The voice of Munni

You don't need to harass singer Mamta Sharma to croon a few lines of Munni Badnaam Hui. She obliges the very instant you mention her infamous debut number. "The song has changed my world like a magic wand. I was doing stage shows and small albums before this, but now my horizons have expanded overnight," she says.
CS spoke to Mamta who's now been nominated for a Song of the Year award:

Award galore
I have already won 14 awards for the song. Honestly, I never expected any of them. The biggest one was the most popular film award in the country. I was thrilled only to be nominated for that one and I could have fainted when my name was announced (laughs out loud). I have also won Best Newcomer Music awards. For a middle class girl from Gwalior, this is like living in a dream.

Hit score
Well, what makes Munni such a huge hit is its Indian element. The song had a desi picturisation, simple lyrics and Indian instrumentation, which worked in its favour. And it's a song for the common man. Of course, credit must be given to Malaika (Arora Khan) who sizzled on screen. She can identify a hit song when she hears it; all her item numbers till date are chartbusters.u00a0

Cassette crooner
As a child, I didn't have any kind of formal music training. I learnt all the songs from cassettes. So I can sing all kinds of numbers, right from folk to jagrans to ghazals. But now, I have started taking formal music training. My favourite singers are Richa Sharma, Sunidhi Chauhan, Alka Yagnik, Kavita Krishnamurthy, and Rekha Bharadwaj. I love Rekhaji's voice, as it has a lot of namak.