Shalmali Kholgade
Shalmali Kholgade is an Indian playback singer, who predominantly sings for Hindi language films. In addition to Hindi, she has also sung in other Indian languages such as Marathi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil. Through her singing career, she has received one Filmfare Award from two nominations, and has been praised for her singing style. Personal life. She married Farhan Shaikh, a mixing and mastering engineer, on 22 November 2021. Music career. Career beginning (2004–2011). Shalmali began performing at the age of 16 and has had her tutelage in music from the age of 8 years under her mother , Uma Kholgade – an Indian classical singer and theatre personality. She later continued her music education under Shubhada Paradkar and has also recently been accepted by the Los Angeles College of Music for their April semester but decided not to attend, due to her recording commitments. Shalmali paid a two-hour tribute to one of her favorite singers; Amy Winehouse last year at Blue Frog, Mumbai which was attended widely. She is also a vocalist with Mikey McCleary's popular act 'The Bartender' where she has performed beautiful renditions of vintage Bollywood songs revamping it with a flavour of sensuous, old  school jazz, and is featured on their second album, 'B Seventy'. Furthering her versatility as a performer, Shalmali has performed as a soloist with a Latvian troupe in a Cabaret named Bombaloo which toured Moscow, Yerevan and Armenia. She has been singing professionally in Mumbai for several years, and worked as a backing vocalist for Ali Zafar's songs. Singing debut in films & breakthrough (2012–present). Shalmali made her debut as a lead vocalist in Bollywood playback singing in 2012 with the song "Pareshaan" from film "Ishaqzaade" under the music of Amit Trivedi. The song was a critical and commercial  success, topping charts across India. For "Pareshaan" Kholgade won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer among several other awards. Her other two songs in 2012, "Daaru Desi" from "Cocktail", and "Aga Bai" from "Aiyyaa", both became hits. In 2013, Kholgade's first track, "Lat Lag Gayee" from the movie "Race 2" met with immense commercial appreciation. The song remained on the top of the charts for many weeks and became hugely popular in dance clubs. Kholgade received further critical and commercial success with the track "Balam Pichkari" from the movie "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani". For the song, Kholgade  received many nominations including her second Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer nomination. She also sang the title track for "Shuddh Desi Romance", "Besharmi Ki Height" and "Shanivar Raati" for "Main Tera Hero", "D Se Dance" for "Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania" and " Shayarana" for "Daawat-E-Ishq", which got her more critical appreciation. She also received praise for the song "Baby Ko Bass Pasand Hai" from the sports drama "Sultan" (2016).She received critical acclaim for her singing style in a series of hit songs, including "Aga Bai" from "Aiyyaa" (2012),"Chingam Chabake" from "Gori Tere Pyaar Mein" (2013),"Mohobbat Buri Bemari  from Bombay Velvet" (2015), "Shakira" from "Welcome to Karachi" (2015), and "Naach Meri Jaan" from "ABCD 2" (2015), all of which topped the charts. Kholgade's first regional song "Raja Raja" from the 2013 Tamil film "Naan Rajavaga Pogiren" was well received. Her song "Oday Oday" from the romantic film "Raja Rani" was successful in the Southern part of India, and made her an accomplished singer in the South Indian film Industry. She followed this success with further regional hits, "Kala Koi Geli" for the Bengali film "Proloy" (2013), "Preminchaa" for the Telugu film "Toofan" (2013), "Maria" from the Bengali  film "Herogiri" (2015), "Jil Jil Jil" for the Telugu film "Jil" (2015), "Tu Mila" for the Marathi film "Timepass 2" (2015), and "Kangaroo" from the Marathi film "Highway" (2015). In addition to these, she was also one of the judges of the Sony Entertainment Television's reality show "Indian Idol Junior" for auditions. She also judging the show Sur Nava Dhyas Nava which was aired on Colors Marathi. Kholgade has released a hit single "Kalle Kalle" on the Valentine's Day of 2020 which celebrates singledom. Kholgade will make her debut as a music composer with the Marathi film "June , set to release in 2020. Acting career. Shalmali made her film debut with a supporting role in the 2009 Ranjan Singh's East Indian Konkani-Marathi film Tu Maza Jeev", which was released on Maharashtra Day. The film was a moderate success at the Box Office India and earned mixed reviews, however, she was praised for her performance.