Kavita Krishnamurthy's hat-trick — birthday special

Known for her hit songs, 'Hawa Hawaii' in Mr. India (1987) to the duet 'Dola Re Dola' in Devdas (2002) with Shreya Ghosal, classically trained singer Kavita Krishnamurthy made quite a name for herself during the 1980s until the 2000s when she semi-retired from film music.

Krishnamurthy still featured occasionally on an album like Rockstar (2011) for music composer AR Rahman while devoting more of her time to collaborative musical albums and classical concerts and tours. In 1995-1997, she scored a hat-trick at the Filmfare Awards for Best Female Playback Singer.

On her 60th birthday today (she was born on 25 January 1958), a look at the memorable songs that helped Krishnamurthy win a Filmfare Award for three consecutive years.

Kavita Krishnamurthy: ‘Hawa Hawaii’ was a big feather in my cap

1) 'Pyaar Hua Chupke Se' — 1942: A Love Story (1994)

1942: A Love Story is remembered today for bringing back the melodious era of yesteryears. The music was released posthumously after music composer RD Burman's death. 

Burman had worked on the music for nearly two-and-a-half years and the songs would have heralded his comeback. With lyrics by Javed Akhtar, the voices of Kumar Sanu and Kavita Krishnamurthy shined particularly on the album. Especially Krishnamurthy's solo 'Pyaar Hua Chupke Se', a lovely ballad on awakening love featured on Manisha Koirala. 1942: A Love Story was the first Indian film to use Dolby sound and made a clean sweep of the musical categories at the 1995 Filmfare Awards.

2) 'Mera Piya Ghar Aaya' — Yaraana (1995)

Starring Madhuri Dixit, Rishi Kapoor and Raj Babbar, Yaraana was heavily inspired by the Hollywood film Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) starring Julia Roberts. The film's most noteworthy song, 'Mere Piya Ghar Aaya', was originally made famous globally by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. This period featured many Punjabi and qawwali songs that were re-imagined for the big screen. This Hindi film version was composed by Anu Malik and the song was altered into an item number with actress Madhuri Dixit performing the number onstage with an electric guitar.

Kavita Krishnamurthy won her second Filmfare Award for the song beating out Alka Yagnik for 'Ankhiyan Milao' from Raja (1995) and 'Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar' from Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995); Shweta Shetty for 'Mangta Hai Kya' and herself for 'Pyar Ye Jaane' from Rangeela (1995).

The team behind Khamoshi recalls how Sanjay Bhansali's first film got made

3)  'Aaj Mein Upar' — Khamoshi (1996)

For Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directorial debut, music composers Jatin-Lalit created a superfluous soundtrack of eight songs, while two other songs were composed by singer-musician Remo Fernandes.

Set in Goa, Khamoshi (1997) was the emotional story of a young woman, Annie Braganza, struggling to take care of her deaf and mute parents while juggling her dreams of becoming a singer.

In the duet, 'Aaj Mein Upar', Kavita Krishnamurthy was accompanied by Kumar Sanu and once again, the song was picturised on Manisha Koirala. Krishnamurthy's voice was often used for Koirala as many felt that they suited each other. The lyrics on the award-winning song were penned by none other than the 1993 Dadasaheb Phalke honouree, Majrooh Sultanpuri.