Sona Mohapatra

Sona Mohapatra (born 17 June 1976) is an Indian singer, music composer and lyricist born in Cuttack, Odisha. She has performed in concerts across the world and has been featured in albums, singles, concert webcasts, music videos, Bollywood films and advertisements. In addition to her own material, Mohapatra has recorded remixes of songs by David Bowie, with "Let's Dance", and INXS, with "Afterglow", with the latter proving particularly successful.

Sona was born in Cuttack, Odisha. Sona is a B. Tech. engineering graduate from the College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar in Instrumentation & Electronics Engineering. She also obtained an MBA degree from Symbiosis Centre for Management & HRD, Pune in marketing & Systems. She later worked as the brand manager in Marico, handling brands like Parachute & Mediker amongst others.

Her first ventures in music industry started with advertising. One of her famous jingle was for Tata Salt – Kal Ka Bharat Hai & the campaign for Unilevers Close Up has a section of her song Paas Aao Na which has been recorded in several languages & aired across 13 countries for 4 consecutive years . In 2007, she released her debut album, Sona, on Sony Records, which sought to explore the diverse styles of rock, rhythm and blues, Flamenco, Hindustani, Baul and Romani music. In 2009, she released the single Diljale & Paas Aao Na in the same year She recently sung a song 'Bedardi Raja' in the movie Delhi Belly for Aamir Khan Production's and did a cameo in it. She has also sung theme songs "Mujhe Kya Bechega Rupaiya" and "Ghar Yaad Aata Hai Mujhe" for the TV show Satyamev Jayate. Her song Jiya laage na from the soundtrack of Talaash has been receiving rave reviews too.

Sona has her own band composed of guitar virtuoso Sanjoy Das amongst five more musicians and is an electric live performer who has played in a multitude of live venues including the Lincoln Center in New York & to stadium crowds in India in Chandigarh, Chennai & Siliguri amongst others . She has also headlined the international Jodhpur RIFF festival held in the Mehrangarh Fort. The song 'Bolo Na' from Sona was appreciated by the audience.

Sona Mohapatra at the Women's Empowerment's concert in New Delhi, August 2012

Sona Mohapatra came to mainstream prominence with the trendbreaking talk show with Aamir Khan [Satyamev Jayate] in which she frequently appeared as a lead singer and performer. She was also the executive producer of the musical project on the same show. Her cameo performances recorded more than 9 million views across uploads and sites as per the latest digital count. She confessed in a recent interview that the project was all consuming in terms of the emotional and physical energies invested. Multiple lyricists, unconventional subjects and lots of brainstorming on the songs, lyrics, shoots, recordings and to top it all, all songs have been translated and recorded in multiple languages. According to Sona "Oriya influences in Bollywood are rare as yet – unlike an overdose of Punjabi, Rajasthani, Bengali and even Southern music.'

The Song, Mujhe Kya Bechega Rupaiya, sung by Sona Mohapatra is composed by Ram Sampath & was aired on the third episode of Satyamev Jayate based on celebrating women's freedom. The song has received over 5 million hits on YouTube.

Sona is married to Ram Sampath, a song composer and music director, whom she first met in 2002, while she was still working as a brand manager with Marico. They were introduced by director Ram Madhvani, with whom Sampath was working for Let's Talk (2002); they married in 2005. Ram later became a household name for his innovative score of the film Delhi Belly (2011), followed by Satyamev Jayate (2012) and Talaash (2012). Sona and Ram are partners in their music production house OmGrown Music and reside in Mumbai. They also have their own studios in the same city.

Bollywood

TV

• Satyamev Jayate – Mujhe Kya Bechega Rupaiya, Ghar Yaad Aata Hai Mujhe and Chanda Pe Dance, Bekhauff

Studio album

• SONA (Song – Bolo Na, Aja Ve, Tere Ishq Nachaya, Abhi Nahin Ana )
• Piya Se Naina on Coke Studio Season 3
• Rangabati on Coke Studio ( India), 2015

Compilation

• Love is (2007) – Afterglow
• Teri Deewani- Ishq Nachaya
• Aao Ji – Aja Ve
• Soulful Sufi (2009) – Abhi Nahin Anaa

Video

• Dekh Le (2013)

• "Lori song details". iTunes. Retrieved 27 September 2014. 
• "Chayee Madhoshiyan song details". iTunes. Retrieved 27 September 2014. 
• "Chayee Madhoshiyan (Remix) song details". iTunes. Retrieved 27 September 2014. 
• "Daav Laga song details". iTunes. Retrieved 27 September 2014. 
• "Bahara song details". iTunes. Retrieved 4 October 2014. 
• "Bedardi Raja song details". iTunes. Retrieved 4 October 2014. 
• "Bedardi Raja (Grind Mix) song details". iTunes. Retrieved 4 October 2014. 
• "I Hate You (Like I Love You) song details". iTunes. Retrieved 4 October 2014. 
• "Jiya Laage Na song details". iTunes. Retrieved 4 October 2014. 
• "Ambarsariya song details". iTunes. Retrieved 4 October 2014. 
• "Khurafati Akhiyan song details". iTunes. Retrieved 4 October 2014. 
• "Dil Aaj Kal (Unplugged) song details". iTunes. Retrieved 4 October 2014. 
• "Naina song details". iTunes. Retrieved 4 October 2014. 
• "Ghoor Ghoor Ke song details". iTunes. Retrieved 4 October 2014. 
• Rangabati - Ram Sampath, Sona Mohapatra & Rituraj Mohanty - Coke Studio@MTV Season 4 on YouTube
• "Will never apologise for my rendition of 'Rangabati': Sona". Business Standard. 9 Jul 2015. 
• *Sona Mohapatra Biography