs of a newcomer duo that was
reportedly earning Rs. 25 lakhs per flick after 'Dil Hain Ke Manta Nahin.'
This meddling lead to a breakup between then super-successful MD's N/S and
T-Series/Gulshan Kumar/A. Paudwal. While this divorce hurt both sides
professionally, N/S were able to continue with siginificant contributions
under other labels for films such as 'Deewana,' 'Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke,'
etc.

Anuradha Paudwal Husband Image

2. The death of Arun Paudwal, Anuradha's husband. Even though this event's
effect of Anuradha's professinal career can be judged in the view of the
rumored increased closeness between her and Gulshan Kumar, it is obvious
that her husband's death took a significant toll on her personal life.
One read the stories of her late husband's ghost haunting the T-Series
recording studio and Anuradha's declaration that her very young (eight year
old?) son was ready to step into his father's shoes as a music director.
These stories did not help her career.

3. Lastly, the financial troubles of T-Series. The 'democratization' of
the Indian music business cited earlier had come a full circle. Venus,
Tips, a much rejuvinated/repackaged HMV, Megasound, Lara, etc and a dearth
of other labels were cutting into Gulshan Kumar's territory. He could not
always rely on finding the next Nadeem/Shravan as he 'presented' them with
'Aashique,' or Anand/Milind ('Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak,' 'Lal Dupatta...,' &
'Dil') to sell bizzillion cassettes anymore. A sure factor in T-Series'
demise has to do with their inability of provide high quality CD's. The
ever increasing consumer appetite for CD's, at the expense of audio
cassettes, further lead to declining profits. The competition was marketing
high-quality CD's of Indian movie soundtracks mfd. in Europe while T-Series
insisted on selling their poor sounding home-made product.

Anuradha Paudwal Son

Even though Anuradha is currently touring the U.S., with Udit Narayan and
others, the spark that was incidental with her name recognition just a few
years ago is, rather sadly, missing. In 1988, I attended the concert of a
life-time when Laxmi/Pyare did a show in Chicago. Accompanying them were
Anuradha Paudwal, Kavita Krishnamoorthy, Nitin Mukesh, Suresh Wadkar, Jaya
Pradha, Rajeev Kapoor, etc. One only wonders what type of show this same
troop would present today if only their ego's could remain parked outside.
But that's showbiz!

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