National Award-winning playback singer Anuradha Paudwal is popularly known for her devotional music. Recently, we have all seen her singing the mesmerizing Ram Bhujang Stotram at the Ram Pran Pratistha ceremony. The 69-year-old singer decided when she would be at number 1; she would give in herself for devotional music, and she achieved it. She contributed to many devotional albums, which were mainly created by the T-Series. She was a prominent part of the T-Series, which was founded by Gulshan Kumar. Gulshan Kumar and Anuradha Paudwal’s efforts brought the T-Series to another level. In an exclusive interview with Lehren Retro, Anuradha Paudwal shed some light on her relation with T-Series and Gulshan Kumar; she narrated her relation with Gulshan Kumar as “Hand In Glove Association”.
Anuradha Paudwal and Gulshan Kumar provided a kind of platform for devotional music. When she was asked whether Gulshan Kumar supported her, she replied, “He was always encouraging for anything because he had that knack to understand that this is happening correctly. And he was a commercial man, he had to be.” When one song for Vaishno Devi Mata failed, he was really very upset as he was a great devotee of Vaishno Devi and also there were commercial tensions about selling millions of cassettes. During that period, Anuradha asked him to trust her and give her an opportunity. She said, “If you trust me, with a budget of about one lakh rupees, give me a chance, let me work upon an album. We will put new songs in versions with the same mood, same character.” And then she created “Laal Dupatta” which was the first album made without a film, and it was a super-hit. Later to publish it on Chhaya Geet, a film was made on it. So Gulshan Kumar was very encouraging, and he went out of his way to support Anuradhaji.
The T-Series was like a comfort level for Anuradha. She was mainly into recordings, so she didn’t perform anywhere as such. She said that even Gulshan Kumar never wanted her to do programs. In programs, singers are unaware of what kind of mic they use there, and thus it affects vocal cords. And hence, Gulshan Kumar was very particular about it and told Anuradha to concentrate on recordings. As of now, Anuradha Paudwal officially doesn’t hold any position in the T-Series, and she said that she is a singer there. But she made a major contribution to the success of the T Series.
Also Read: Exclusive: Anuradha Paudwal’s Emotional Revelation, “My Life Is All About Learning Non-Attachments”