Kedarnath Bhattacharya, professionally known as Kumar Sanu, is an Indian playback singer who primarily sings in Hindi film songs. Apart from Hindi, he has also sung in other languages including Bengali, Marathi, Nepali, Assamese, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Manipuri, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Punjabi, Odia, Chhattisgarhi, Urdu, Pali, English and his native language Bengali, both in West Bengal and Bangladesh. He holds the record for winning five consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer from 1991 to 1995. He holds the Guinness Book of world records since 1993 for recording the maximum number of songs in a single day.

For his contribution to Indian cinema and music, he was awarded the Padma Shri in 2009 by the Government of India. Many of his tracks feature in BBC's "Top 40 Bollywood Soundtracks of all time".

Early life

Kumar Sanu's father, Pashupati Bhattacharya, was a vocalist and composer, his ancestral home and birth place was Vikrampur near Dhaka (now in Bangladesh). He moved to Calcutta in search of livelihood and Kumar Sanu was born in Calcutta. The two and Sanu's elder sister lived in the Sinthee area of Calcutta (now Kolkata) near Biswanath Park. Kumar Sanu lived at Panchanan tala at Gopal Bose Lane in Sinthi area at North Kolkata.

Career

Sanu started his playback career as Sanu Bhattacharya from 1983. In 1986, he was in the Bangladeshi film Teen Kanya, directed by Shibli Sadiq. He had his first major Bollywood song in Hero Hiralal (1988).

In 1989, Jagjit Singh introduced Sanu to Kalyanji in Vimal Bunglow, Mumbai. On their suggestion, Sanu changed his early name from "Sanu Bhattacharya" to "Kumar Sanu" after his idol Kishore Kumar. Sanu then relocated to Mumbai, where Kalyanji-Anandji gave him a chance to sing in the film Jaadugar.

For the 1990 film Aashiqui, Sanu sang all but one of the songs. He won the first of his record five consecutive Filmfare Awards as Best Male Playback Singer. His next Filmfare Awards came for songs in the movies Saajan (1991), Deewana (1992), Baazigar (1993) and 1942: A Love Story (1994). He won 5 back to back Filmfare awards for singing, between 1990 and 1994.

Some of the Best songs of Kumar Sanu are as follows:-

• O Priya Suno Priya
• Dil Ka Aalam
• Dil Ka Rishta
• Kajal Kajal
• Raja Ko Rani Se
• Pardesi Pardesi
• Aakhon Main Base ho Tum
• Tum Dil Ki
• Dil Ne Yeh Kaha Hai Dilse
• Woh Aankh Hi Kya
• Jeeye Toh Jeeya Kyse
• Dil kya kare
• Janam meri Janam
• O Dil Tod Ke Hasti Ho Mera
• Is Tarah Aashiqui ka
• Dil Mera Churaya Kyu
• Cahaton Ka Silsila
• Jis Ghadi Tujhko
• Salma Pe Dil Aa Gaya

Other work

Sanu has released albums of Kishore Kumar's songs including Kishore Ki Yaadein, a collection early in his career. Then came the Yaadein series where he sang many of the songs of Kishore Kumar along with singers Abhijeet Bhattacharya and Vinod Rathod.

Sanu has composed music for various Indian films. Utthaan and Yeh Sunday Kyun Aata Hai are most remarkable among them. Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Anuradha Paudwal, Sapna Mukherjee, Alka Yagnik, Sonu Nigam, Sadhana Sargam, Sudesh Bhonsle, Shaan, Shreya Ghosal, Hema Sardesai, Sunidhi Chauhan and many more lent their voices for his music. "Yeh Kaisa Utthhan Hai" (sung by Asha Bhosle and Sonu Nigam in two different versions) and "Jisne Sapna Dekha" (sung by Sanu himself) are critically acclaimed. He sang the title song for the TV show Yeh Duniyan Gazab Ki, with singer Udit Narayan.

Sanu opened a primary school, Kumar Sanu Vidya Niketan, for underprivileged children in Karol Bagh, Delhi. The students are given uniforms and books free of cost.

In 2022 Sanu collaborated with music director Vaibhav Saxena and two young singers for "Mohabbat Mein tere sanam" which was released and distributed worldwide by new-age Record Label Vusic Records.

Politics

He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2004 in a ceremony headed by then Party President Venkaiah Naidu, but he later resigned to concentrate on singing. He rejoined BJP on 2 December 2014, inducted by Amit Shah.

Comeback

Sanu returned to playback singing in 2012. He made a comeback at the urge of composers Sajid–Wajid. Sajid-Wajid gave him "Chhammak Chhallo Chhail Chhabili", a wedding song with Shreya Ghoshal for the film Rowdy Rathore (2012). In 2015, Sanu replaced Lata Mangeshkar as the background voice of Yash Raj Films logo for the film Dum Laga Ke Haisha. This was the first time in YRF's 45-year history that the voice of Mangeshkar was replaced.

In 2023 Sanu sang for Rajkummar Rao in Guns & Gulaabs. He also sang in Tribhivan Mishra CA Topper Netflix series and Scar Movie and one song sang for Mahesh Bhatt Upcoming movie.

Recently Sanu sang 7 songs for an album called "Dua". And a single song sang under Arijit Singh composition.

Facts

• Kumar Sanu loved to handle traditional instruments in his early years.
• He has worked tirelessly in the music world for the first seven years to get the opportunity. Finally, Jagjit Singh offered him the opportunity to perform a song in the Hindi film Aandhiyan in 1987.
• He has the World Record for delivering 28 tracks in one day, which is also listed in the Guinness Book.
• AR Rahman was not his good friend, and Sanu didn't enjoy how he used to make songs late at night.
• He is a passionate supporter of the Brazilian football team. Kumar Sanu named his kid Zico after Zico, a Brazilian footballer.
• Several members of his family had learned basic music. On the other hand, Kumar Sanu has not received any such coaching.