“Salaam-a-Hasrat Qabool Kar Lo, Meri Mohabbat Qabool Kar Lo”

Sudha Malhotra is an Indian playback singer. She also acted in some  Bollywood films and as a playback singer, worked in popular Bollywood movies in the 1950s and 1960s, like Arzoo, Dhool Ka Phool, Ab Dilli Door Nahin, Girl Friend, Barsat Ki Raat, Didi,

Kala Pani, Prem Rog and Dekh Kabira Roya. She was last heard in Raj Kapoor’s Prem Rog (1982) in the song “Yeh Pyar tha ya kuch aur tha”. Apart from Hindi songs, Sudha sang many popular Marathi songs (Bhavgeet) with Arun Date.

Born in 1936 in Kurukshetra, in Indian Punjab, Sudha spent her childhood in Lahore, Bhopal, and Firozepur. Her musical career began when she was just five. She was regarded as a child prodigy, and was soon featured on radio. She studied music in college as well, and got a bachelor’s degree in music from Agra University.

Sudha was spotted at a public programme by music composer Ghulam Haider, and sang for the film Arzoo. That was her first film recording.
She went on to sing 264 songs for 155 films. She sang with many illustrious peers, including Lata Mangeshkar, Manna Dey, Talat Mahmood and Geeta Dutt.

Among the composers Sudha worked with were Ghulam Mohammed, Anil Biswas, Ravi, Roshan, N Dutta, C. Ramchandra and S. D. Burman.

Sudha stopped singing in 1960, after her marriage to Giridhar Motwane, whose family owned Chicago Telephone and Radio Company.

She was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 2013.