In the past, there have been Gold Standards in female playback singing. Geeta Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle. and so on. Today, the new Gold Standard is Sunidhi Chauhan.
What sets Sunidhi apart from other singers in the industry? After all, Shreya Ghoshal can sing, so can so many other contemporary female playback singers. In one word: Versatility. Listen to Sunidhi pull off songs like Udi(Guzarish), Sajana Ji Vaari Vaari(Honeymoon Travels Private Limited), Kaisi Paheli(Parineeta) and Neeyat Kharaab Hai(Teen Patti) and you’ll know what I mean by "versatility". Listen to the power, listen to the passion, listen to the delivery, listen to the sensuousness, listen to the artistry. this is Sunidhi. in every note you can hear the very heart and soul of the artiste called Sunidhi.
She can take even a mundane composition and turn it into a super hit(just the way Kishore Kumar used to do in the Golden Era). Take a look at songs like Dhoom Machaale(Dhoom), Sheila Ki Jawaani(Tees Maar Khan) and Beedi Jalaile(Omkara) - nothing great about these songs. but the way Sunidhi rendered them turned them into chart-busters. In the case of Dhoom Machaale, Sunidhi admitted in a television interview that while recording the song she found it very average and never expected it to become such a massive hit. Actually, it was her energy and spirit that carried the song.
There is one other aspect of her versatility that must be mentioned: her ability to sing in multiple languages. In addition to Hindi, she has sung in Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Nepali, Punjabi, Marathi and all the South Indian languages!
Sunidhi Chauhan entered the industry as a child artiste, and went on to win a talent show(Meri Aawaaz Suno) in 1996. From Ruki Ruki Si Zindagi(Mast) to emerging as the new Gold Standard, Sunidhi has certainly come a long way!