Vasundhara Das

Vasundhara Das
Vasundhara Das
	Das in 2010
Born	18 August 1977 (age 47); Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Occupation(s)	Playback singer, Actress
Years active	1998–2012
Spouse	Roberto Narain (m. 2012)

Vasundhara Das (born 18 August 1977^[1]) is an Indian playback singer and former actress. Vasundhara's acting career includes Hey Ram (Tamil/Hindi), Monsoon Wedding (English), Citizen (Tamil), Ravana Prabhu (Malayalam), Lankesh Patrike (Kannada) and several others. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – Tamil for the song, "Shakalaka Baby"^[2] from the film Mudhalvan^[3]

Personal life

She was born on 18 August 1977 in Bangalore, Karnataka to Kishen Das and Nirmala Das. She studied at Cluny Convent High School, Bangalore, Sri Vidya Mandir, Bangalore and Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, graduating in economics, Statistics and Mathematics.^[1]

She began training in Hindustani classical music at the age of six under her grandmother Indira Das, who ran a music school on the top of their house. She then joined the Lalit Kala Academy, and later studied under Pandit Parameshwar Hegde, her Guru. In her college days, she was a lead singer of a girl band and was soprano in the college choir. In an interview, she states that – "I got booed off the first time I sang on stage".^[4] She speaks Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, English, Malayalam, Hindi and Spanish.^[1]^[5]

In 2012, Vasundhara married her long-time friend, Roberto Narain, a drummer and percussionist.^[1]^[6]

Career

Acting

In 1999, Vasundhara debuted as an actor with Kamal Haasan in the film Hey Ram though she started her career industry as a playback singer.^[4] She played the lead actress alongside Mohanlal in the Malayalam movie Raavanaprabhu (2001), with Ajith Kumar in the Tamil movie Citizen (2001) and with Darshan in the Kannada movie Lankesh Patrike.^[7] She also starred in Mira Nair's movie Monsoon Wedding (2001).^[8]^[2]

Music

She worked with playback singing career with A. R. Rahman's Tamil film Mudhalvan, for which she sang the song "Shakalaka Baby",^[4] which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – Tamil 2001.^[3] Later she worked with composers such as Vijaya Bhaskar, Yuvan Shankar Raja and G. V. Prakash Kumar. Her first film as a music composer was Paranthe Wali Gali (2014) along with Vikram Khajuria.^[9]

She was a founding member of Arya, a world music band that performed in Europe and America, and broke up in 2004.^[10] She has composed music at her Bangalore-based studio, The Active.^[9]^[10] She has also been involved in several independent projects such as Channel V Jammin', BBC's HIV awareness anthem for India "Har Kadam", Mission Ustaad, Global Rhythms, Nylon Soundz,^{[citation needed]} and The Shah Hussain Project, a collaborative album with Sufi singer Mir Mukhtiyar Ali.^[11] She has a French single out in France called "L'ete Indien" in collaboration with Paris-based Agrumes Studio.^[10]

Vasundhara trained under the founder of drum jam, Arthur Hull in Hawaii.^[12]^[13] In 2013, she initiated an event, Community Drumjam at the MG Road metro station, Bangalore. It has since been run monthly by the Rangoli Metro Art Center, and Drumjam,^[13]^[14] a Western music company she co-founded and is running with her husband.^[15] They have conducted drum-jam programs at educational institutions and for communities of different age groups including children at risk, elderly with dementia and terminally-ill cancer patients.^[16]^[12] In 2016, she conducted a drum jam session for the India national cricket team for their team building exercise initiative.^[17]^[18]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes
2000	Hey Ram	Mythili Iyengar	Tamil/ Hindi	Debut feature film
2001	Monsoon Wedding	Aditi Verma	Hindi/English	^[2]
	Citizen	Indhu	Tamil	^[5]
	Ravanaprabhu	Mundackal Janaki	Malayalam	^[2]
2003	Lankesh Patrike	Preethi	Kannada	^[7]
2003	Film Star	Lila, An Inmate	Hindi
2004	Vajram	Gemini	Malayalam
2004	Pathar Bezubaan	Kalpana Varma	Hindi
2006	Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana	Natasha	Hindi
2006	Corporate	Herself	Hindi	^[2]
2007	Ek Dastak	Akansha	Hindi	^[2]
2024	Gowri		Kannada	Special appearance^[19]

