K. S. Chithra

Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963) credited as K. S. Chithra or Chithra is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. She has recorded more than 25,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tulu, Rajasthani, Urdu, Sanskrit, and Badaga as well as foreign languages such as Malay, Latin, Arabic, Sinhalese, English and French. She is also known for her extensive history of collaboration in the songs with Music Composers A.R. Rahman, Ilaiyaraja, Hamsalekha, M. M. Keeravani and with the playback singers KJ Yesudas and SP Balasubramaniyam over the years. She is also known mostly for her sweet and melodious voice for which she is fondly called as Melody Queen and Nightingale of South India.
Chithra is a recipient of six National Film Awards, eight Filmfare Awards South and 36 different state film awards. She has won four south Indian state film awards. She was awarded India's third highest civilian honor Padma Bhushan in 2021 and Padma Shri in 2005 for her valuable contributions towards the Indian musical fraternity. Chithra is the first Indian woman who was honored by the House of Commons, British Parliament, United Kingdom in 1997 and is the only singer from India who was honored by the Government of China at the Qinghai International Music and Water Festival in 2009. She is conferred with the highest honour of Rotary International, "For the Sake of Honour" award in 2001 and has received the MTV Video Music Award – International Viewer's Choice at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York in 2001. She received honorary doctorates from Sathyabama University in 2011 and from The International Tamil University, United States in 2018.
She was honoured with Rashtrapati Award for being the First Ladies in the field of music felicitated by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of Government of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 20 January 2018. In 2018, she was honoured by Craig Coughlin, Speaker of the General Assembly, New Jersey, United States. In 2019, she was honoured by Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, sovereign ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah and a member of the Federal Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates, for successfully completing 40 years in Indian film industry. Her song "Kannalane/Kehna Hi Kya" from the film "Bombay" (1995) was included in "The Guardian" "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear Before You Die" list.
Early life.
Born in Trivandrum, Kerala, into a family of musicians, Chithra's father, Krishnan Nair, was her first teacher. Her elder sister K. S. Beena and her younger brother K. Mahesh are also playback singers. Chithra received her training in Carnatic music from Dr. K. Omanakutty, passed B.A. in music with first class and third rank from the University of Kerala, and completed a master's degree in music. She was selected to the National Talent Search Scholarship from the Central Government from 1978 to 1984.
Playback singing.
Malayalam Cinema.
Chithra was introduced to Malayalam playback by M. G. Radhakrishnan in 1979 who recorded her voice for films and private albums. "Attahasam", "Snehapoorvam Meera" and "Njan Ekananu" were the first films in which she recorded her voice. She performed live concerts with K. J. Yesudas in India and abroad. The song "Manjal Prasadavum" from the film "Nakhakshathangal" (1986) composed by Bombay Ravi got her the second National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer. She sang the song "Indupushpam Choodi Nilkum" for the film "Vaishali" (1989) and won her third National Film Award. Her first Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer was for the song "Aayiram Kannumayi" from the film "Nokkethadhoorathu Kannum Nattu" (1986) composed by Jerry Amaldev. Since then, she has earned wide recognition by singing popular songs under the compositions of Raveendran, Shyam, S. P. Venkitesh, Mohan Sithara, Kannur Rajan, Ilaiyaraaja, Johnson, Ouseppachan, M. K. Arjunan, A. T. Ummer, Berny Ignatius, M. B. Sreenivasan, Mohan Sithara, Vidyasagar, Ramesh Narayan, Sharreth and M. Jayachandran. She is regarded as "Nightingale of Kerala (Vanambadi)" and recorded many successful songs in Malayalam. She recorded a number of songs for the composer S. P. Venkitesh and her maximum duet songs in Malayalam are with K. J. Yesudas and M. G. Sreekumar. As of 2017, she has won the Kerala State Awards for the record 16 times.
Tamil Cinema.
Chithra made her debut in the Tamil film industry through the song "Poojaikketha Poovithu" from the film "Neethana Antha Kuyil" (1985), which was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. She was given the title "Chinnakuyil" after singing the song "Chinna Kuyil Paadum" from the 1985 released film "Poove Poochudava". Director Fazil cast her for this song after Ilaiyaraaja got impressed with her song sung in original version in Malayalam for the film "Nokkethadhoorathu Kannum Nattu" in 1985 directed by himself.. For the folksy classical song "Paadariyaen Padippariyaen" from the film "Sindhu Bhairavi" (1986), she was awarded with the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer. Since then, she has recorded thousands of Tamil film songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja, A. R. Rahman, Deva, S. A. Rajkumar, Vidyasagar, Sirpy, Yuvan Shankar Raja, G. V. Prakash Kumar, Harris Jayaraj and Santhosh Narayanan. She has sung huge number of evergreen hit songs in Tamil which are remembered till date. She is the only female singer who has sung the maximum number of songs for the Academy Award winning composer A. R. Rahman for his Tamil film songs.. Her fifth National award for best singer was for the song "Oooh La La" from the film "Minsara Kanavu" (1997).
Telugu Cinema.
