Chauhan has recorded 2,500 songs in over 10 languages and has worked with some of the best composers and music directors, including AR Rahman, Vishal-Shekhar, and more. Now she's charting a new path with independent music videos and sold-out concerts around the world
Singer Sunidhi Chauhan
Imaging: Kapil Kashyap
Sunidhi Chauhan was just an 11-year-old “shaukiya” singer when the late music director, Aadesh Shrivastava, spotted her singing in a group at an event and got her to sing for Shastra, a film released in 1996. “After I sang on that professional mic, for the very first time I felt this is something I want to do for life,” says the 41-year-old.
Her breakthrough moment, though, came on the back of a desire she had nurtured since she was five or six—to meet the legendary Lata Mangeshkar. It led her to participate in Meri Awaz Suno, India’s first music competition to be telecast on Doordarshan. Chauhan, only 13 and the youngest participant, won the competition and became a household name.
But the first signs of Chauhan’s versatility came in 1999, when she sang ‘Ruki Ruki Si Zindagi’—the song from Ram Gopal Varma’s Mast put her career on the fast track. Chauhan, who has since recorded more than 2,500 songs in over 10 languages—with some blockbuster hits like ‘Mehboob Mere’, ‘Chhaliya’, ‘Aaja Nachle’, ‘Desi Girl’, ‘Sheila ki Jawani’—has worked with some of the best music composers and music directors, including AR Rahman, Vishal-Shekhar, Salim-Suleiman and Anirudh Ravichander.
But the fact that, even after spending 28 accomplished years in the industry, she hasn’t lost her hunger is evident from her recent forays—of making independent music videos that garner a million views and rolling out her own concert tours.
(This story appears in the 18 April, 2025 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)