Karthik (singer)

Last updated

Karthik
Karthi rev.JPG
Background information
Born (1980-11-07) 7 November 1980 (age 42)
Origin Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation(s) Playback singer, composer
InstrumentsVocals, keyboard
Years active2000–Present

Karthik (born 7 November 1980) is an Indian playback singer and composer. Karthik started his professional singing career as a backing vocalist and has since been working as a playback singer. He has sung more than 8000 songs in 15 Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Odia, Bengali, Marathi and Hindi. [1]

Contents

Early and personal life

Karthikeyan hails from Tiruvarur district. He is a trained Carnatic music vocalist. He was part of a college band and regularly participated in IIT Madras Fest Saarang . An ardent fan of A. R. Rahman, Karthik's dream was to meet Rahman and sing for him. Playback singer Srinivas, who collaborated often with Rahman was Karthik's close friend's cousin. Srinivas encouraged Karthik to look at singing as a career, which prompted Karthik to resume his singing lessons. One year later, Srinivas recommended Karthik's name to Rahman, who needed fresh voices for backing vocalists for a song from Pukar . Karthik eventually got the opportunity and recorded for the song. Having spent over a year being a backing vocalist, Karthik got his break during the Rahman's scoring of One 2 Ka 4 . For the background score, A. R. Rahman wanted a high-pitched alap and he eventually chose Karthik to sing the alap. Soon after, Rahman asked him to sing the song "Nendhukittaen" from the film Star .

Karthik was a CA aspirant before he became a professional singer. He is married to Ambika, they have a daughter and a son.

Career

Karthik has sung a number of songs for many popular music directors, including A. R. Rahman, Ilaiyaraaja, Hamsalekha, Vidyasagar, Devi Sri Prasad, Harris Jayaraj and Manisharma, in several languages – Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi. "Ennaku Oru Girlfriend" from the Tamil film Boys was one of the biggest hits of the year as was "Oru Maalai" ( Ghajini ; 2005). His songs for Telugu films for Kotha Bangaru Lokam (Nijanga Nenenaa), Happy Days (Arare Arare, Oh My Friend), "Badhulu Tochanai" ( Mr.Perfect ), "Manase Guvvai" ( Naa Peru Shiva ), "Oh Oh My Friend" ( Oh My Friend ), "Yedhuta nlichindhi choodu" ( Vaana ), "Meghama" ( Journey ), "Yevvaro" ( Bodyguard ) are very popular. His other popular songs include "Ava Enna" from the Vaaranam Aayiram (2009), the title track from Unnale Unnale , "Behka" from Ghajini .

Karthik has sung Kannada songs and has many super hit chart buster songs to his credit like Ale Ale, Anuraaga Aralo Samaya, Thangaliyalli Theli Hode, Nee Chummu Chummu Munjaaneli, Manasaithu Ninna Myaale, Sum Sumne Yaako, Hosadondu hesaridu Nanange, Kanne Koodiruvaaga, Madhumasa, Nenapidu Nenapidu, Thanthaane Thannamthaane, Baruve Odi Odi Nalidu, Raktha Sambandhagala, Saluge Saluge, Mannige Mara Bhaarave and many more.

In 2010, he sang a track "Behene De", from Hindi film Raavan , which is widely considered as the biggest song in his career. [2] The track, which topped music charts for many continuous weeks, also received rave critical reviews. [2] Karthik also performed the Tamil and Telugu versions of the same song, titled "Usure Poghudhey" and "Usire Poyene" respectively. He also sang "Adhigora Choodu" in the movie Mirapakaay.

The song Yayum Ngayum from the album Sandham: Symphony Meets Classical Tamil is considered as one of Karthik's career best for the way how he has brought sensuality to the 2000 year old poetry. He received wide appreciations for the theme song of 10th World Tamil Conference from the same album Sandham: Symphony Meets Classical Tamil. The album was featured in Amazon's Top#10 International Music albums in July 2020. [3] [4]

Composing

He has composed music for a multi lingual Coca-Cola Advertisement (for Rajeev Menon featuring actor Vijay) [5] and Prince Jewellery advertisements. He is the music director of Vasanthabalan's period film Aravaan and Srinivas Raga's Okkadine starring Nara Rohit and Nithya Menen in Telugu.

