Nikhita Gandhi

Nikhita Gandhi
Background information
Birth name	Nikita
Born	(1991-10-02) 2 October 1991 Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Genres	Playback singing
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	2013–present

Nikhita Gandhi (born 2 October 1991) is an Indian playback singer who has worked in Indian films in four different languages. She has worked on Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali, and Kannada film projects.^[1]

She sang as the face of Deepika Padukone in Raabta for the title track "Raabta".^[2] Her song " Ullu ka Pattha" dual with Arijit Singh from the film Jagga Jasoos is a hit song.^[3] She sang for Sachin: A Billion Dreams, Chef, Jab Harry Met Sejal, and Ittefaq. She also sang a Bengali song "Mithe Alo" with Atif Aslam for Cockpit.

Personal life

Gandhi is half-Bengali and half-Punjabi who has been in Chennai while doing her graduation. Growing up she learnt Odissi dance and Hindustani music for almost 12 years.^[4]

Career

Born into a mixed Bengali and Punjabi family in Kolkata, Nikhita relocated to Chennai in 2010 to pursue a degree in dentistry.^[5] A former student of A. R. Rahman's K. M. College of Music and Technology, Nikhita's first association with Rahman was during an Indo-German exchange, where she was a part of a choir which performed with the German orchestra. Rahman then individually auditioned her for a commercial project titled 'Qyuki' with Shekhar Kapur, the duo were working on.^[1] In 2012, she cut a Bengali album titled Kotha, a re-arrangement of Nazrul Geeti, songs written by renowned poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.^[6]

After having worked on her personal studio album and sung as a part of songs in regional films, Nikhita got a breakthrough by performing the song "Ladio" from Shankar's film, I (2015). Composed by A. R. Rahman, she managed to record the song within four hours after translating it into Hindi. She then also subsequently recorded the Telugu and Hindi versions of the song, earning critical acclaim for her work.^[1] Other projects she worked for in 2015 include Rahman's O Kadhal Kanmani and Anirudh's Thanga Magan.

Apart from singing in the movies, she has put together a band and have also performed at Kerala and Kolkata. Gandhi's five-member band includes Sajith Sathya, Jerard Felix, Godfrey Immanuel and Joshua Gopal.^[4]

She has the been adjudged as the best female playback singer of the year by Zee Cine Awards 2018 for the title track of Raabta (film).^[7]

She was nominated for best playback singer (female) category in the 63rd Filmfare Awards^[8] for her song "Ghar" from Jab Harry Met Sejal.

She was also nominated for best playback singer (female) in the 3rd Filmfare Awards East^[9]for her Bengali song "Tomra Ekhono Ki" from Meghnad Badh Rahasya.

Discography

Accolades

References