Vasundhara Das is an Indian actress and singer.
Born: 1977, Bengalooru, India
Genres: Hindustani classical and western
Occupations: Actress, singer
Instruments: Guitar
Years active: 1999–present
Associated acts: Arya, World Music band with Roberto Narain on drums.
Early life
Vasundhara Das was born in a Tamil family from Bangalore. She studied at Cluny Convent High School, Bangalore and Mount Carmel College, graduating in Economics and Mathematics.
She began training in Hindustani Classical music since the age of six. She used to run away from home to avoid taking music lessons. In her college days, she was part of an all-girl band and can play some Flamenco strums on her guitar.
She speaks Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, English, and a little bit of Telugu.
Career
Actor
Vasundhara began acting with the Kamal Hasan film Hey Ram (1999) and her playback singing career began when she worked with A. R. Rahman for the Tamil-language film Mudhalvan. She was considered for the role of heroine by Mani Ratnam in his movie ‘Alaipayuthey’ opposite R. Madhavan. She played heroine alongside the veteran actor Mohanlal in the Malayalam movie Ravanaprabhu and She also played the female lead role opposite Ajith in the Tamil movie Citizen. She played in Rab ne banadi jori.
Singer
She has also recorded her own album of non-film songs, and sung in French, English, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu.
She shifted her base from Bangalore to Mumbai and founded a musical band named Arya with Roberto Narain. The band comprises musicians from various backgrounds in world music, ranging from Hindustani and Carnatic classical music to jazz, Latin, rock and pop. Arya’s music can be broadly classified as World Music. Arya’s first performance was at the prestigious festival La Mar de Musicas, in Spain in 2003. The band performed a tour in the US in September 2004. Roberto Narain plays the drums and she provides the western and the Indian vocals. Her breakthrough however was 2001 film Aks in songs like Rabba Rabba for which she was nominated for the 2002 Filmfare Best Female Playback Award.
She has sung one song for maestro Ilaiyaraaja, pattu viral thottu vittadhaal, in the Tamil movie Dhanush directed by A M Gurumani. She has sung a song in Lagaan for the British character played by Rachel Shelley. Her most famous Hindi song is “Its the time to Disco” from Kal Ho Na Ho sung for Preity Zinta . She is also renowned for “Kattipudi, Kattipudi da” from the movie Kushi.
She often sings for the actress Preity Zinta among others.
Filmography
- Ugly Aur Pagli [2008] Hindi.
- Ek Dastak [2005] Hindi.
- Aegan Tamil
- Kushi Tamil
- Boys Tamil
- Kanda Naal Mudhal Tamil
- Anniyan Tamil
- Manmadhan Tamil
- Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana [2005] Hindi.
- Pathar Bezubaan [2004] Hindi.
- Filmstar [2003] Hindi.
- Lankesh Patrike [2002] Kannada.
- Yaadein [2001] Hindi
- Ravanaprabhu [2001] Malayalam.
- Citizen [2001] Tamil.
- Monsoon Wedding [2000] Hindi.
- Hey Ram [1999] Tamil & Hindi.
Music influences
- Hindustani Classical
- Carnatic Classical
- Ghazal
- Choral
- English
- Fusion
- Rock and Funk
- Spanish
Next portfolio
