Vinod Rathod, the son of singer Pandit Chhaturbhuj Rathod, is a Bollywood playback singer. He has sung in numerous popular Bollywood films including Chal Mere Bhai, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Mission Kashmir and Baazigar.
Rathod sang the song "Baa Bahu Aur Baby" in the Baa Bahu Aur Baby serial. His guru's name is Aksh Bhardwaj, son of Mr. Tarsem Lal Bhardwaj his father used to be in Indian Air Force and his mother an air hostess.
His career started when Usha Khanna [after listening to his voice in a cassette] called him on April 1986, to sing a qawwali, “Mere Dil Main Hai Andhera, Koi Shamma To Jala De” in Bedaag. Mohammed Aziz was his co-singer. Vinod recorded no less than 40 songs for the composer, and also sang for composers like Ajay Swami and Surinder Kohli in his struggle phase. His TV serial title song, “Yeh Jeevan Hai Akash Ganga” for the serial Akash Ganga proved very successful amongst viewers.
He entered the big films league when composers Shiv-Hari called him to record “Baadal Pe Chalke Aa” with Lata Mangeshkar and Suresh Wadekar which proved popular and “Zindagi Har Janam Pyar Ki Dastan” with Lata Mangeshkar in Yash Chopra's Vijay in 1988 proved to be a greater success. Vinod was the voice of Rishi Kapoor in this multi-starer film. He then sang for Rishi-Yash-Shiv-Hari again in Chandni in 1989. This song, “Parbat Se Kaali Ghata Takrai” with Asha Bhosle also proved a hit along with “Sheharon Mein Ek Shehar Suna” with Lata Mangeshkar.
However, he got his real break in 1992 when Laxmikant Pyarelal offered him “Romeo Naam Mera” for Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja. It has proven to be one of the biggest hit of 1992. Laxmikant Pyarelal rapidly called him for more films, which instilled confidence for Vinod among the other composers like Anu Malik, Bappi Lahiri and Anand-Milind. As luck would have it, Nadeem-Shravan [Shravan is Vinod's elder brother] were at the crest of popularity, and though Nadeem favored Kumar Sanu, he gave Vinod Rathod the onus of being the voice of Shah Rukh Khan in Deewana. “Aisi Deewangi” with Alka Yagnik proved a rage and “Koi Na Koi Chahiye Pyar Karne Wala” too proved popular. This film was also released in 1992. By 1993, Vinod Rathod was a busy man. Laxmikant Pyarelal gave him excellent songs in several films like Bedardi, Dilbar and many other films, and decided that he would be the major voice of Rishi Kapoor in the R K film Prem Granth. Their hits with him included “Jab Se Main Jara Sa Badnam Ho Gaya’ - Gumrah and “Nayak Nahin Khalnayak Hoon Main” - Khal-Nayak. Anu Malik swept aside Nadeem-Shravan by late 1993-94 and Vinod Rathod was very much there in hits like “Ae Mere Humsafar”, “Kitabein Bahut Si”, “Samajhkar Chand Jisko” and “Chupana Bhi Nahin Aata’ - Baazigar. Followed Ladla, Elaan, Agnisakshi, Muhabbat Ki Arzoo, Chahoonga Main Tujhe, Gambler, Parampara, The Gentleman, Zamana Deewana, Shreemaan Aashique, Maidan-E-Jung, Policewala Gunda, Hum Sab Chor Hain, Chaahat, Vastav and the hits “Duniya Ye Duniya Very Good Very Good” - Trimurti and “Dil Dene Ki Rut Aayi” – Prem Granth.
Vinod had a triumph of sorts in the Zee Telefilm, Mr. Shrimati, in which he sang “Aashiq Ki Hai Baraat”. His other hits include his songs from Deewana Mastana, Army, Hero No. 1 and Dulhe Raja, Tere Mere Sapne, and his latest chartbuster, “Dholi Taro Dhol Baje” - Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, “Chalak Chalak” – Devdas, “M Bole To” - Munna Bhai MBBS which has given his career a new boost after 1999. His songs from Chal Mere Bhai have proved popular too.
“Main Hoon Number Ek Gawaiya” from Saajan Chale Sasural proved his classical excellence which he has incorporated from his father. He has sung for all the leading composers and his list also includes Jatin-Lalit, Ravindra Jain, Bappi Lahiri, Viju Shah, Rajesh Roshan, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Shantanu Moitra and A.R.Rahman.
His voice is flexible and suits from Dharmendra, Rishi Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty, Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Nana Patekar, Govinda, Jackie Shroff, to Shahrukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan.
An unabashed Kishore Kumar fan, Vinod's singing replicates the punch, energy and throw of Kishore Kumar. His great voice and strong classical learnings has impressed mentors like Laxmikant Pyarelal. His regret is that could never sing for Rajesh Khanna, despite getting his first big film Vijay, whose cast was headed by the ex-superstar.
Vinod has worked for almost all reputed production houses of India. To mention a few : R K Films, Yash Raj Productions, Factory, Ramesh Sippy Productions, K C Bokadia Productions, Boney Kapoor Productions, Manmohan Desai Productions, Rajshree Productions, Mukta Arts, Bhansali Productions, Vidhu Vinod Chopra Productions etc.
Not only a huge list of production houses Vinod has sung more than 3500 songs in various languages such as Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Sindhi, Punjabi, Bengali, Oriya, Tamil, Kannad, Telugu, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri and Persian.
