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Where is Anuradha Paudwal these days?

Anuradha Paudwal with her Husband, Arun Paudwal. But her voice has remained my inspiration. Along with Gulshan Kumar, she played a crucial role in getting many unknown playback singers to the fore including Udit Narayan, When she started her journey as a singer, people predicted that she would replace Lata Mangeshkar. She revealed that when her father Ponnachan died a few years back, he revealed that she is the biological daughter of Anuradha and her husband Arun. Karmala Modex and singer Anuradha Paudwal.

Just a few years ago it seemed that she was ready to obliterate all her
peers in the 'new' generation of singers. She was at her peak around '90-91
with the mega-success of 'Aashique,' 'Dil,' 'Dil Hain Ke Manta Nahin,' 'Lal
Dupatta Mulmul Ka,' and to a lesser extent, 'Saajan,' 'Jeena Marna Tere
Sang,' 'Jeena Teri Gali Mein,' etc.

Her success had to do mainly with two things:

1. In the era of the 'democratization' of Indian pop music, arguably starting
in the early 80's after the death of Mohd. Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar's ease
into a more sedentary recording schedule, for the generation that was
trained into accepting Lata's voice as the standard for excellence, it was
Ms. AP that stepped in to emulate a 'young-Lata' type of singing style. She
benefitted more from this than, say, Suman Kalyanpur, who even
though sounded more like Lata, was Lata's comtemporary and had to withstand
the pressure of making her presence felt in the midst of the juggernaut that
was the 'Mangeshkar Monopoly.' The same can be said for Shabbir Kumar,
Mohd. Aziz, Anwar and a host of others that came into the limelight after
the incomparable Rafi's demise. The most extreme beneficiary of this type
of 'success' has to be Kumar Shanu's sometimes amazing ability to sound like
Kishore Kumar. But I digress.

Anuradha Paudwal Husband Photo

Ms. Paudwal had a few things going for her. Being from a Marathi family
well-connected to Bollywood insiders, she got her break early. I am not
sure exactly when her career in Hindi background vocals started, but it
would be safe to say that she started making her name in the very late
'70's. To my knowledge, sh jus the only one of the current female background
vocalists to have the distinct honor of having sung opposite Mohd. Rafi. 'Bol
meri Jaan,' from 'Jaani Dushman' (1979) comes to mind readily.

2. The second reason for her success was her relationship with Gulshan
Kumar and his T-Series cassette label. Beginning in the mid-80's, GK's
shrewedness in marketing began to payoff as he was able to virtually
monopolize the soundtracks for Hindi movies. Only a few giants, most
notably Raj Kapoor and anything to do with a score that was dominated by the
Mangeshkar sisters, for obvious reasons, continued to sell under the
arch-rival HMV label. GK/AP did a remarkable job in eliminating AP's
contemporaries such as Alka Yagnik and Kavita Krishnamoorthy from the
most soundtracks marketed by T-Series.

The height of Ms. P's obsession with removing her competion had to be the
incidence involving a song from 'Dil.' More than one song on the soundtrack
was originally recorded by Alka Yagnik. After test marketing indicated that
the songs would be a huge success (I think it may have been 'Mujhe Neend na
aye,' and 'Hamne ghar choda hain'), GK/AP re-issued the same soundtrack
with, viola, Paudwal singing the same songs. I remember reading that even
All India Radio raised objection in having to pull the Alka Yagnik songs off
the airwaves.

I suspect that this is the same reason a mega-score such as 'Tezaab' has
never been COMPLETELY released on compact disc by T-Series. Only a song
here or a song there appears on one or more 'greatest hits' types of CD's. This
is possibly because 1) Alka Yagnik had one of the best-selling songs of the
'80s with 'Ek Do Teen,' while the Anuradha/Amit Kumar number 'Jeena Nahin
Mujhe hain marna,' paled in comparision and 2) Laxmikant-Pyarelal would have
raised a major stink about Gulshan Kumar trying to dub the song in
Anuradha's voice.

A. Paudwal's fall from those lofty heights of popularity can also be
pinpointed to some significant developments:

Arun Paudwal

1. She tried to dictate Nadeem Shravan's recordings thru her T-Series
influence. Even though N/S have a looooong way to go before fullfilling the
promises of say, Shanker-Jaikishen, Naushad or Laxmikant Pyarelal, to name
but a few, N/S WERE the reigning champs of the pop parade from '90 to '93.
One just does not meddle in the recording affairs of a newcomer duo that was
reportedly earning Rs. 25 lakhs per flick after 'Dil Hain Ke Manta Nahin.'
This meddling lead to a breakup between then super-successful MD's N/S and
T-Series/Gulshan Kumar/A. Paudwal. While this divorce hurt both sides
professionally, N/S were able to continue with siginificant contributions
under other labels for films such as 'Deewana,' 'Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke,'
etc.

2. The death of Arun Paudwal, Anuradha's husband. Even though this event's
effect of Anuradha's professinal career can be judged in the view of the
rumored increased closeness between her and Gulshan Kumar, it is obvious
that her husband's death took a significant toll on her personal life.
One read the stories of her late husband's ghost haunting the T-Series
recording studio and Anuradha's declaration that her very young (eight year
old?) son was ready to step into his father's shoes as a music director.
These stories did not help her career.

3. Lastly, the financial troubles of T-Series. The 'democratization' of
the Indian music business cited earlier had come a full circle. Venus,
Tips, a much rejuvinated/repackaged HMV, Megasound, Lara, etc and a dearth
of other labels were cutting into Gulshan Kumar's territory. He could not
always rely on finding the next Nadeem/Shravan as he 'presented' them with
'Aashique,' or Anand/Milind ('Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak,' 'Lal Dupatta...,' &
'Dil') to sell bizzillion cassettes anymore. A sure factor in T-Series'
demise has to do with their inability of provide high quality CD's. The
ever increasing consumer appetite for CD's, at the expense of audio
cassettes, further lead to declining profits. The competition was marketing
high-quality CD's of Indian movie soundtracks mfd. in Europe while T-Series
insisted on selling their poor sounding home-made product.

Even though Anuradha is currently touring the U.S., with Udit Narayan and
others, the spark that was incidental with her name recognition just a few
years ago is, rather sadly, missing. In 1988, I attended the concert of a
life-time when Laxmi/Pyare did a show in Chicago. Accompanying them were
Anuradha Paudwal, Kavita Krishnamoorthy, Nitin Mukesh, Suresh Wadkar, Jaya
Pradha, Rajeev Kapoor, etc. One only wonders what type of show this same
troop would present today if only their ego's could remain parked outside.
But that's showbiz!

Anuradha Paudwal Husband Name

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