He has also released an album called "Music I Like". It is based on carnatic ragaas and it is a contemporary take on some well known keerthanas. The orchestration was done by the music director Sai Madhukar. [6]

He is the composer of the segment 'Guitar Kambi mele Nindru' directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon in the Netflix anthology movie Navarasa (2021). He has also composed music for an upcoming film "Joshua Imai Pol Kaakha".

Filmography

As composer

Year Tamil Telugu Hindi Malayalam Notes
2012 Aravaan Eka VeeraJungle-The Battleground
2013 Okkadine Aur Ek DushmanKanalattam
2016 Tamilselvanum Thaniyar Anjalum [7] Courier Boy Kalyan Courier Boy Kalyan
2020 Paava Kadhaigal (Vaanmagal)
2021 Kutty Story (Edhirpaara Muththam)
Joshua Imai Pol Kaakha
Navarasa (Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru)

As independent musician

Karthik is a part of a band called Arka which is a contemporary fusion band.

Arka denotes the Sun in Sanskrit and to rightly interpret the meaning, it is the warmth and radiance of music that spreads across everyone listening. With the exclusive intention of extending a new musical outreach, few renowned artists in unison have created this band and intend to broaden the horizons of Indian fusion music.

Arka is the epicenter of an erupting musical form with core and artists like Karthik, SelvaGanesh, Gino Banks, Ravichandra Kulur, Santhosh Chandran, Mishko M'Ba, and guest artists like the legends Vikku Vinayakaram and Swaminathan.

As dubbing artist

Dubbed and sang for the character Aladdin for its 2019 version.

Television

Zee Tamil

Awards

YearCategoryLanguageSongFilm
2005 Best Male Playback Award TamilOru Maalai Ghajini
2007 Best Male Playback Award (Telugu) TeluguArey Rey Happy Days
2008 Best Male Playback Award TeluguNijanga Nenena Kotha Bangaru Lokam
2009 Best Male Playback Award TamilHasili Fisili Aadhavan
2010 Best Male Playback Award TamilUsure Poguthey Raavanan
2016 Best Male Playback Award (Telugu) TeluguYellipokey Shyamala A Aa
YearCategorySongFilmLanguage
2003 ITFA Best Male Playback Award Oru Ooril Kaakha Kaakha Tamil
2007 Nandi Award for Best Male Playback Singer Oh..My Friend Happy Days Telugu
2008 CineMAA Awards – Best Male Playback SingerTelugu
2009Tamil Isaiaruvi Music Awards 2010Hasili Fisili Aadhavan Tamil
2009Vijay Awards 2010Tamil
2010 Asiavision Awards Best Male Playback SingerNeelathamara Neelathaamara Malayalam
2010 Vijay Music Awards – Popular Singer MaleUsure Poguthey Raavanan Tamil
2010 Tamil Nadu State Film AwardsTamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Male Playback singerTamil
2010 Mirchi Music Awards South – Best Male Playback SingerTamil
2011TSR TV9 National film awards – Best Playback Singer (Male)Choosthunna Mogudu Telugu
2012Amrita Film Awards 2012 [9] – Versatile Singer [10] various songsOrdinary, Spanish Masala Malayalam
2012Ghantasala Puraskar Award[ citation needed ] – Young Achiever Award 2012
2012 Mirchi Music Awards South – Best Male Playback SingerKaatrai Konjam Neethane En Ponvasantham Tamil
2012 Mirchi Music Awards South – Best Upcoming Music DirectorNila Nila Aravaan Tamil
2013Globus Style Awards 2013 [11] – Stylish Singer AwardMalayalam
2013 Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer Janmandarangalil Orissa Malayalam
2017Asiavision Awards Best Male Playback Singeree Kaatu Adam Joan Malayalam
2018Mazhavil Music Awards -/Best Male SingerKadavathoru thoni Poomaram Malayalam
2021SIIMA Award for Best Male Playback Singer- TamilAnbe Anbin Peranbu Tamil

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuvan Shankar Raja</span> Indian composer and singer-songwriter

