Since 1973, playback singer Anuradha Paudwal has recorded thousands of songs and hundreds of bhajans in an array of languages. Be it for the silver screen or for the spirit, her voice has earned her some of India’s highest honours along the way and she’s rightly venerated as a luminary of her craft. Born in the city of Karwar in Karnataka state, she made her debut at just 19 years old with “Omkaram Bindu Sanyuktam” for box-office smash Abhimaan, composed by S.D. Burman—an icon she worked with multiple times—and was determined to make a name for herself in Bollywood. A decade later, in 1983, she enjoyed her first major success with “Too Mera Hero Hai” in Hero. As casts got bigger and opportunities for solos became harder to find, the star grew disheartened. But she plugged away and by 1986 she had won her first of four Filmfare Awards. Paudwal then hit her commercial peak in the ’90s with plaudits for her work on a dizzying array of movies from critics and fans alike, including for the Aashiqui, Sadak and Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin soundtracks. Despite her overwhelming success, however, Paudwal began to yearn for more than her dream of filmi and pop stardom, and she drifted towards performing bhajans. T-Series supported her new focus on these devotional songs and her cassettes flew off the shelves. Meanwhile, hand in hand with the singer’s spiritual dedication is her philanthropic work; in 2016 she set up the Suryoday Foundation, which provides and promotes health and support for people in need, particularly young people and women. Having already won the Mother Teresa Award in 2011, Paudwal was recognised by the Government of India in 2017 with the Padma Shri, one of the nation’s most prestigious civilian prizes.