D O B December 4,2010
Languages Hindi
Place of Birth Gwalior
Known For Singer, Music Director, Story, Song Writer
Married Yes

Biography Usha Khanna born in Gwalior is an Indian music director Regarded as the first established female music director in the Indian film industry she remained active for more than decades from s to s She is still active making some music for some movies and television-serials more than years after her debut as music director in Dil Deke Dekho She received a Filmfare nomination for composing the songs for the huge hit film Souten Usha Khanna's father Manohar Khanna was a lyricist and singer working as Assistant Superintendent in the Water Works Department in then Gwalior State When he came to Bombay now Mumbai for some work in he met Jaddanbai who was mother of Hindi film actress Nargis Dutt On her request he started writing Gazals for Hindi films by the name Jaaved Anwar He was getting a monthly salary of Rs in Gwalior State and Jaddanabi offered him Rs for gazals which he wrote for Jaddanbai s Nargis Art Productions film Romeo Juliet Usha Khanna did often take inspiration from Arabic music which she liked and she claims that she has never lifted any song directly but that she has composed something along the lines The popular music More director O P Nayyar introduced Usha Khanna to Sashadhar Mukherjee a powerful man in the Indian film industry at that time She sang a song for Mukherjee and when he realised that she had composed the song on her own he told her to compose two songs per day for one year After a few months Mukherjee signed her as the composer for his movie Dil Deke Dekho as a music composer The film which also introduced the actress Asha Parekh became a big hit and Mukherjee hired her again for another Asha Parekh starrer Hum Hindustani After she started composing music for Hindi movies Usha Khanna struggled to establish herself as a music director despite producing many hit songs She often collaborated with Asha Bhosle who referred to Usha Khanna as her daughter and Mohammed Rafi This trio produced many hit songs Saawan Kumar was often the lyricist for Usha Khanna and wrote most of his lyrics for her songs He directed and produced the lyrics for eleven movies she scored the music for In K J Yesudas received Filmfare award for her song Dil ke tukde tukde in the film Dada Usha Khanna was married to Sawankumar Tak but later they separarted and she lives alone in Bombay present name Mumbai now The effort she had put in to establish herself in the industry made her realise how difficult it was to break through and made her often give the chance to new singers She gave the chance to the singers who were little known at that time Anupama Deshpande Pankaj Udhas Hemlata Mohammed Aziz Roop Kumar Rathod Shabbir Kumar and Sonu Nigam Many of these went on to become notable singers Usha Khanna herself also sang a few songs as a playback singer Many of Usha Khanna's songs are still very popular Usha Khanna was quite active as a composer until the mid-nineties Until now the last movie she has given music to was in The movie was Dil Pardesi Ho Gaya produced and directed by her ex-husband Saawan Kumar who she was briefly married to Usha Khanna had given music to non-Hindi movies too The Malayalam movie Moodal Manju is still remembered for some of the finest songs in Malayalam including 'Nee Madu Pakaroo' by K J Yesudas and 'Manasa Mani veenayil' by S Janaki Agni nilavu and Puthooram Puthri Unniyarcha are the other malayalam movies done by her Why she did not get many chances remains a mystery for many music lovers even now