She was trained in
Indian Classical Music from a young age. She sang primarily for Bengali films. In
Bangla TV show
Dadagiri she reflected on her early days. She stated that she sang on the
All India Music Talent Programme in 1955 at age 14 or 15. She won the music contest, "Metro-Murphy Contest" whose judges were music directors including
Anil Biswas,
Naushad,
Vasant Desai and
C. Ramchandra. This enabled her career as a playback singer. She got her first break in 1958 Hindi film
Sahara, but the music of that film was limited. After a string of flops like
Boy Friend, she decided to open herself to Bengali films. She sang for the first time in a Bengali film called
Kanya in 1962. Her versatility and voice infatuated audiences so much that they started losing affection for erstwhile leading singer
Sandhya Mukherjee and Pratima Banerjee . In the late 1960s, her voice was used as the on-screen voice of leading actress
Suchitra Sen. In 1966, she sang in the film
Golpo Holeo Sotyi, which earned her
BFJA Award for Best Female Playback Singer. In 1976, she won again for
Chhutir Phande. She lent her voice for leading actresses of the late sixties till eighties, such as Madhabi Mukherji,
Sharmila Tagore,
Aparna Sen, Debashri Roy and
Tanuja. She, along with
Asha Bhosle, took the leading spot in the 1970s. She sang 'Bacche ho tum khel khilone' and in a duet with
Kishore Kumar titled 'Do panchi do tinke'. She is said to have sung 15,000 songs in Bengali and Hindi. She had success in the 1970s, that inspired her to return to
Bollywood. In 1983, R. D. Burman, who was the mentor of Bengali singers
Kumar Sanu,
Abhijeet and
Andrew Kishore, gave her "Do Naina Ek Kahani" in the film
Masoom voicing Shabana Azmi. The song was a chartbuster and is still popular today. It earned her the Filmfare award for best female playback singer in 1983. Her popular repertoire includes 'Radha Banshi Chara Janena', 'Ek Boishakhe Dekha Holo Dujonar', 'Ei Mom Jochonay Ongo Bhijiye', 'Ja Ja Behaya Pakhi Jana', 'Tokhon Tomar Ekush Bochor Bodhoy.' She also has several non-film songs to her credit. Arati commenced her musical journey in films with Bengali film
Subarna Rekha and Hindi film
Angulimaal and has, since then, sung thousands of songs in Bengali,
Oriya,
Manipuri,
Assamese,
Hindi,
Gujarati,
Marathi and other languages. Apart from films, Arati has engaged audiences with albums and live performances on television and stage of Rabindra Sangeet and Nazrul Geeti. Her versatility can be seen in diverse genres of music like
Thumri,
Bhajan, Tappa,
Tarana, and
Ghazal. She performed extensively in India and throughout the world. == Recognition ==