Yuvan Shankar Raja, is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer-songwriter. He mainly scores music for Tamil films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Western music elements and often credited with having introduced hip hop to the Tamil film and music industry and started the "era of remixes" in Tamil Nadu. Yuvan has won two Filmfare Awards South, five Mirchi Music Awards South, four Vijay Awards and three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shankar Mahadevan</span> Indian singer and composer

Shankar Mahadevan is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harris Jayaraj</span> Indian music composer

Harris Jayaraj is an Indian composer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He composes soundtracks predominantly for Tamil films, while also having composed for a few films in Telugu and two films in Hindi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sujatha Mohan</span> Indian playback singer

Sujatha Mohan is an Indian playback singer who is popular for singing in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu movies. She has also sung for Kannada, Badaga, Hindi and Marathi and more languages movies. In a career spanning 48 years, she has recorded more than 20,000 songs to date.

<i>Unnale Unnale</i> 2007 Indian film

Unnale Unnale is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language romantic musical film.The movie is directed and co-written by Jeeva and produced by Oscar Ravichandran. It stars Vinay, Sadha and Tanisha Mukherjee in lead roles; Srinath, Raju Sundaram and Sathish Krishnan in supporting roles; and Lekha Washington, Aravind Akash, Uma Padmanabhan, and Vasundhara Kashyap in cameo roles. Raju Sundaram also worked as a choreographer in the film. The Telugu dubbed version was titled Neevalle Neevalle and released simultaneously with the Tamil version.

G. V. Prakash Kumar is an Indian composer, actor, producer and singer known for his work in Tamil films and a few Telugu films as well. His first film was S Pictures' Veyil (2006) and he became popular in Tamil cinema by the early 2010s. He made his debut in acting on 2015 through Darling. He has won one National Award and three Filmfare Awards in his film career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vijay Prakash</span> Indian singer and music composer

Vijay Prakash is an Indian Playback singer and also a Music Composer from Karnataka. He has given his voice for predominantly Kannada and Telugu language films. In addition, he has also sung in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Marathi. He is one of the judges for the Kannada reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee Kannada. He has also performed shows with Zakir Hussain. Prakash won the Karnataka Government's 'Best Playback Singer' award for the year 2016 for the song "Nammooralli Chaligaladalli" from the film Beautiful Manasugalu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Javed Ali</span> Indian playback singer

Javed Ali is an Indian playback singer who predominantly sings in Hindi. He has also sung in various Indian languages including Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. Jayachandran</span> Indian music composer

Madhusoodanan Jayachandran is an Indian composer, singer, and musician. He has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director for a record number of nine times. In 2005, he also won the state award for best male singer. In 2015, he won the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the film Ennu Ninte Moideen. He has composed music for 126 films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Srinivas (singer)</span> Musical artist

Srinivasan Doraiswamy, known by his stage name Srinivas, is an Indian playback singer who has sung over 2000 songs in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. He has also worked independently as a music composer, working on films and private albums.

<i>Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa</i> 2010 film by Gautham Menon

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa is a 2010 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, starring Silambarasan and Trisha. Jointly produced by Elred Kumar, Jayaraman, VTV Ganesh and P. Madan under the banner Escape Artists Motion Pictures and RS Infotainment, the film was distributed by Udhayanidhi Stalin's Red Giant Movies. The story was simultaneously shot in Telugu as Ye Maaya Chesave, starring Naga Chaitanya and Samantha, however, with a different cast.

MK Balaji is an Indian singer, songwriter, composer and independent artist from Chennai. As a playback singer he has sung more than 200 songs in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. His first song a lyricist was for the movie Sethupathi. He has hosted popular TV shows in Star Vijay and Zee Tamil. He made a debut as an indie artist with his single Good Naai bad Aadu that takes a fun jab at meat eating animal lovers.

