Mohit Chauhan

Mohit Chauhan
Mohit Chauhan at the 59th Filmfare Awards
Background information
Born	(1966-03-11) 11 March 1966 Nahan, Himachal Pradesh, India[1]
Origin	Himachal Pradesh, India
Genres	Indian pop, Bollywood
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	Guitar, Harmonica, Flute, Saxophone
Years active	1998 – present

Mohit Chauhan (born 11 March 1966) is an Indian singer, most known for his work as a playback singer for Bollywood movies as well as the former front-man of the Indipop band Silk Route. He is a two-time recipient of the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer as well as several other awards mentioned below.

Early life and career

Mohit Chauhan was born in the Nahan town of Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh on 11 March 1966 in a Rajput Family.^[1][2] He can speak fluently in Pahari, English and Hindi. He first attended St. Xavier's School, Delhi and then moved to Himachal Pradesh to complete his education. Chauhan graduated with a Master of Science in Geology from the Dharamsala College in Himachal Pradesh.

He never received formal training in music, but sings and plays guitar, harmonica and the flute. After completing his education in Himachal, Chauhan came to Delhi where he formed the band Silk Route with his schoolmate Kem Trevedi (pianist) in 1996. He started his career singing Indian pop songs with the band Silk Route, with Arpit Gupta which released two albums, Boondein (1998) and Pehchan. The song "Dooba Dooba" became a hit in the Indipop music scene. However, the band dissolved. He stayed off the scene for a while until he came back with the song "Guncha" in 2005 from the movie "Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh". He also composed that song. Impressed by his vocals, he was then approached by A. R. Rahman to sing for the movie Rang De Basanti. However, it wasn't until 2007 when music director Pritam approached him for the song Tum Se Hi for the movie Jab We Met that Chauhan finally achieved mainstream success.

Career

Mohit Chauhan had his first brush with success with the song "Dooba Dooba" from the band Silk Route's album Boondein. The album debuted at number one on the album chart. Boondein featured songs in Hindi, English, and Pahadi, and the band won several awards at the awards in 1998.^[3]

Chauhan's career in Bollywood began in 2002 when he sang "Pehli Nazar Mein Dari Thi" in the movie Road. His songs "Khoon Chala" and "Masakali" from the films Rang De Basanti and Delhi-6 respectively, composed by Rahman and "Tum Se Hi" from the film Jab We Met,^[4] composed by Pritam, were successful. His subsequent chartbusters included the songs "Tu Ne Jo Na Kaha" for the 2009 film New York, "Ye Dooriyan" for Love Aaj Kal, and "Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai" for Kaminey. In 2010, he won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for "Masakali".^[5] He also sang two superhit tracks "Bheegi Si" from the Movie Raajneeti and "Pee Loon" from Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai both arranged and directed by Pritam. His songs "Pee Loon" from Once Upon A Time in Mumbai,"Tujhe Bhula Diya" from Anjaana Anjaani directed by Vishal-Shekhar became chartbusters. He then sang "Yun Hi" from Tanu Weds Manu which is another addition to his superhit songs. His songs from the movie Rockstar (2011 film) have become anthems. He sang his first Bengali song for the movie Sedin Dekha Hoyechilo and also he sang his second Bengali song for the movie Paglu. He sang his first Tamil Song "Po Nee Po" for the Movie 3 with Anirudh.

In addition to film playback singing, Chauhan has sung many advertisement jingles for products including Alpenlibe, Parachute, Wheel (detergent), Nescafe, Hippo Munchies, Vicks Vapor Rub, Alchemist & Maruti Suzuki Alto (2011). He has also sung the theme song for Star Parivaar Awards 2011 with Shreya Ghoshal.

In 2007, he took part in singing reality show, Mission Ustaad on 9X, where he teamed with Vasundhara Das. He also took part in the singing reality show on STAR Plus, Music Ka Maha Muqqabla, where he led the team Mohit's Fighters.

He has sung the title track of Yeh Hai Aashiqui Season 4.

He has also performed at various college festivals across the country, like at Sparsh 2008, the annual cultural festival at SVNIT, Surat, the Crescendo night of Alcheringa, the annual cultural festival of IIT Guwahati, in February 2013, and the Cultural Night of IIT Kharagpur in 2001, as well as IIT Bombay in 2009 and 2013. He recently also performed at the Star Night of the annual cultural festival, Engifest of Delhi Technological University on 16 February 2014.Latest at annual fest 'PULSE 'AIIMS Delhi ( heavenly seven ) on 20 September 2014.He performed at VIT University, Vellore in their annual sports and cultural festival Riviera, College of Engineering, Trivandrum for their annual cultural fest 'Dhwani' on 14 March 2015,performed at Recstacy,[NIT Durgapur]'s annual cultural fest , performed at Eclectika, NIT Raipur's annual cultural fest, on 27 February 2016. He also recently performed at the BITOTSAV'16, BIT MESRA annual cultural fest on 20 March 2016.

In 2011 he featured in the third episode of The Dewarists collaborating with Indian Ocean for the song called Maaya. He was also featured on MTV Unplugged (India) in the same year. In 2013 he sang a song "Jad Se Judien" for the advertisement of L'Oreal Paris India.^[6]

Mohit recently did two songs for the first Himachali film Saanjh by Ajay Saklani.

Discography

Mohit Chauhan performing at the Times Of India Film Awards 2013 (TOIFA)

Albums

• Boondein (1999)
• Pehchaan (2000)
• Kalam Poetry (2008)
• Sar Utha Ke Jiyo (2008)
• Fitoor (2009)
• Haar Ke Jag Se (2011)
• Maaya Maaya Re (2011)
• Raunaq (2014)
• Moments of Love (2014)
• Ye No.1 Yaari Hai (2014)
• Tumhaari Arazoo (2016)
• Aashay(2017)

Awards

Other awards and honors

• 2011: RMIM Puraskaar — Male Singer of the Year^[8]

References

External links

• Mohit Chauhan at Lastfm
• Mohit Chauhan at the Internet Movie Database