Neeti Mohan Sharma (born 18 November 1979) is an Indian singer. She sings mainly in Hindi films, but has also sung in Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi and English. Born in Delhi, she was one of the winners of the Channel V's reality show Popstars, subsequently being chosen for Aasma, with other winners of the show. She rose to prominence after recording "Ishq Wala Love" for Student of the Year (2012), ultimately winning the Filmfare R. D. Burman Award for New Music Talent and was nominated for the Best Female Playback Singer for "Jiya Re" from Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012).
Her rendition of six jazz tracks in the soundtrack album of Amit Trivedi's Bombay Velvet (2015) received positive review from music critics. The following year, she received her second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Sau Aasmaan" from Baar Baar Dekho (2016). In that year, Mohan appeared as a coach in the 1st season of The Voice India Kids and the second season of The Voice India. Besides her career in music, she has also been involved in various charities and social causes.
Neeti Mohan was born on 18 November 1979 in Delhi. Her father, Brij Mohan Sharma, is a government officer and her mother, Kusum, is a homemaker. Neeti Mohan is the eldest of four sisters; Shakti Mohan, Mukti Mohan and Kriti Mohan. Mohan began learning music at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. During the time, she was involved in dramatics and dancing; considering singing as a "serious hobby".
During her school days, Mohan was part of the school band, and participated in Delhi Republic Day parade for five years in a row. Convinced by her father, Mohan participated in many extra-curricular activities during her school: singing, dancing, performing in the band and theatre. She was adjudged best cadet in the National Cadet Corps of India and represented India as Youth Exchange Programme cadet. Later, she learnt music formally at the Bhatkhande Music Institute and continued training in Mumbai with Rajashree Pathak for five years. Apart from training in singing, Mohan studied dancing with her two sisters. She trained in Bharata Natyam and Kathak under the supervision of Ashley Lobo. Besides training kids to dance, Mohan worked as an instructor there. Mohan graduated in philosophy from Miranda House, University of Delhi.
In 2003, Mohan was one of the winners of Channel V's reality television show Popstars, subsequently being chosen for Aasma—a pop group formed with the other winners of the show—where she got the chance to perform with Bryan Adams, insisted by Deepak Gattani, who manages A. R. Rahman's concert tours. While she was assisting Lobo, he suggested Mohan to Imtiaz Ali for a supporting role in his film, Socha Na Tha (2005), while Lobo was working as the choreographer in the film. In 2009, Mohan participated in the Star Plus show Music Ka Maha Muqqabla, where she was part of the winning team "Shankar's Rockstars" led by Shankar Mahadevan. She married actor Nihaar Pandya on 15 February 2019. The couple announced their first pregnancy on 15 February 2021 on their second wedding anniversary, and she later gave birth to a boy.
In an interview with TV host Amin Dhillon that had over 400K views, Mohan shared the untold story on how A. R. Rahman discovered her. Mohan's sister Shakti was performing as a dancer at a A. R. Rahman show for New Year's Eve in 2006. Shakti had called Mohan right before the show and Mohan had wished to speak to Rahman but didn't get a chance. Instead she told her sister that one day she would be performing with Rahman and six months later, Mohan was singing with him. Mohan had previously met Rahman's manager when she was part of the group Aasma and in 2007, Mohan bumped into him again when he was coming out of the cinema. It was at this chance meeting Mohan learned Rahman and his team were auditioning new voices for his US tour. She recorded a vocal audition, singing "Maya Maya" from the film Guru among other songs. After 3 weeks, Mohan got a call from Rahman's manager informing her that Rahman liked her voice and she was picked for the tour.
