Alisha Chinai is a famous Indian pop and playback singer. She is famous for her song ‘Made in India,’ which was released in 1995. She is also known as ‘Baby Doll,’ ‘Indian Madonna,’ ‘Alisha Chinoy,’ and ‘Alisha.’ She is often considered as the ‘Queen of Indipop’ and the ‘Pop Diva’ of the Indian music industry.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Alisha Chinai was born as ‘Sujata Chinai’ on Thursday, 18 March 1965 (age 54 years; as in 2019) in the Ahmedabad city of Gujarat. Her zodiac sign is Pisces.
Her parents gave her the name Sujata but she later changed it to Alisha. Alisha is the name of her cousin’s daughter. She grew up listening to the songs of Ustad Ghulam Ali.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 6″
Eye Colour: Brown
Hair Colour: Brown
Family, Caste & Husband
Alisha Chinai belongs to a Gujarati Family. Her father, Madhukar Chinai is a singer. Her mother used to play the piano.
She came into a relationship with her former manager, Rajesh Jhaveri. They both got married in 1986 and got divorced in 1994. In 2003, she came in a relationship with Romel Kazzouah, a Canadian musician and entrepreneur.
Career
Alisha Chinai was introduced to the music industry by Bappi Lahiri. She made her singing debut with 1984 film “Adventures of Tarzan.” She sang 5 tracks in the film. She released her first album “Jadoo” in 1985.
She has sung songs for many movies like “Phool Aur Kaante (1991),” “Raja Hindustani (1996),” “Ishq Vishk (2003),” “No Entry (2005),” “Don (2006),” “Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009),” and “Krrish 3 (2013).” She made her Konkani debut with Remo Fernandes’s album “Old Goan Gold (1985).” She sang two songs in the album-‘Panch Vorsam’ and ‘Rajan and Prema.’
She made her Kannada debut with the song “Kanninalle Nee Kollabeda” from the film “Idu Saadhya (1989).” She made her Malayalam debut with the song “Jawaan Dil Hain” from the film “Kalpana House (1987).” She made her Telugu debut with the song “Deewana Mastana” from the film “Prema Yuddham (1990).” She made her Punjabi debut withe the song “Cmon Cmon” from the film “Yaariyan (2008).” She has given many hit albums including “Aah… Alisha! (1986),” Babydoll (1988),” “Madonna (1989),” and “Made in India (1995).” She is famous for her song ‘Made In India.’
Controversies
- In 1995, she filed a case against Anu Malik, charging him of sexually harassing her. She claimed that Anu had molested her and demanded Rs. 26.60 lakhs from him as a compensation. Later, Anu Malik filed a defamation suit of Rs. 2 crores against Alisha. Reportedly, both of them pledged not to work with each other after the incident.
- In 2018, during an ongoing MeToo campaign in India, many women raised their fingers at Anu Malik accusing him of sexually harassing them. Alisha Chinai extended her support towards the women and said that everything said and written about Anu was true and he had been preying girls of his daughter’s age since ages.
Awards
- Filmfare Best Female Playback Award for the song “Kajra Re” from the film “Bunty Aur Babli” in 2005
- International Billboard Award in 1995
- Freddie Mercury Award for Artistic Excellence
Favourite Things
- Food: Pakodas
- Song(s): Attention by Charlie Puth, Despacito by Louis Fonsi
- Singer(s): Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt, Noor Jehan, Barbra Streisand
- Musician(s): Adele, A. R. Rahman
- Band: The Beatles.
Facts
- She likes reading and travelling.
- In the 1980s, Alisha, along with Bappi Lahiri, gave many disco hits in many films including Adventures of Tarzan, Dance Dance, Commando, and Guru, Love Love Love.
- At the beginning of her career, Alisha did playback singing for Bollywood’s leading actresses including Karishma Kapoor, Mandakini, Sridevi, Juhi Chawla, Madhuri Dixit, and Divya Bharti.
- One of her famous tracks from the 80s was “Kaate Nahin Katthe” from the film “Mr. India (1987).” She sang the song with Kishore Kumar under the direction of Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Another song was “Raat Bhar Jaam Se” from the film “Tridev (1989),” which had music by Kalyanji-Anandji and Viju Shah.
- After her conflict with Anu Malik in 1995, they both swore not to work with each other again. However, she worked with Anu again in the film ‘Ishq Vishq (2003,’ the debut film of Shahid Kapoor. (add hyperlink of Shahid kapoor)
- In 2005, she received huge popularity for singing the song ‘Kajra Re’ from the film “Bunty Aur Bubly.” The song featured Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bachchan, and Abhishek Bachchan.
- In the same year, she gave another hit “Tinka Tinka Zara Zara” from the film “Karam,” which featured Priyanka Chopra and John Abraham.
- According to Alisha, she was paid only Rs. 15,000 for singing the song “Kajra Re.” Moreover, YRF (Yash Raj Films) acquired the rights to the royalty of “Kajre Re.” After some time, she even stopped singing the song in her concerts and events as the organizers of the show asked her not to sing that song, because, then they would have to pay a hefty amount to YRF.
- She has judged the singing reality shows like Sony TVâs “Indian Idol 3 and Zee TV’s “Star Ya Rockstar.”
- She has appeared on the cover page of various magazines such as Celebrity, Society, Raga To Rock, and many more.
- The last time that Alisha did playback singing was in the year 2013. It was because her father had been hospitalized due to cancer. So, she took a break from her career to look after her father. In January 2019, she made comeback by releasing her independent music online.