Neeraj Shridhar
Neeraj Shridhar (born 23 June 1968) is an Indian film composer and singer-songwriter who was the lead vocalist of Indian pop and rock group Bombay Vikings. Bombay Vikings became popular with remix hits like "Kya Soorat Hai", "Woh Chali" and "Chod Do Anchal." Early life. Neeraj Shridhar hails from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India. He was born to into a Punjabi family from Hoshiarpur. Career. Bombay Vikings. Bombay Vikings is a pop and rock group that combines Indian and classical music. It was formed in 1994. The band was originally started by Neeraj Shridhar. The group caused a sensation  in India as well as overseas among the Indian music community due to its unusual combination of classical Bollywood style. It has been one of the most notable musical groups in India to emerge in the past decade. It is the first group to produce songs in Hinglish, i.e., a mix of Hindi and English. This idea of combining the two languages to produce a beautiful and melodious song first came to Neeraj Shridhar. Shridhar is now playback singer for many Bollywood films and has delivered many hits in recent years. Neeraj enjoyed listening to both western and Indian classical  songs. "Bombay Vikings" performed at many places in Europe. The band mainly performed English songs with Neeraj adding a strong Indian influence. After some years, most of the band members separated, but Neeraj chose to keep the name of the band for forming another band with the remaining members, but this time, he was ready to perform in India. Career. Neeraj started working as a Bollywood playback singer in 2006 with the song "Tumko Dekha" for the film "God Tussi Great Ho" starring Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra, although this film got released later. In the year 2006 his songs  Halke Halke in "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd." and "Bhagam Bhaag" from "Bhagam Bhaag" were huge hits, which opened all the doors for him to be successful in Bollywood as well. The video of the song "Bhagam Bhaag" was the most expensive Bollywood video produced. After this, Neeraj tasted a huge amount of continuous success in Bollywood. Right from the beginning of 2007, he delivered hits like "Ticket To Hollywood" ("Jhoom Barabar Jhoom"), "Heyy Babyy" ("Heyy Babyy"), "Ishq Subhanallah" ("Mere Baap Pehle Aap"), "Ishq Ka Kalma" ("Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal"), and the biggest of them all "Bhool Bhulaiyaa" ("Bhool Bhulaiyaa"), commonly  known as "Hare Raam Hare Raam." This Akshay Kumar star song was the biggest hit of the year and was nominated for the Filmfare Awards with the songs "Ticket To Hollywood" and "Heyy Baby." Neeraj also co-wrote the song "Bhool Bhulaiya" with Sameer. Success continued when Neeraj gave hit after hit. Soon he gained the experience of working with almost all the main Bollywood music directors. Till date he has worked with Sajid-Wajid, Salim-Sulaiman, Pritam, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal-Shekhar, Nadeem-Shravan, Anu Malik, Sandesh Shandilya, Aashish Pandit, and many more. He has mostly worked with Pritam . Although he has never worked with Salim-Sulaiman on a Bollywood song, he worked with them for the song of the famous television reality show "Khatron Ke Khiladi", the Indian version of "Fear Factor". Success in Bollywood. In 2008, Neeraj had all of his songs superhits. He sang the following songs for their respective films: 'Race Saanson Ki', 'Race Is On My Mind' and 'Sexy Lady' ("Race"), 'Chandni Chowk To China' ("Chandni Chowk To China"), 'Love Mera Hit', and 'Rockin' And Reelin' ("Billu"), 'Vacancy' and 'Tha Karke' ("Golmaal Returns"), 'Aai Paapi' ("Kismat Konnection"), 'O Re Lakad' ("Krazzy 4"), 'Nobody Like  You' ("Mission Istanbul"), 'Bas Ek King' and 'Talli Hua' ("Singh Is Kinng"), 'Sooni Sooni Raahein' and 'Main Ro Na Padoon' ("Hum Phir Mile Na Mile"), 'Pom Pom Pom' ("Horn OK PLeasss"), 'Samandar' ("Mr. White Mr. Black"), 'Khalbali' and 'Bhuri Bhuri' ("Khalbali"). This year he sang for a number of Bollywood actors, such as Saif Ali Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, and Shahid Kapur. Neeraj sang a Telugu song called 'Om Namaste Bolo' from the film "Ready", starring Genelia D'Souza. Neeraj wrote and sang the songs 'Ae Aa o' ("Billu"), 'Vacancy' ("Golmaal Returns"), and 'Aayaare' ("Kolkata Knight Riders- 2 Hot  2 Cool"). Neeraj sang songs like ' Pal Yeh Aane Wala Pal' (Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge), 'Aaja Mahi' (8 x 10 Tasveer), Prem Ki Naiyya' (Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani), 'You Are My Love' (All The Best), 'Bebo' and 'Beautiful Woman' (Do Knot Disturb), 'Tension Lene Ka Nahi' (Jugaad), 'Jashn Hai Josh Hai' (Kal Kissne Dekha), 'Lakh Lakh Nakhre' (Kambakkht Ishq), 'Twist', 'Chor Bazari', and 'Aahun Aahun' (Love Aaj Kal), 'Tum Mile' (Tum Mile), 'Shiri Farhad' (Dulha Mil Gaya), 'Pe Pe Pein' (Chance Pe Dance). In the year 2010, Neeraj slowed down on working on Bollywood songs, due to his involvement in  his own album. Neeraj sang 'Mera Jeena Hai Kya' ("Aashayein"), which is altogether a different kind of song from what he had done in the past. Another recent song of his is the song 'Kya' from the Emran Hashmi-starrer film "Crook: It's Good To Be Bad". This is his most recent hit. Neeraj also sang the songs 'Ale' and 'Desi Kali' of the film "Golmaal 3", and 'Ajab Leher' of the film "Break Ke Baad", starring Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone. In 2011, Neeraj sang song like 'Rab Sab Se Sona' ("F.A.L.T.U"), 'Character Dheela' (Ready), 'Full Volume', 'Pyaar  Mein' from (Thank You), 'Rascals', 'Parda Nasheen' from (Rascals), 'Jhak Maar Ke' from (Desi Boyz). He received wide recognition after performing at Hans Raj College Festival "Confluence 2011" on 4 February 2011. In 2012 Neeraj sang songs like 'Papa Toh Band Bajaye' ("Housefull-2"), 'I'll do the talking (steal the night)' in "Agent Vinod" and 'Tumhi Ho Bandhu' ("Cocktail"). On 20 December 2012 he performed in Hyderabad during Qualcomm's annual event Qutumbotsav. On 21 December 2012, he performed in Pune during Cybage's Annual Bash at Magarpatta city. On 8 February 2014, he performed in Noida during Amity University 's annual fest AYF. Personal life. Neeraj is married to Nikila Shridhar and has one son, Nevan and one daughter, Rohini.