The new voices of Bollywood music

Neeti Mohan
Her biggest hit so far is the spunky Jiya Re from Jab Tak Hai Jaan, playfully pictured on Anushka Sharma in the Yash Raj film. The song cemented her position as a hot new voice to watch out for, even as her first hit was Ishq Wala Love from Student Of The Year. You may remember the 28-year-old from the now defunct pop group Aasma, but the versatile singer has since been taken under the able wings of AR Rahman, who is something of a champion for young new talent today. Her other memorable song is Nazar Laaye from Raanjhanaa.

Siddharth Mahadevan
The 20-year-old son of powerhouse vocalist Shankar Mahadevan made his singing debut this year with the track Zinda from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – easily one of the most rousing tracks in the film. He’s even lent his voice to the film’s title track with Punjabi folk singer Arif Lohar (remember Alif Allah (Jugni) from Pakistan’s Coke Studio 3). Last year, he not just composed a background track for Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children, but also composed music for a Marathi film called Swapna Tuzha Aani Mazha.

Angaraag ‘Papon’ Mahanta
This Asssamese singer already has quite a following in Indie circles thanks to his folktronic act Papon And The East India Company as well as the track Naina Lagey Re with Midival Punditz and Karsh Kale. Equally comfortable singing in Hindi and Bengali as he is in Assamese, it wasn’t long before Bollywood came calling for the superbly talented vocalist. Most noticeably, he’s sung Jiyein Kyun from Dum Maro Dum, Kyon from Barfi! as well as the title track from the movie Inkaar with Shahid Mallya.

Mili Nair
Trained in Western classical (she finished eight grades of training at the Tinity College of Music) as well as Carnatic music, 28-year-old Mili Nair got rave reviews for lending a contemporary touch to Amit Trivedi’s breezy track Meethi Boliyan from Kai Po Che earlier this year.  Also an independent jazz singer/songwriter, Mili has previously worked with AR Rahman on Mani Ratnam’s Raavanan and more recently in Raanjhanaa’s Tamil version, Ambikapathy.

Arijit Singh
A trained Hindustani classical singer, 26-year-old Arijit Singh started his musical journey in Bollywood with the reality show Fame Gurukul in 2005. While he didn’t win, he did land a programming assistant job with music director Pritam. Since then, he has lent vocals to a few songs in films like Players, Cocktail and Barfi! However, people really sat up and took notice of him when he sang Raabta from Agent Vinod followed by massively popular songs like Tum Hi Ho and Milne Hai Mujhse Aayi from Aashiqui 2 this year. He seems poised to take over the soulful romantic singer mantle from Atif Aslam.