Monali is a mononym of Monali Thakur (b. 3 Nov 1985, Kolkata, India), an Indian playback singer, who sings mainly in Bollywood movies. Monali Thakur comes from a musical family, as her father is Bengali singer and actor Shakti Thakur and her sister Mehuli Thakur-Goswami is also a professional playback singer. Monali Thakur got her start by singing in school and college competitions and performing at local functions, and then rose to popularity after placing ninth in Indian Idol 2, the Indian version of Pop Idol.