Udit Narayan

Udit Narayan Jha is a renowned Nepalese playback singer whose songs have been featured primarily in Nepali and Bollywood films. In addition to singing in Nepali and Hindi, Narayan has performed in more than 36 languages, including Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Garhwali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Odia, Assamese, Manipuri, Maithili and Bengali. He has recorded more than 25,000 songs throughout his career.

Narayan is a recipient of numerous awards, including three National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards. In 2001, he was honored with the Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu by the late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016 for his contributions to Indian cinema and music.

Born in Bhardah, Saptari, Nepal, Narayan is the son of Hare Krishna Jha of Saptari and Bhuwaneshwari Devi of Bihar, India. He completed his School Leaving Certificate (SLC) from P.B. School in Rajbiraj and later earned his intermediate degree from Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus in Kathmandu.

Narayan began his musical career in 1970 as a staff artist at Radio Nepal, where he sang popular folk songs in Nepali, Maithili, Nepal Bhasa and Bhojpuri. In 1978, he received a musical scholarship from the Indian Embassy in Nepal and moved to Bombay to study classical music at Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan.

He made his Bollywood playback debut in 1980 with the film "Unees Bees," singing alongside legendary vocalist Mohammed Rafi. This was followed by notable duets with Lata Mangeshkar in "Bade Dil Wala" (1983) and with Kishore Kumar in "Kehdo Pyar Hai" the same year. His major breakthrough came in 1988 with the film "Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak," where he sang all the songs alongside Alka Yagnik under the direction of Anand-Milind. The soundtrack became a massive hit and earned him his first Filmfare Award.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Narayan remained one of the most sought-after voices in Bollywood. Often referred to as "the king of playback" and known for his magical voice, he served as the on-screen voice for many major Bollywood actors, including Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, and Ajay Devgn, among many others. He also sang for veteran actors such as Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna and Dev Anand.

Narayan's long-standing collaboration with Alka Yagnik resulted in some of the most beloved duets in Hindi film music. He remains one of the most celebrated and versatile playback singers in South Asia.