Usha Khanna

Usha Khanna (born 7 October 1941) is an Indian music director in Hindi cinema. She is the third female music director to enter the Hindi film industry, after Jaddan Bai and Saraswati Devi^[1] and is one of the most commercially successful music directors in the male dominated music industry. She is most known for songs like “maine rakha hai mohabbat” (Shabnam), “Hum tum say juda ho ke” (ek sapaira ek lutaira), “gaa deewane jhoom ke” (Flat no. 9), "Chhodo kal ki baatein" (Hum Hindustani), "Shaayad meri shaadi ka khayal" (Souten), and “tu is tarah Se meri zindagi” (Aap to aise na the).^[2] She remained active for more than 3 decades from 1960s to 1980s. She is still active making some music for some movies and television-serials, more than 40 years after her debut as music director in Dil Deke Dekho (1959). She received a Filmfare Award nomination for composing the songs for the huge hit film Souten (1983). She was married to director, producer, lyricist, Sawan Kumar Tak, from whom she separated later on.^[3][4]