2012–14: Breakthrough with Student of the Year and Jab Tak Hai Jaan
Mohan made her Bollywood debut with the Vishal–Shekhar-composed Student of the Year (2012), where she performed the soft-ballad "Ishq Wala Love", along with Salim Merchant and Shekhar Ravjiani. She was next heard in the peppy track "Jiya Re" from Jab Tak Hai Jaan which was composed by A. R. Rahman. Mohan believed that Rahman called her for recording the song, since she has shown "a lot of spirit" in the shows she did with him, and the song features a girl—played by Anushka Sharma—enacting the song "very spunky". Koimoi's Shivi mentioned that Mohan's "refreshing voice delivers the track with lot of enthusiasm and variations". Though "Ishq Wala Love" was released earlier, Mohan's first recorded Hindi song was "Jiya Re". both songs were declared chartbusters upon release. For her work in both the songs, Mohan won the Filmfare R. D. Burman Award for New Music Talent, in addition to her first nomination for the Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Jiya Re". Besides, Mohan provided the chorus along with Natalie Di Luccio in Raghav Sachar-composed "Bittoo Sab Ki Lega" from Bittoo Boss, released the same year. During the year, she released her first single, titled "Ja Ja"; composed and written by Mohan, assisted by her father.
The following year, Mohan lent her voice for Ayushmann Khurrana's Punjabi track, "Saadi Galli Aaja", co-composed, co-written and co-sung by Khurana. Since Mohan does not speak Punjabi, she had to learn to pronounce the words before recording the song. Koimoi stated that Mohan "mesmerizes" the listeners in the unplugged version of the song, with her "husky voice". Mohan performed the track "Kashmir Main Tu Kanyakumari" for the Vishal–Shekhar composed Chennai Express, along with Sunidhi Chauhan and Arijit Singh. Besides, she worked with Vishal–Shekhar for two other projects; Gippi and Gori Tere Pyaar Mein, where she recorded "Dil Kaagzi" for the former and "Naina" for the latter. While Mohan and Rashid Ali were performing in a Rahman's concert show, he came up with the idea to bring a duet between the two, since "both shares similar vocal texture". Hence, she did playback for Sonam Kapoor in Raanjhanaa (2013) in the song "Nazar Laaye". Mohan had to bring the "softness" in her voice to match the "definite attitude" in Kapoor's persona for her character.
Mohan's first release of 2014 was the Sohail Sen-composed "Tune Maari Entriyaan" in Gunday. Sung along with Bappi Lahiri, Vishal Dadlani and KK, the song was a critical and commercial success, being placed at position 8 in "The Times of India Radio Mirchi Top 10 songs" of the year. Moreover, Mohan along with Aditi Singh Sharma performed an electronic dance music styled "Pinacolada" from Darr @ The Mall, marketed as the first Gothic Bollywood song. Mohan collaborated again with Khurrana in Raghu Dixit's "Khamakhaan" from Bewakoofiyaan, where The Indian Express affirmed that the song is "owned by Mohan from the moment she breathes into it in the beginning without any instruments". Apart from rendering Sajid–Wajid's "Galat Baat Hai" from Main Tera Hero, for which Rajiv Vijayakar of Bollywood Hungama considered Mohan's vocals "spirited", she lent to voice for "Kambal Ke Neeche" from the Ismail Darbar-composed Kaanchi. Mohan described the latter as a "family song" since it features two of her sisters; Shakti Mohan and Mukti Mohan in the video.
During the year, Mohan worked with Himesh Reshammiya for four films; The Xposé, Humshakals, Kick and Action Jackson. Aishwarya from Koimoi felt that Mohan's talent was "misused" in the songs "Catch Me If You Can" and "Dard Dilo Ke" from The Xposé. Similar sentiments were echoed for the songs "Caller Tune" and "Look Into My Eyes" from Humshakals, where Aishwarya stated, "Mohan did not show any variation that fans know she is capable of, as far as this album is concerned". However, "Tu Hi Tu" from Kick was critically acclaimed; Devesh Sharma from Filmfare wrote: "Mohan brings a young girl's yearning in her breezy rendition and makes her version a winner too". Besides, Mohan collaborated with Jeet Gannguli for the first time with the song "Darbadar" from CityLights. Producer of the film, Mukesh Bhatt wanted a "young Asha Bhosle", hence she had to "fix" her "tone and projection" for the song. Likewise, Mohan was roped in by Vishal–Shekhar for Bang Bang! and Happy New Year, where the title track for the former and "India Waale" for the latter were commercially successful. Besides, Mohan provided backing vocals for the track "Makhna", featuring Sukhwinder Singh in the Rahman-composed American film Million Dollar Arm.