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Born with a natural leaning toward the
performing arts, she was lucky to have parents who recognized
these talents and fostered them. As a result she started training
under her grandmother at the tender age of ten. She continued
with various gurus until she finally stabilized her training
under Pt. Parameshwar Hegde of the Keherwa Gharana. Believing
music to be a life long learning process, she continues training
under him even today.
The urge to bring music into the lives of people around her
led her to joining the management of "Freedom Jam”,
a monthly concert organized to promote and showcase talent
in Bangalore. Working with this group and also performing
at their monthly gatherings Vasundhara soon became popular
in the Bangalore music circle. Here, she was also exposed
to a variety of musical styles, from Jazz and Blues to Rock
and Heavy Metal.
At this juncture she started meeting visiting musicians from
all over the world. Two of them happened to be from Columbia.
Her interaction with them influenced her into learning Latin
American and Spanish music, and finally the Spanish language
itself. Having sensed the possibilities offered by music from
other cultures she began exploring Arabic music and found
many similarities between Arabic, Flamenco and Indian Music.
Somewhere along this journey she met A.R.Rahman through her
music composer Pravin Mani, and started singing in Tamil films.
She has sung for over 17 Tamil movies and 3 Telugu movies.
Her number "Shakalaka Baby" brought her instant
fame and she had the entire South India dancing to her tracks.
"Shakalaka Baby" went on to win her the Best Playback
Singer Award at the Filmfare Awards in 1999.
While moving through the tinsel towns of the South her reputation
as a professional grew. And as was expected, the industry
also started noticing her beautiful features, especially her
deep gray eyes. She came in touch with Kamal Haasan who was
then deciding on the cast for his forthcoming movie. She then
screen tested for, and was instantly selected for, the role
of "Maithili" in Hey Ram. As is the norm with her,
she excelled in her role and won accolades and recognition
through out the country.
After the release of "Hey Ram" she went back to
her first love- singing, and recorded her debut album "Meri
Jaan" with Magnasound. In between she also managed to
shoot for Mira Nair's next movie called "Monsoon Wedding"
which is due for release in 2001.
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