Chithra's first Telugu song was "Paadalenu Pallavaina" from the dubbed version of Tamil film "Sindhu Bhairavi" (1985) composed by Ilaiyaraaja. Her first song in a Telugu film is "Abba Daanisoku" from "Aakhari Poratam" (1988), sung alongside S. P. Balasubrahmanyam. She gained recognition for "Jallanta Kavvinta" from "Geethanjali" (1989) and then went onto sing several songs. Chithra received her first Nandi Award, presented by Government of Andhra Pradesh for "Kalika Chilakala Koliki" from "Seetharamayya Gari Manavaralu" (1991). She won a total of 11 Nandi Awards as Best Female Playback Singer for various Telugu songs.
Kannada cinema.
Chithra started her journey in Kannada cinema through the film Preethi released in 1986. The duet song "Nee Hacchida Ee Kumkuma" along with S. P. Balasubrahmanyam was composed by G. K. Venkatesh. In the same year, composer M. Ranga Rao offered her two songs in the film Aruna Raaga. This was followed by "Sheela O My Sheela", a duet song with K. J. Yesudas and composed by Bappi Lahiri for the Dwarakish directorial fantasy-adventure film Africadalli Sheela. Throughout the 1990s, she went on to become a notable singer in Kannada film industry with her perfection in diction and finesse. Her solos and duets with S. P. Balasubrahmanyam made her famous and she received great acclaim for portraying great deal of nativity in her singing. For the 1986 Kannada film Sathkaara, composer Satyam called upon her to sing a duet song along with K. J. Yesudas and since then, Chithra has recorded around 2000 songs in Kannada film industry. Her most frequent collaborations in Kannada has been with Hamsalekha, V. Manohar and her duet songs have been largely with S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Rajesh Krishnan. She is fondly referred to as "Gaana Kogile" and " Kannada Kogile" in Kannada cinema industry.
Hindi cinema.
Chithra was introduced to Hindi film music in 1985; she recorded her first Hindi song composed by S. P. Venkitesh, which was not commercially released. For the 1991 Hindi film "Love", composers Anand-Milind, called upon her to sing duets song along with S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and since then, Chithra has recorded for around 200 Bollywood songs. Then she went on recording some Hindi songs under A. R. Rahman's compositions from 1991 to 1995, her breakthrough in Hindi film music came through "Kehna Hi Kya" from the film "Bombay" (1995), which was highly successful in the North Indian region and gave her an identity in Bollywood film industry. For the song "Payalein Chunmun" recorded in the 1997 film "Virasat", Chithra received the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer and became the only South India based female singer till date to achieve the feat. Her most number of Hindi songs were recorded for Anu Malik, the most notable being her voice recorded for eight songs out of eleven in the soundtrack of "Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon" in 2003.
Some of Chithra's Hindi songs include "Ye Haseen Wadiyan" from "Roja", "Yaaron Sun Lo" from "Rangeela", "Hum Tumse Na" from "Ziddi", "Payale Chunmun" from "Virasat" (she won a National Award, Star Screen Award and the nomination for FilmfareAwards for her rendition), "Raat Ka Nasha" from "Aśoka", "Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya (sad version)", "Rang De Basanti" title track, "Mere Dil Ka Tumse Hi Kehna" from "Armaan" , "Mere Dil Ka Tumse Hi Kehna" from the film "Armaan" In the composition of Rajesh Roshan, she has sung "Koi Mil Gaya" title song of the film "Koi... Mil Gaya" for which she won Bollywood Movie Awards, MTV Immies Award and the nomination for Filmfare Awards. "Tum Bin Jiya Jaye Kaise" from the film "Tum Bin" topped the charts and she was lauded for her expressive rendition.
Apart from film songs, Chithra recorded for many private albums of which "Piya Basanti" and "Sunset Point" became hugely popular and went on to win several laurels including the MTV Music Video Awards. The popularity of the former album made her known among the Northern part of Indians identify her as "Piya Basanti" Chitra.
Music company.
In 1995 Chithra established the Audiotracs Music Company in Chennai. Audiotracs is producing albums in the non-film space. All of Chitra's non-film albums are produced by this company.
Artistry.
Work and association with music directors.
Chithra has sung more than 25,000 songs in number of Indian languages. But predominately she works in South Indian film industry. Chithra has the fame of working with huge number of music directors across India. She has recorded maximum number of songs to the music directors like A. R. Rahman, Ilayaraja, M. M. Keeravani, Koti, S. V. Krishna Reddy, Hamsalekha, Raveendran, Johnson, Sharreth, S. A. Rajkumar, Manisharma, Vidyasagar, Deva, Devi Sri Prasad, Mickey J Meyer in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. She has worked with Laxmikant–Pyarelal, Anu Malik, Anand-Milind, Rajesh Roshan, Jatin-Lalit, Pritam, Sandesh Shandilya, Nadeem-Shravan, Nikhil-Vinay, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Anand Raaj Anand, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Shantanu Moitra and A. R. Rehman in Hindi.
