Mohit Chauhan was born on 11 March 1966 in Nahan, in the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh. His voice carries the lilt of Himachali folk music, and he is one of the few mainstream singers of his generation whose early career came through a band rather than the film industry.
He became known as the vocalist of the band Silk Route, whose debut album Boondein (1998) included the hit “Dooba Dooba”. When the band split, he began a solo career and moved into film playback.
His breakthrough in cinema came with “Tum Se Hi” from Jab We Met (2007), a romantic ballad composed by Pritam. He followed it with “Masakali” from Delhi-6 (2009), a chart hit composed by A. R. Rahman, for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer. He recorded nine songs for Rockstar (2011) as the voice of Ranbir Kapoor’s character, including “Nadaan Parindey” and “Tum Ho”.
He has also sung in Himachali films, including the first Himachali movie, Puchhe Amma, and in Gujarati, where he made his debut with “Jaag Re Banda” in 2017.
He is regarded as a singer who brought a folk-rooted, open-voiced style into 21st-century Hindi film music.
Featured image: Mohit Chauhan performing at Alcheringa 2013 (cropped). Photo by Alcheringa1000, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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