Delhi-born singer Anushka Manchanda grew up with music around her - be it in the form of listening to songs that her parents played, learning to play the piano and guitar or singing in front of the mirror, pretending to be a rockstar. When still in her last year of school, she participated in the Channel V’s Popstars - a hunt to form India’s own girl pop band where she made it to the band ‘Viva!’.
Viva released two albums but the group disbanded in 2003, after which she started working as a VJ on Channel V, hosting a number of shows. She also did a bit of modelling as well as a few episodes of the ‘Great Indian Comedy Show’. Her first few songs as a playback singer were for Tamil and Telugu films under music directors Yuvan Shankar Raja and Sandeep Chowta.
She was at the airport in Chennai when Vishal Dadlani of composer duo Vishal - Shekhar called her, hummed a tune and asked her to sing over the phone! According to her, the next thing she knew she was booking tickets to Mumbai to record “Golmaal” (“Golmaal”, 2006), a song that got her recognition in Bollywood. By 2007, Hindi film music scene was keeping her busier than the Tamil or Telugu counterparts, with hits like “Re Chhori” (“Cash”, 2007), “Tu Saala” (“Golmaal Returns”, 2008) and “Chandni Chowk To China” (“Chandni Chowk To China”, 2009). The year 2010 kept her busiest with films like “Aisha”, “Pyaar Impossible”, “Golmaal 3” and “Lafangey Parindey”. For the film “Dum Maro Dum” (2011), Anushka did a cover version the cult song composed by R.D. Burman and sung by Asha Bhosle.
Apart from singing, Anushka Manchanda has acted in films like “Loins Of Punjab Presents” (2007) and “Dulha Mil Gaya” (2010) and been a part of reality shows on television.
Anushka is also active on the indie music scene, fronting the electro-pop band Shkabang besides collaborating and performing with other acts like The Petri Dish Project and Agnee.
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