Usha Mangeshkar

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Usha Mangeshkar is an Indian singer, born in 1935, who has recorded in many languages, including Marathi, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Nepali, Gujarati, Odia and Assamese. She is the youngest of the four Mangeshkar sisters, after Lata Mangeshkar, Meena Khadikar and Asha Bhosle, and the older sister of Hridaynath Mangeshkar. That family plays a major role in Indian film music.

Music and breakthrough

She came into the spotlight as a playback singer with devotional songs for the 1975 film Jai Santoshi Maa, which became an enormous success. For her song Main to Aarti from that film she was nominated for the Filmfare Award for best female playback singer, and for this film she also won the prize of the Bengal Film Journalists' Association. Later came nominations for Mangta Hai To Aaja from Inkaar (1977) and Humse Nazar To Milao from Ikraar (1980). In 2006 she sang the same songs again for the remake of the film.

Influence

She is known for Mungda and for songs for the Marathi film Pinjara. She also sang Chupi Chupi Gori Kane in the Odia film Abhiman (1977) and created the musical drama Phoolwanti for Indian television, Doordarshan. In 2020 she received a Mirchi Award for lifetime achievement and the Lata Mangeshkar Award of the government of Maharashtra. In 2025 the Filmfare Marathi Lifetime Achievement Award followed. Her career shows how broad the field was in which a playback singer could work.

Listening