Mohit Chauhan's route into Hindi playback singing took him first through the lanes and by-lanes of Indipop and fusion music. Most of you will know him as the lead singer of the popular band 'Silk Route' who had created quite a craze with the visual melody of the album 'Boondein'. It is not surprising that at least a few of us would have to sit up straight when we are told that the soft coquettish voice behind the fame of 'Masakali' is that of Mohit Chauhan. It is not due to any lack of awareness but simply due to the fact while watching songs on television, we hardly get to watch the credits. Mohit has also done a number of advertisement jingles including that of 'Alpenliebe', 'Nescafe' and 'Parachute hair oil'. But popular as they are, ad voices are often recognized without associating a name to it.

'Silk Route', like many other bands, was not able to cash in on its initial success. Though 'Boondein' had a clean sweep in most music award shows in 1998, there was only one more album called 'Pehchan' before the band was finally dissolved. 'Boondein' had heralded in a new trend in song writing with Hindi, English and Pahadi lyrics interspersed with each other, but unfortunately, it was not followed up in any major way. Incidentally, the song that had created the most waves was 'Dooba Dooba', a soulful number, brilliantly visualized in an underwater sequence. There is one individual album that Mohit has to his credit. It is called 'Kalaam', released in 2008.



Mohit Chauhan did not get a jumpstart in his singing career in the Hindi filmdom. Rather, his entry had been slow but sure. After a few stints in second grade productions, he got his major break from the great A. R. Rehman in the hugely successful Amir Khan starrer 'Rang de Basanti' (2006). Let's just say that there has been no pausing after 'Khoon Chala'. His next big hit was a Pritam composition – 'Tum se hi' from “Jab we met'. In between, Mohit sung for 'Main meri Patni aur woh', and indeed the melody was quite well received, keeping in mind that it was a small budget film with talented actors but without any major stars. A.R. Rehman used his magic again in Delhi-6, another Rakesh Omprakash Mehra film after RDB. The most popular song in the film 'Masakali' has been sung by Mohit. Other films Mohit has done playback for include EMI, Welcome to Sajjanpur, Kismet Konnection, Fashion, Sikandar, New- York, Love Aaj Kal and Kaminey.

The journey for this talented singer from Himachal Pradesh (born and brought up at Nahan) has just begun. Mohit also happens to be a Masters in Geology and believes that his destination lies beyond Bollywood, in the exploration of different genres. As for the present, he has also joined the Reality bandwagon as a judge in singing contests.

We wish him all the very best in life.