12 TIMELESS HITS BY SHREYA GHOSHAL

Hear the singer at her powerful, sublime best across 20 years

- Amit Vaidya

IT'S BEEN 20 YEARS since playback singer extraordinaire Shreya Ghoshal blew us away with her National Film Award-winning vocals in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas. The singer has come a long way and now has a career that includes over 2,400 songs in more than 20 languages.

Ghoshal has been the definitive female playback singer of the past 20 years, especially in the Hindi film world.

On March 12th, she turns a year older, and what better way to celebrate the singer than with 12 timeless songs that showcase her evolution as an artist.

2002 - "Silsila Yeh Chahat Ka” (Devdas)

No other singer has had such a superlative playback singing launch into Bollywood than Ghoshal with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus Devdas. Picking Ghoshal to be the voice of the reigning beauty queen of the time Aishwarya Rai for the entire soundtrack was a genius move, and the beauty of her voice, especially on "Silsila Yeh Chahat Ka" proved to be the best introduction to a star you could imagine. What's more, being able to match up to veteran playback singer Kavita Krishnamurthy (Subramanium) on “Dola Re Dola" was a vocal masterclass matching the moves of Rai and Madhuri Dixit.

2003 - "Jadoo Hai Nasha Hai” (Jism)

It's hard to believe that in less than a year, Ghoshal, who was already known as the sweet voice of Aishwarya Rai from Devdas, would go on to add a level of sensuality to her melodious vocals. So tastefully done, “Jadoo Hai Nasha Hai" became a rage. The Bipasha Basu-led film has Ghoshal and this M.M.Kreem tune to thank for making not only the song hot but the film a big hit!

2005 - "Agar Tum Mile Jao” (Zeher)