Blind Bundeli singer Suneel Lodhi rises from village stigma to Hanuman Ansh
Visually impaired Bundeli folk singer Suneel Lodhi overcame discrimination in his village to record songs for the film Hanuman Ansh.
Suneel Lodhi, the voice behind the popular devotional number "Maine Tere Hi Bharose", grew up facing deep-rooted prejudice in his Bundelkhand village, where blindness was stigmatised for years. The 25-year-old recalled that residents would avoid looking at him when he stepped out in the morning, with some openly lamenting the sight of his face at the start of the day. He chose to ignore the slights and kept singing bhajans and Bundeli folk songs.
An admirer of Lata Mangeshkar, Lodhi never received formal training or worked with a music coach. From the age of 10 or 11, he sang traditional Bundeli folk songs on local trains, accompanying himself on the tambura.
His music reached a wider audience through Bundeli Duniya, a social media page and YouTube channel that showcased his renditions. Lodhi said he did not initially grasp how far his performances had travelled online. Songs such as "Dula Ban Ke Aa Gai" drew lakhs of views, while the traditional Hanuman bhajan "More Sankat Ke Kataiya" crossed 29 million views and brought his distinctive voice to national attention.
Among those who heard the bhajan was filmmaker and music producer Pankaj VRK, who was working on YouTube content at the time and was struck by the singer's raw, earthy tone. He contacted Lodhi and invited him to Mumbai, where the singer recorded eight songs at Sai Baba Studio.
One of those recordings, "Maine Tere Hi Bharose", became a turning point. Lodhi had no idea at the time that it would feature in a film; he simply sang in the style he had always followed, with his tambura for accompaniment.
Hanuman Ansh, reportedly made on a budget of ₹2 crore, is directed by Vishal Chaturvedi and is inspired by the life of spiritual teacher Neem Karoli Baba. Set in 20th-century India, the film traces Lakshman Das from childhood and spiritual awakening to his transformation into the figure known as Neem Karoli Baba, with his devotion to Lord Hanuman and his teachings on love, compassion and selfless service forming the core of the narrative.