Born on June 6, 1988, sensation singer Neha Kakkar hails from Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. She did her schooling in Delhi and started her musical journey on the national platform by participating in the show Indian Idol in 2006. The singer started performing on stage since she turned 4. (All photos/Neha Kakkar's official Instagram account)
Neha Kakkar is now one of the busiest and popular singers in B-town. She has had an inspiring journey from being an Indian Idol season 2 contestant to becoming a sensational singer.
At one time in Neha Kakkar's life, she stood in queues for 'Indian Idol' auditions and even got eliminated at Top 8 or Top 9. Today, she is one of the judges of the same show! Isn't that amazing?
Neha Kakkar is now mostly associated with party numbers. She has lent her voice to some huge party hits such as 'Sunny Sunny', 'London Thumakda', 'Tukur Tukur', 'Kaala Chashma', 'Chhote Chhote Peg' and 'Morni Banke'. But did you know she used to sing devotional songs with her sister Sonu Kakkar of 'Babuji Zara Dheere Chalo' fame at one point of time?
In picture: Neha Kakkar with her sister Sonu Kakkar and brother-singer Tony Kakkar.
During the Delhi auditions of Indian Idol 10, Neha Kakkar, who was judging the show, got pleasantly surprised when one of the aspirants introduced himself as the son of Jagdish Chugh, with whom she had worked with in her childhood days when she used to sing in jagrans (a ritual practised by Hindus when people stay awake all night, singing in honour of a particular deity).
In picture: Neha Kakkar with father Rishikesh Kakkar.
Neha Kakkar and Sonu Kakkar would sing devotional songs along with Jagdish Chugh's band. In fact, the Chugh family had even helped the Kakkar family during difficult times. Neha along with Sonu would arrive as early as 5 am to sing and earn a sum of Rs 500.
In picture: Neha Kakkar with mother Niti Kakkar.
"I always tell everybody that I feel I am living my dream. Whatever is happening with me has always been a dream for me and I never thought that all this can become a reality one day. People have made me so big now which I never thought I can be as a female singer," Neha told IANS in an interview.
Neha Kakkar had confessed once that "there is a drama queen in me" as the singer loves acting. She used to stand in front of the mirror and act since her childhood. But she never thought of acting, as of yet.
Neha Kakkar performs live for the audience in various concerts too. When asked the toughest part about singing live to Neha, she said, "The toughest part is holding the audience. I am somebody who is very comfortable on stage because I have been performing since childhood. I have done a lot of public events as well. Though, there is a huge difference in my performances today and the ones from my childhood, as earlier I used to sing bhajans."
"What happens now is that because people love me so much, the crowd in numbers is much more than we expect to come. In the past couple of months, wherever I have performed, we saw a lot of craze amongst the public... Sometimes it becomes difficult because in one of our concerts at a college in Bengaluru, we had to call the ambulance because some people got injured. It becomes very difficult for the organizers to handle such situations," she further added.
Neha Kakkar has a huge fan following among the youth, especially. She has as good as 38 million followers on Instagram.
Neha Kakkar believes that having a youth connect is also equally important for her success. "Many young people come to me and tell me that you inspire us with the way you perform, even if you are a girl with a short height. People could not imagine a short heighted girl could perform like an actress in a video and do all that what an actress does. Many young people even tell me that you inspire us to do something big in life," said Neha.
"Also, the good part is that I am same on camera and off camera. The camera does not change my personality. So the youth always relates to me, because I am like them and they also feel that I am a part of them. It is important that people should be able to connect with you which is one of the reasons that I am here what I am now," Neha further added.
It's clear that Neha Kakkar has won millions of hearts, through her work. She calls her fans - 'Nehearts'. "The love of my 'nehearts' - my fans, is more than inspiring and encouraging. My fans love me unconditionally. So, it becomes my core responsibility to never disappoint them on any level. I always try to give something special to my fans", said Neha who is now one of the "most followed Indian artiste on Instagram".
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