Early Life
She was born in Jaipur. She did her graduation from Maharani Girls college in Jaipur, India.

Career

In the Sony Entertainment Television show Fame Gurukul, she was the headmistress of the school where the contestants of the show trained for the reality singing show. She sang in the successful Tamil song “Muthu Muthu Mazhai” on the soundtrack of the film Mr. Romeo composed by A R Rahman. Other than many other awards, she has won one the Filmfare Best Female Playback Award in 1994 for the song “Choli Ke Peeche” from the film Khalnayak.

She has produced several successful singles such as “Vote for Ghagra”, which sold more than 100,000 copies, Morni, Main ho gayi sawa lakh ki, Mera Assi Kali ka Ghagra, Darudi, Bichuda, Main Raatan Jagi, etc. Her fans await her comeback as she left after her album Haule Haule protesting music piracy and remixes and sexual content in songs. She herself accepted that she is all set to return with an album which is ready.

She appeared in NDTV Imagine’s reality show Junoon-Kuch kar dikhana hai as a judge for the folk-singers’ team Maati ke laal. She sang the promotional song Halla Bol for the Rajasthan Royals team in the IPL which became an instant hit. She hails from Rajasthan and sings lots of Rajasthani songs in all her albums and movies.

She delivered an electrifying performance in the 2008 hit Jodhaa Akbar as Maham Anga, Akbar’s nurse, who is also like Akbar’s mother. She has also acted in critically acclaimed films such as China Gate, Chingari, and Welcome to Sajjanpur.

Her brother Piyush Pandey is an ad-maker while her sisters, Rama Pandey is a Producer-Director and Tripti Pandey is a cultural activist in Rajasthan. She sang the Hindi song “Ringa Ringa” on the soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire.