Sumedha Karmahe

Sumedha Karmahe was born in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, to Gyanesh and Sarla Karmahe. Her dad used to teach sports at a local school before hanging up his whistle. Funny thing, Sumedha didn’t say a single word until she was two and a half, which had her mom running to doctors, but then—bam!—she started singing before she could even talk properly. That set the stage (literally) for her to become a bit of a local singing sensation. She joined up with the Rajbharti Orchestra, crushed pretty much every singing competition in town and state, but still never thought about making it a career. That all changed after O P Nayyar, the legendary music director, noticed her when she nailed the Saregamapa Chhattisgarh competition in 2004. Suddenly, singing got serious. Sumedha started dreaming of becoming a pop star and worked hard on crafting her own unique style, constantly seeking advice from different vocal coaches. She moved to Chandigarh in 2006 for higher studies, but when Zee Saregamapa Challenge 2007 auditions rolled around, she got picked and moved to Mumbai. The show exploded, and so did her fame—Sumedha became a household name across India. After that, she toured all over—from the West Indies to the US, Canada, Israel, Dubai, China, and a bunch of other countries, plus headlined the IDEA Rock Concert Series with Shaan across India. She’s done hundreds of stage shows, guest appearances on TV, even turned down acting gigs just to focus on her singing. Her playback career kicked off with "Chakhri" in the movie Tahaan, racking up great reviews, and she’s already sung in six different languages.