Chauhan was born in the Nahan town of Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh on 11 March 1966. He can speak fluently in Himachali, English and Hindi. He first attended St. Xavier's School, Delhi and then moved to Himachal Pradesh to complete his education.[citation needed] Chauhan graduated with a Master of Science in Geology from the Dharamshala College in Himachal Pradesh. He never received formal training in music, but sings and plays guitar, harmonica, mouth organ and the flute. After completing his education in Himachal,
Chauhan says before he made it big as a musician, he wanted to be an actor. “I did a lot of theatre. I finished my university, was part of NSD and did full length plays on stage. In fact, at one point of time I wanted to get into FTII, but there were no acting courses then. I think it started only a couple of years ago. So I missed the opportunity,” Chauhan told PTI.