Discography

Year	Movie	Song Title	Composer	Language	Co-Singer
1999	Mudhalvan Oke Okkadu	"Shakalaka Baby"^[2]	A. R. Rahman	Tamil Telugu (dubbed)	Pravin Mani
2000	Rhythm	"Ayyo Pathikichu"	A. R. Rahman	Tamil Telugu (dubbed)	Udit Narayan
	Azad	"Sonare"	Mani Sharma	Telugu	Udit Narayan
	Kushi	"Kattipudi Kattipudida"^[5]	Deva	Tamil	Shankar Mahadevan
	Moodu Mukkalaata	"Prema Vikramarkudu"	M. M. Srilekha	Telugu	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
2001	Neela	"Hejje Hejje Mathadu"	Vijaya Bhaskar	Kannada	Solo
	Neela	"Ee Nada Manninalli"	Vijaya Bhaskar	Kannada	Solo
	Citizen	"Pookari Pookari"^[5]	Deva	Tamil	Shankar Mahadevan
	Citizen	"I Like You"	Deva	Tamil
	Lagaan^[1]	"O Rey Chhori"	A. R. Rahman	Hindi	Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik
2002	Adrustam	"Hollywood Handsome"	Dhina	Telugu	Karthik
2003	Lankesh Patrike	"Nodkond Baaro Andre"	Babji-Sandeep	Kannada	Babji
	Boys	"Sarigame"^[5]	A. R. Rahman	Tamil Telugu (dubbed)	Lucky Ali
	Boys	"Dating"	A. R. Rahman	Tamil Telugu (dubbed)
	Missamma	"Ney Padithe Lokamey Padadha"	Vandemataram Srinivas	Telugu
	Juniors	"Night Jorugunnadi"	Chakri		Tippu
	Mee Intikosthe Yem Istharu Maa Intikosthe Yem Testharu	"Cienmallo Gani"	Ghantadi Krishna
	Kal Ho Naa Ho	"It's The Time To Disco"	Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy	Hindi	KK, Loy Mendonsa, Shaan, Sadhna Sargam
2004	Sye	"Sye"	M. M. Keeravani	Telugu	Kalyani Malik, Smita
	Sye	"Ganga AC"	M. M. Keeravani	Telugu	Kalyani Malik, Smita
	Manmadha	"Thathai Thathai"^[5]	Yuvan Shankar Raja	Telugu	Devi Sri Prasad
	Monalisa	"Kurrakaru Hero"	Valisha Babji	Kannada	Shankar Mahadevan
	Dhoom	"Salaame"	Pritam	Hindi	Kunal Ganjawala
2005	Anniyan Aparichithudu Aparichit	"Kannum Kannum" "Naaku Neeku Nokia"^[5] "Gora Gora Aankh"	Harris Jayaraj	Tamil Telugu (dubbed) Hindi (dubbed)	Lesle Lewis, Andrea Jeremiah Kunal Ganjawala Lesle Lewis
	Anbe Aaruyire	"Maram Kothiye"	A.R. Rahman	Tamil	Shankar Mahadevan
	Salaam Namaste	"Salaam Namaste"	Vishal–Shekhar	Hindi	Kunal Ganjawala
2006	Happy	"I Hate You"	Yuvan Shankar Raja	Telugu	Ranjith
	Mayabazar	"Andulona Undi"	K. M. Radha Krishnan		K. M. Radha Krishnan
	Hanumanthu	"Neevu Kottina"	Vandemataram Srinivas		Naveen
	Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna	"Where's The Party Tonight?"	Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy	Hindi	Joi Barua, Shaan
	Sarada Saradaga	"Yenno Janma Janmala"	S. V. Krishna Reddy	Telugu	Kunal Ganjawala
2007	Hudugaata	"Mandakiniye"	Jessie Gift	Kannada	Jessie Gift
	Vijayadasami	"Deepavali"	Srikanth Deva	Telugu	Naveen
	Sillunu Oru Kaadhal	"Machhakkari"^[5]	A. R. Rahman	Tamil	Shankar Mahadevan
	Jhoom Barabar Jhoom	"Kiss of Love"	Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy	Hindi	Vishal Dadlani
2008	Ullasamga Utsahamga	"Chakori"	G. V. Prakash Kumar	Kannada	Benny Dayal
2008	Nannusire	"Sanje Beachinalli"	Premji Amaren	Kannada	Premji Amaren
2012	Yamudiki Mogudu: Ee Nela Thakkuvodu	"Narottama Narottama"	Koti	Telugu