1964: She became interested
in film music and sang playback for the movie Geet Gaya
Patharon Ne, but returned to classical music because of not
so good experiences in the movie industry.
1985: She was awarded the
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
1987: She was honoured with
PADMA BHUSHAN Award by the Govt of India.
1990: She later also sang
for the Hindi film Drishti.
1991: She was awarded the
prestigious Dr. T. M. A. Pai Outstanding Konkani Award.
2002: She was honoured with
PADMA VIBHUSHAN Award by the Govt of India.
2009: She received the
Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for 2009.
General
She performs in the classical genre khayal and the light
classical genres thumri and bhajan.
She was trained among several others by her mother,
Mogubai Kurdikar, a classical singer of the Jaipur gharana
(musical tradition of Jaipur).
She is considered one of the pre-eminent representatives
of Hindustani classical music.
She lost her voice for two years in the late 1950s for
unknown reasons.
She was the subject of the documentary 'Bhinna Shadja'.