She has recorded huge number of duets with singers like S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, K. J. Yesudas, M. G. Sreekumar, Mano, Hariharan, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, Rajesh Krishnan, Karthik, P. Unnikrishnan, Shankar Mahadevan, Vijay Yesudas in all Indian languages. Chithra, Mano, S.P.Balasubrahmanyam have a special fame of recording all the songs in one film dominatly from 1990 to 1997 mostly in Telugu, Kannada and few Tamil films. She has even recorded hit female duets with P. Susheela, Vani Jairam, S. Janaki, S. P. Sailaja, Sujatha Mohan, Shreya Ghoshal, Shweta Mohan, Swarnalatha, Minmini, Sadhana Sargam, kavita Krishnamurthy, Anuradha Paudwal, Alisha Chinai, Harini, Sunidhi Chauhan, Alka Yagnik, Madhushree, Sunitha Upadrashta in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam & Hindi. The most successful duet combination was S.P.B-Chithra duo in Telugu and Kannada especially.
They have a fame of recording 2,500 songs to composers Raj-Koti where in total Raj-Koti composed 3,000 songs. Chithra sang some rare duets with the legendary actor and singer Dr.Rajkumar in Kannada.
Performances in concerts (India & abroad).
Apart from playback singing, she also appeared among the panel of judges in the singing reality television shows at Kerala ("Idea Star Singer" and "Josco Indian Voice"), at Tamil Nadu ("Airtel Super Singer Junior"), where she also won the award for Best Female Judge and at Andhra Pradesh (MAA TV) "Super Singer". Apart from this judgement panel she has appeared in music-shows like Swarabhishekam, Super Masti, Jhumandi Nadam. She is a regular singer in Ilayaraja's, A.R. Rahman's and S.P. Balasubrahmanyam's concerts. She has performed all over the world in SPB's concerts along with S. P. Sailaja, S. P. Charan. She has been a regular singer participating in all the concerts of SPB50-The World Tour, she has performed almost all around the world with S. P. B. Charan, S. P. Sailaja, Sunitha Upadrashta Karthik & Shweta Mohan.
Studio albums.
Chithra recorded her first studio album with Voodoo Rapper for the album called "Ragga Raaga" in 1993. She recorded the albums in Hindi, "Piya Basanti" (2000) and "Sunset Point". She associated with Ustad Sultan Khan for "Piya Basanti" which was certified Gold. "Sunset Point" had eight songs written and narrated by Gulzar and sung by Chithra and Bhupinder. In 2006, she released an album in dedication to M. S. Subbulakshmi named "My Tribute". It is a collection of "Kritis" and "bhajans" dedicated to Subbulakshmi. In 2009 she released "Nightingale: A Salute to Lataji", a musical tribute to Lata Mangeshkar on her 80th birthday. She also recorded many Malayalam albums for K. J. Yesudas, M. Jayachandran and Sharreth compositions. She also planned a ghazal album with Ghulam Ali and Asha Bhosle.
Association with A. R. Rahman.
Chithra has an extensive history of collaboration with A. R. Rahman.
Philanthropy.
Chithra, along with a Kerala-based satellite channel, Asianet Cable Vision (ACV), jointly launched a fundraising organisation, Sneha Nandana, to raise funds for the welfare of retired musicians who have lost their careers due to changes in the music industry. She launched this organisation on the occasion of her completion of three decades in the music playback industry. She said that the fund would provide help to the musicians with financial impediments and those suffering from health problems. A cultural event called Chithra Pournami was held on 15 February 2011 at Thiruvananthapuram to celebrate the 30th year of her career and also to launch this organisation.
Personal life.
Chithra is married to Vijayashankar, an engineer and businessman and settled in Chennai. They had a daughter Nandana, who was born with down's syndrome. Her daughter died in a pool accident due to drowning in Dubai in 2011 when Chithra was about to perform at an A. R. Rahman's concert.
Awards, honors, and recognition.
Chithra is a recipient of six National Film Awards (most by any female singer in India), eight Filmfare Awards South and 36 different state film awards. She has won all the four south Indian state film awards. She was honored with India's civilian honor Padma Shri in 2005 and Padma Bhushan in 2021. She is the first Indian woman who was honored by House of Commons, British Parliament, United Kingdom in 1997. She is the only singer from India who was honored by the Government of China at the Qinghai International Music and Water Festival in 2009. She is conferred with highest honour of Rotary International "FOR THE SAKE OF HONOUR AWARD" in 2001. she is the only singer from South India who has received the MTV Video Music Award – International Viewer's Choice at Metropolitan Opera House, New York, United States in 2001. She was conferred with the Doctor of Letters (honorary degree) by Sathyabama University in 2011 and The International Tamil University, United States in 2018.
In 2018, she was honoured by Mr. Craig Coughlin, Speaker of the General Assembly, New Jersey, United States. In 2019, she was honoured by Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, sovereign ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah and is a member of the Federal Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates, for successfully completing 40 years in Indian Film Industry. She is the only South Indian female singer who has presented her maiden concert at the world's prestigious concert hall Royal Albert Hall in London in 2001. Her song "Kannalane/Kehna Hi Kya" from the film "Bombay" (1995) was included in "The Guardian" "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear Before You Die" list.
Filmography.
Chitra made cameo appearance in few films, mostly as singer.