We used to notice in our lives many unsung personalities who are silently achieving in their own way but not getting recognized properly and timingly. It is indigestible to see that such persons go unnoticed despite their hard work, talents and efforts. I decided to write this review on Sadhana Sargam as a fan and a music lover and of the fact, she is not been given due recognition in North itself, in terms of Awards & more offers despite her excellent voice and talents. She is equal to Alka Yagnik. Then this mouth shut website just posting only about five best songs of sadhana sargam rarely did not hold a good profile for this person.
Sadhana Sargam not only a well known singer in Bollywood but also a very famous singer in Tamil Films (Kollywood) as she is singing here nearly a decade for all tamil music directors and surpassed her 100th song in Tamil. As a Chennaiite I am a fan, follower of her songs for her voice is very good and suits most of melodies than masala songs. You may think how better a Madrasee can write about a person related to Bollywood and Sadhana Sargam (real name Sadhana Ghanekar), a Marathi. First I like to introduce as a student of Carnatic Music in both Vocal and Violin which is the main Classical Music of Tamilnadu and South India like the Hindustani Music in North. Then I have some knowledge though not deep, about North, Bollywood & other personalities in various fields as I am a regular observer of news and happenings around me in India and in the world generally.
To some extent I know about Sadhana Sargam and her career in Hindi Films starting from the year 1982 to 1995 was her best years in Bollywood. Her mother Neela Ghanekar is a reputed classical singer and a music teacher. Sadhana is a student of Pt.Jasraj. But she entered the films at a very young age and Kalyaniji-Anandji were her main mentors for her shining career. She had sung for almost all the music directors in hindi and with all the popular singers be it male or female. It is sad to note she is not been given her due through more offers in Bollywood after 1990s despite having excellent voice. Probably her voice suits classicals & melodies more. And as upcoming new singers are more there, she was rarely heard in hindi belt.
But she didn’t lose her spirit and created opportunities for herself giving many Devotional Albums and Shloka Albums and shifted to other languages as well, besides singing in her native marati. She also gave a private album Oh my love. She was also a co-singer for Pankaj Udhas & Roopkumar Rathod Ghazals. Vaada, Hum Safar, Omkar Tu Ganesh, Gayatri Mantras, Lakshmi Aradhana are some albums evidencing her classicals. She is one of the busiest singers now in both hindi and tamil films. If we list the top five singers of Bollywood, definitely Sadhana will be one among top five always. Even before she stepped into Tamil & other South Indian languages she was singing in Gujarati, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Oriya & even Assamese & Nepali. One cannot forget her Pehla Nasha Song in Jo Jeeta... or Har Kisi Ko in Jaanbaaz or Tu Hai Mere Dil in Chuppa Rustom to the recent hits of Chupke Se in Saathiya, Aao Naa in Kyun Ho Gaya.... or the Kitni Baatein in Lakshya or the Kuch Na Kaho song or for Maahi Ve in Kal Ho Naa Ho and Banno rani in 1947 earth. She had sung nearly 500 plus numbers in hindi films in more than two decades which is less when compared to other prominent singers who ruled bollywood of her generation.
But now it is doubt whether these newly upcoming singers can sustain in this playback field for a long time for two decades & more like those Lathaji, Ashaji, Alka yagnik, Sadhana Sargam & Anuradha Paudwal, and Mukesh, Md.Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Kumar Sanu & Udit Narayan as competition is tough and many talents, voices are discovered to give a chance to them and a change of voice to the audience and also on the context, film producers need not pay much for these new voices often.
On the other hand it is needless to mention Sadhana’s Tamil Hits here. Lot of good songs in Tamil had been offered to her. And she had a lion’s share in Tamil Films. She is excellent in pronunciations and singing the songs effortlessly with a feel even in Tamil. She write her lyrics in Hindi and used to check her spelling & grammer properly before singing. Being a Chennaite I am happy that, atleast she is recognised well and getting steady offers here. Thanks to Music Director Vidyasagar who first gave her a break here in 1996 and I think singer Hariharan introduced her to Vidya. Then she sang for the Legend-Maestro Ilayaraaja. Then A.R.Rahman fine tuned her voice to heights by using her assured vocals and other music directors here were following them to use her voice often. In 2002 she won her First National Award (Rajat Kamal) for the Song-Paattu Cholli from the Tamil Film-Azhagi composed by Maestro Ilayaraja. She also won a Regional Award here for the same song, the Dinakaran Award. Another milestone in her career was to sing for an international project, a hindi version of thematic song Khamoshi Mein…. Song, for the Chinese-English bilingual movie Warriors of Heaven & Earth composed by none other than A.R.Rahman.
And her venture in Tamil Films became another turning point for Sadhana, that she was getting better offers again from Bollywood after noticing her popularity in the Kollywood. She then won Screen award for Chupke Se song in Saathiya tuned by ARR, a remake of Snehithane Song in Alai Paayuthey here, also sung by her and a huge hit. Then Zee Cine Award for Kuch Na Kaho and she also won many nominations for her song Aao Naa a well classically treated song by Shankar Mahadevan. And recently in august she also won Vituoso Award here for the Tamil Song Oru Vaartha from movie Ayyaa. She also won very few awards in Maharashtra for her contribution to Hindustani Classical, Devotional & Marati Films.
She had participated in maximum number of Live Concert Shows singing even Hits of Other Singers conducted by Hindi Stars & Music Directors and Tamil Stars & Music Directors both in India and Abroad. In that she had done more concerts for A.R.Rahman. She had almost toured the entire world, all the continents when speaking about concerts.
Despite all these name and fame, she is called a most humble singer of her generation, a down to earth person. We are eager to see her winning a National Award for a perfect Bollywood hindi film Song. Filmfare (The Times of India Group) which is like an Oscar here in India, still sleeping to take notice of her talents and recognize her with its award. Despite having sung so many good songs in hindi, filmfare is yet to select one is a regrettable fact. And considering she had done many devotional albums for this Times Music of Times Group.
I think there is lot of work awaiting for music critics, music lovers to post their reviews & comments in press about Sadhana Sargam who had sung a handful of three songs in much awaited audio release of hindi movie Water composed by A.R.Rahman which was already released in abroad. It is great to listen to those songs of Piya ho (in hindustani raag-thodi), Naina Neer (raag-bhatiyaar) & Aayo re saki (raag-kafi) that are treated well classically. We are eager that atleast water audio must be released in India for its excellent musical combination of A.R.R, Sukhwinder Singh & Sadhana Sargam because it is a controversial movie on indian widows & sati as its screening may land in trouble.
TO CONCLUDE PLEASE PUT YOUR VOTE TO SADHANA SARGAM’S SONGS TO MAKE HER WIN ANOTHER NATIONAL AWARD THIS TIME IN HINDI & FILMFARE AWARD.
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Thanks, Cheers, Best Wishes & Regards to all those who read my review.
Susswar