Mahendra Kapoor was a famous bollywood playback singer who was born on 9th January, 1934 at Amritsar, Punjab. He has a son named Rohan Kapoor who was an actor in a few films in the 1980s such as Yash Chopra’s Faasle (1985) and Love 86 (1986) and three daughters. Mahendra Kapoor was trained in singing by legendry Mohammed Rafi who helped him in winning the All-India singing competition. This leads to his debut as a playback singer in the movie Navrang directed by V. Shantaram in 1958. He sang the song “Aadha Hai Chandrama Raat Aadhi” under the music direction of C. Ramchandra.
Hit songs of Mahendra Kapoor are listed below:

1. Neele Gagan Ke Tale - Hamraaz
2. Chalo Ek Baar - Gumrah
3. Lakhon Hain Yahan Dilwale - Kismat
4. Mere Desh Ki Dharti - Upkar
5. Iktara Bole - Yaadgar
6. Aur Nahin Bas Aur Nahin - Roti Kapada Aur Makaan
7. Bharat Ka Rahnewala Hoon - Purab Aur Paschim
8. Fakira Chal Chala Chal - Fakira
9. Badal Jaye Agar Mali - Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi
10. Ab ke Baras - Kranti

He sang over twenty five thousand songs in various regional languages in the career of five decades. Most common songs like “Chalo ek baar phir se Ajnabi ban jayen hum dono” in Gumrah, “Neele gagan ke tale” in Hamraaz were sang by him. But he was known for his patriotic songs like “Mere Desh Ki Dharthi” in Manoj Kumar acted movie Upkaar. He sang many hit songs mostly in B.R Chopra’s movies like Dhool Ka Phool, Gumrah, Waqt, Hamraaz, Dhund etc. He has given his voice to many legendry actors mainly Manoj Kumar. His song “Bharat Ka Rahnewala Hoon” from Purab Aur Paschim featured on Manoj Kumar was an instant hit. He sang “Iktara Bole” in the movie Yaadgar which was also appriciated. He won National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer in 1968 for this song. He had also received Filmfare award for the Best Male Playback Singer in 1963, 1967 and 1974.

Title song for all time hits BR Chopra’s Mahabharat has his voice. Mahendra Kapoor is very well known in Marathi movies as a playback singer. He sang mainly for Dada Kondke in all his movies. He was associated with Dada Kondke but also sang for other Marathi movies. He sang the songs “Ti Yete Aneeka Jate”, “He Chincheche zad dise maj chinar vrukshapari” and “Ratris khel chale ya gudh chandanyacha” which became popular. He was one of the Padma Shri recipients by Indian government and Lata Mangeshkar award from Maharashtra government. This legendry singer died on 27th September, 2008 in Mumbai due to a cardiac failure as he was suffering from heart ailment for a long time.