Mohit Chauhan is one of the most celebrated playback singers of Indian film industry who works primarily for Bollywood. Initially he was the lead singer of the Indipop band named Silk Route. His eminence and versatility in singing has earned him a great fame in the film industry. He has won a number of accolades for his works including two Filmfare Awards.
Early Life of Mohit Chauhan
Mohit Chauhan was born in the state of Himachal Pradesh, at Nahan town of Sirmaur district. He is fluent with Hindi, English and Pahari languages. He did his initial schooling from St. Xavier`s School in Delhi and then returned back to Himachal Pradesh where he completed his education. He completed his higher education with the degree of Master of Science in Geology from the Dharamsala College located in Himachal Pradesh. Mohit Chauhan has never been trained formally in music but still has a great command in singing and playing musical instruments like flute, harmonica and guitar. After his education, he moved to Delhi and formed the Indipop band Silk Route in 1996 along with his schoolmate Kem Trevedi, the pianist of the band.
Career of Mohit Chauhan
Mohit Chauhan`s singing career started with the band Silk Route in which he used to sing with Arpit Gupta. They released two albums with the names Boondein and Pehchan. The song `Dooba Dooba` from the album Boondein became a huge hit earning them recognition and first rendezvous with success in the realm of music. The album featured songs in multiple languages including English, Hindi and Pahari and was the winner of a number of awards in the year 1998. However despite of the popularity, the band dissolved.
This was followed by a brief disappearance of the singer but he returned back in the music industry in 2002 with a Bollywood venture. He sang the song `Pehli Nazar Mein Dari Thi` from the movie Road. Later he sang as well as composed the song `Guncha` from the movie Main Meri Patni Aur Woh. His vocals in the song impressed the renowned musician A. R. Rahman and he approached Mohit Chauhan for his compositions `Khoon Chala` and `Masakali` from the Bollywood flicks Rang De Basanti and Delhi-6 respectively. This was followed by his song `Tum Se Hi` from Jab We Met, a composition of Pritam. These renditions altogether fetched him prominent mainstream success as a playback singer. Subsequently his chartbusters included songs such as `Ye Dooriyan` from Love Aaj Kal, `Tu Ne Jo Na Kaha` form New York, `Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai` from Kaminey. In the year 2010 he received the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for his song Masakali. His other hits in Bollywood were `Bheegi Si` from Raajneeti, `Pee Loon` from Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai, `Tujhe Bhula Diya` from Anjaana Anjaani, `Yun Hi` from Tanu Weds Manu and many others. His ascended another step of success with the songs of the movie Rockstar in 2011. He stepped in the regional film industry with the songs of the Bengali movie Sedin Dekha Hoyechilo followed by another Bengali film Paglu. He also sang for Tamil cinema. Apart from movies he has also lent his voice for advertisement jingles for companies like Vicks Vapor Rub, Hippo Munchies, Nescafe, Wheel, Parachute, Alpenlibe, Maruti Suzuki Alto and Alchemist. In 2011 he also sang the theme song of Star Parivaar Awards. In 2007, Mohit Chauhan was the part of a singing reality show Mission Ustaad, aired on 9X, in which he was teamed with Vasundhara Das. He also participated in another similar show Music Ka Maha Muqqabla, aired on STAR Plus, where he was the leader of the team Mohit`s Fighhter.
Mohit Chauhan had also sung in several college festivals all over India including the Cultural Night of IIT Kharagpur in 2001, the annual cultural festival at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology called Sparsh in 2008, the annual cultural festival of IIT Guwahati called the Crescendo Night of Alcheringa in 2013 and at IIT Bombay in 2009 and 2013. He also performed the song `Maaya` in the third episode of The Dewarists, a musical television series on MTV India, along with Indian Ocean. In the same year he was also featured on MTV Unplugged (India).
Achievements of Mohit Chauhan
Mohit Chauhan has won a number of awards for his phenomenal singing in various movies. He has received 2 Filmfare Awards, 2 Zee Cine Awards, 1 Star Screen Awards, 1 Apsara Film and Television Producers Guild Awards, 1 Mirchi Music Awards, 1 Global Indian Films And Television Awards, 1 IIFA Awards, 1 GIMA Awards, 1 Colors Screen Awards, 2 BIG Star Entertainment Awards and 1 Vijay Awards.