- Kishore Kumar
Kishore Kumar is indubitably one of Indian cinema’s pre-eminent playback singers and his contribution to the Indian film industry is immensely significant. He has won 8 film fare awards and numerous other accolades. Till date Kishore Kumar born as Abhas Kumar Ganguly, remains one of the most talented personalities of the Indian film industry. Along with being an iconic singer of Indian cinema, he was also a fine actor, writer and director. He started his singing career with the film Ziddi in 1948 and has over 2500 songs to his name which are universally loved by audiences of every age group. ‘Roop tera mastana’ from the movie Aradhana (1970), ‘Chingari koi bhadke’ from Amar prem (1972), Chookar mere man ko’ from Yaarana (1981) are some of his many memorable songs.
2 . Mohammad Rafi
Mohd. Rafi is considered as one of the greatest singers of Indian cinema. He was renowned for the versatility in his voice. He sang over 4000 songs and has won six film fare awards for playback singing. He started his singing career in the mid 1940s with the films Gaon ki Gori (1945) and Pehla Aap (1944) and has worked with many prominent music composers like Naushad, S.D. Burman, R.D.Burman, O.P.Nayyar, Shankar Jaikishen. His notable songs include ‘Chaudhavin ka chand’ from Chaudhavin ka chand (1960), ‘teri pyaari pyaari surat’ from the movie Sasural (1961), ‘kya hua tera vada’ from Hum kisise kum nahi (1977).
3. Lata Mangeshkar
Known as the Nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar is one of the most prominent and highly respected singers of Indian cinema. She has won accolades and innumerable awards including four film fare awards for playback singing and two special film fare awards. Her playback singing career started in the mid-1940s with films like Aap ki seva mein (1946) and Badi maa (1945). In her singing career, which spans across seven decades, she has worked with almost every music composer including Naushad, S.D. Burman, R.D. Burman, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Jatin Lalit, A.R. Rahman. Her songs ‘Aaja re pardesi’ from Madhumati (1959) and ‘Lag ja gale’ from Woh kaun thi (1964) are some of her many eternal songs.