I don’t listen too much of Hindi songs but I never missed good ones. Especially the albums of A.R.Rahman in Hindi I never missed it. He is the music director who made many of Hindi singers to sing in Tamil and made many Tamil singers to sing in Hindi. Now I would like to list the five best female singers of bollywood from the songs they sung in Tamil.
Asha Bhonsle
She has sung many songs in Tamil even before the arrival of A.R.rahman in the music direction of Illayaraja. She has an extraordinary voice though similar to her sister’s voice she is able to build her own style in singing and she has been successful in film music. She is able to sing kind of songs happy, party, pathos, love with appropriate feel and elegance. She is versatile I feel the only problem is her voice doesn’t suit for south Indian heroine’s.
Some of her songs
Khambakt isq(Pyar tune kya kiya)
Yeh bachae ko rehna(Company)
Rahda kaise na jale(Lagaan)
Kahin aag lage lag(Taal)
Rangeela rae(Rangeela)
Rangthey(Thakshak)
Tamil numbers
September matham(Alaipayuthe)
Yengengey(Nerukku Ner)
Nee partha(Hey ram)
Senbagamae(Yenga ooru pattukaran)
Valaiosai(Sathya)
Sadhna sargam
She has excellent in voice modulation in her songs. She has a high pitch voice. And she takes enough efforts to pronounce Tamil words correctly though she doesn’t know Tamil. I heard she has been in film music for past 18 years but she has not got any national awards so far but a Tamil song “Pattu solli” in film ”Azaghi” music being directed by illayaraja bagged her a national award for Best female singer in 2001 and I feel that she doesn’t get what she deserved yet .
Some of the songs of Sadhna in Tamil
1) Vennilavae(Minsara kanavu)
2) Konjum mainakkalae(Kandukondein Kandukondein)
3) Kala kalavena(Rhythm)
4) Pattu solli(Azaghi)
5) Vanavillae(Ramana)
6) Boom boom(Boys)
7) Snehithaney(Alaipayuthey)
8) Chanakya(Dhum)
9) Un perai sonnalae(Dum Dum Dum)
10)Deewana(Gemini)
Kavitha Krishnamurthy
She is also one among the singers whom I feel should have got more recognition. She is excellent in bringing out the emotions of the character in the song. Her “Maru dala” and “Dola re”song is unforgettable mainly because of her voice. She has given the emotions of the character with her voice. She has also sung many Tamil songs in A.R.R’s albums.
Uppukaruvadu(Mudhalavan)
Suntha hai mera(Pukar)
Isq bina(Taal)
Hum dil de chuke sanam(Hum dil de chuke sanam)
Nimuda(Hum dil de chuke sanam)
Maru dala and Dola re(Devdas)
Who ladki hein kahan(Dil chahta hai)
Shreya ghosal
She is just 18 years old and she got national award as Best female singer for 2002 for Devdas. She is appropriate voice for Aishwarya Rai. The voice suits her well. She has sung extraordinary melodious songs in Tamil for Illayaraja and karthickraja. She has a very sweet voice. She also sing in Tamil with ease though she doesn’t know Tamil. I bought the Devdas album mainly for her voice.
Illagathu(Pithamagan)
Yenakku piditha paadal(JulyGanapathy)
Chellamai chellam(Album)
Gundu malli(Solla marantha kathai)
Azaghina Azaghi(Enakku 20 Unakku 18)
All the songs she has sung in Devdas.
Chitra
She is one of the most popular singers of south India. She has sung thousands of songs in Tamil and all other south Indian languages. She got her national award for her second song in Tamil film ”Sindhu bhairavi” an evergreen song of Tamil cinema with lot of karnatic stuff. Basically being a karnatic singer she is able to sing any type of song with ease. She shows versatility in her voice. Later she got her national award for “Ooh La laa la” song in “Minsara Kanavu”.She became popular in Hindi when she sung Hindi version of the song “Kannalanae” of film ”Bombay” in ARR’s music. She has a perfect female voice. She has sung with almost all music directors in India. There are lot of Tamil songs to list
All the songs in “Main Prem Ki Diwani hoon”
Sang sa nanan(Asoka)
Kehana he kya(Bombay)
Yaaro sun lo zara(Rangeela)
Kannamoochi(Kandukondein Kandukondein)
Some of the other singers whom I cannot add to the top 5 list but they are also good in their own way. They are Vasundhra das, Anupama, Swarnalatha, Anuradha sriram, Bombay Jayshree, Sujatha, harini etc.,