Mahendra Kapoor

He was born in Amritsar in 1934 and grew up in Bombay, where he trained under Pandit Hussanlal, Jagannath Bua and other teachers while idolising Mohammed Rafi; his early style was openly modelled on Rafi's. In 1958 he won the Metro-Murphy all-India singing competition, judged by Naushad, C. Ramchandra, Madan Mohan, Anil Biswas and Vasant Desai, and V. Shantaram gave him his first song in Navrang (1959), Aadha Hai Chandrama Raat Aadhi.

B.R. Chopra's studio and its composer Ravi made him their voice. Chalo Ek Baar Phir Se in Gumrah (1963), Sahir's poem for Sunil Dutt, won him his first Filmfare Award; Neele Gagan Ke Tale in Humraaz (1967) won a second; Waqt gave him Aage Bhi Jaane Na Tu. Manoj Kumar then made him the voice of his films: Mere Desh Ki Dharti in Upkar (1967) won the National Award, and Hai Preet Jahan Ki Reet Sada in Purab Aur Paschim (1970) followed.

Through the 1970s and 1980s he sang for Dharmendra, Jeetendra and Manoj Kumar's later films (Roti Kapada Aur Makaan, Kranti), recorded the title song of B.R. Chopra's television Mahabharat (1988), and built a large Marathi output — he sang for Dada Kondke's films — along with Punjabi and devotional records, including a well-known Hanuman Chalisa.

He received the Padma Shri in 1972. He died in Mumbai in September 2008, at seventy-four. His son Rohan Kapoor sings and acted in films in the 1980s.

Mahendra Kapoor's voice is big, bright and forward, with a natural ring at the top that made it ideal for the anthem, the stirring chorus and the long, high line of a Sahir poem. It had less shade than Rafi's, whom he admired and resembled, and composers used it for strength rather than subtlety: the honest farmer, the soldier, the man making a declaration. On the Independence Day broadcasts and the school stage it is still his voice that carries Mere Desh Ki Dharti.