Tapu Mishra

Early life and education

Mishra was born on 11 January 1985 in Sambalpur, Odisha, and began singing as a child. According to Wikipedia, she trained under Prabhudatta Pradhan and Gyan Ranjan Mohapatra, took a degree in music from Sambalpur University, and later studied at the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in New Delhi.

Music career

Wikipedia dates her playback debut to the Odia film Kula Nandan (1995). It credits her with singing in more than 150 films and over 500 songs, mostly in Odia but also in Bengali, Hindi and other regional languages. Our own film database lists her in more than 60 Odia films, from Rakata Chinhichhi Nijara Kie (1999) through Barsa My Darling (2004) and Arjun (2005) to later releases such as To Premare Padila Pare (2017), Nayakara Na Debadas (2019), Chal Tike Prema Kariba (2020) and Bhoka (2021).

Films that Wikipedia singles out as notable in her career include Mate Ta Love Helare, Dream Girl (2009) and Love Dot Com. Kalinga TV noted that, besides film songs, she sang bhajans (devotional songs) and released songs on her own albums. She also served as a judge on television reality shows.

Awards and honours

Wikipedia says she received four Odisha State Film Awards. Its list of the state's best singer awards names her (as 'Tapu Misra') as best female singer for 2005, for the film Shaashu Ghara Chaalijibi, and for 2012, for Tu Mo Suna Tu Mo Hira. The sources consulted did not identify her other awards.

Personal life

Mishra became engaged to the actor Deepak Pujahari, a native of Sonepur, at a private ceremony in Bhubaneswar in November 2018. Kalinga TV reported in December 2018 that the wedding was planned for 12 December, and Wikipedia gives 2018 as the year of the marriage. Pujahari had appeared in commercials, television serials, Sambalpuri music videos and the Odia film Aasilu Tu Jebe Jibane.

Death

Mishra's father died of COVID-related complications in May 2021, and she later tested positive herself. She first isolated at home, but as her condition worsened she was moved to a private hospital and then to a COVID hospital in Bhubaneswar, where she was put on ventilator support. She died on 19 June 2021; Kalinga TV reported that the immediate cause was cardiac arrest. She was 36.

The next day her body was taken to her home near Palasuni in Bhubaneswar, and she was cremated at the Satya Nagar crematorium under COVID-19 restrictions. According to Wikipedia, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and OFDC chairman Kuna Tripathy paid tribute to her online.