One of India’s iconic pop singers Usha Uthup turns 73 today. The singer created a niche for herself with her unique voice and energetic singing skills. Her versatility in singing jazz classics to rock to classic Hindi songs made her the quintessential party starter.
Women in Usha Uthup’s songs were equally charming, with their fearless love for dance and confidence that would encourage other women to get up on their feet and shake a leg. Usha’s voice has reigned Bollywood music from the 60s to 90s. Usha has given bollywood some of its most memorable 80s disco pop songs. Take a look at some of them:
Ramba Ho Ho
The song was composed by Bollywood’s disco pop icon Bappi Lahiri and combined with Usha Uthup’s scintillating voice, it was an instant party starter. From the movie Armaan, the song came out in 1981.
Hari Om Hari
This was another iconic collaboration with Bappi Lahiri where Uthup gave Bollywood a modern twist to this dance number. The song was from the picture Pyaara Dushman that came out in 1980. Usha won a nomination in Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer for this song.
One two cha cha cha
From the 1978 movie Shalimaar, Uthup’s voice compels its listeners to shake a leg through this song. The movie starred Dharmendra, Zeenat Aman and was directed by Krishna Shah.
Koi Yahan Aha Nache Nache, Koii Wahan
This song was pretty similar to English song Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles that came out in 1980. Composed by Lahiri, Uthup added her own singing skills to the Hindi composition. The song was part of the 1982 movie Disco Dancer, starring Mithun Chakraborty, Kim, Kalpana Iyer, Om Puri and Om Shivpuri.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAipM6942Xs
Darling
Usha’s superhit song Darling from the 2011 movie Saat Khoon Maaf was picturised on Priyanka Chopra. The song was based on the Russian folk song Kalinka and was composed by Vishal Bhardwaj.