<i>Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa</i> (soundtrack) 2010 soundtrack album by A. R. Rahman

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa is the soundtrack of the 2010 Tamil romance film of the same name, directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon. The soundtrack album and background score were composed by A. R. Rahman, collaborating with Menon for the first time. The lyrics for the songs were penned by Menon's usual associate, Thamarai along with Kalyani Menon and Kaithapram, the latter penning the Malayalam lyrics in the album. The album was released on 25 December 2009 in London with several film personalities participating at the grand function. It was the first time that a Tamil film audio release was held in London. It was followed by an audio launch function which was also held in Chennai on 6 January 2010. Sony Music released the album worldwide. The album opened to critical acclaim from music critics. The audio was marked as #1 in Asia, in terms of advance bookings. The album was ranked among the best musicals of 2010. A collector's edition of the film was released on 1 December 2010, which featured two unreleased tracks. The same soundtrack album was reused in the simultaneous Telugu version Ye Maaya Chesave (2010) and its Hindi remake Ekk Deewana Tha (2011).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bela Shende</span> Indian singer of Bollywood and regional films

Bela Shende is an Indian playback singer. She performed several songs in Bollywood and regional films. "Mann Mohana" from the film Jodhaa Akbar, "Su Che" from the film What's Your Raashee?, "Wajle Ki Baara" and "Apsara Aali" from Natarang are some of her famous songs. In 2014 she was awarded the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Khurkhura" from the Marathi film Tuhya Dharma Koncha.

<i>Jigarthanda</i> (2014 film) Indian crime drama by Karthik Subbaraj

Jigarthanda is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by Kathiresan's Group, features Siddharth, Bobby Simha, Lakshmi Menon, Karunakaran and Guru Somasundaram. Gavemic U. Ary was the film's cinematographer, making his debut in Tamil cinema, and Vivek Harshan was the film's editor. Santhosh Narayanan composed the songs and background score.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gopika Poornima</span> Indian playback singer

Gopika Poornima is an Indian singer who mostly sings for Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada language films. She became popular with the singing competition Padutha Theeyaga. Her husband Mallikarjun is also a singer and composer in Telugu Film Industry.

<i>Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs</i> Indian TV series or program

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs is an 2016 Indian-Tamil language musical reality TV game show, which airs on Zee Tamil. The show based on the Hindi Language show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs. The series is meant for young children between the ages of 5–14 years, which judges the children on the basis of their voice quality, singing talent and versatility in performance. The show was premiered on 24 December 2016.

Kalyani Menon was an Indian playback singer who worked in the Indian film industry. After beginning her career in the 1970s as a classical singer, Kalyani established a parallel career as a singer in the film industry and worked extensively with A. R. Rahman during the late 1990s and early 2000s. She was awarded Kalaimamani Award in 2010 and was also a recipient of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanjith Hegde</span> Indian singer

Sanjith Hegde is an Indian playback singer from Bangalore, Karnataka. Sanjith Hegde has rendered film songs in several Indian languages and has several chart hits to his credit. He has sung songs in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. His rendition of "Gunu Gunuguva" from the film Dalapathi composed by Charan Raj topped the music charts for a year. Sanjith won the Gaana Mirchi Music Award for the Best Upcoming Male Vocalist for the song "Kush Kush" from the movie Chamak composed by Judah Sandhy.

Sarvam Thaala Mayam is the soundtrack album for the 2019 Tamil film of the same name. The soundtrack consists of six feature songs along with instrumental tracks. The film's director Menon composed a song that Rahman curated.

References

  1. "Amrita Film Awards will honour Singer Karthik today with the Best Versatile SInger Award". Amrita. Chennai, India. 5 May 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Karthik is on a high". The Times of India . 23 May 2010. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  3. "உலக கலைஞர்களின், கணீர் குரலில் உலகத் தமிழ் ஆராய்ச்சி மாநாட்டு பாடல்". 4 June 2019.
  4. "Sandham: Music Review". 4 June 2019.
  5. "Karthik to score for Vijay – Behindwoods.com – Tamil Movies News – Karthik Vijay Rajiv Menon". Behindwoods.com. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  6. Music I Like – Buy online at. Landmarkonthenet.com (28 September 2011). Retrieved on 25 September 2012.
  7. "Success as a singer never made me complete". The Times of India. 2 October 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  8. India, The Hans (19 February 2022). "Telugu 'Indian Idol' to get started from February 25". www.thehansindia.com. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  9. "Amrita TV Film Awards". Amrita TV. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  10. "amrita tv film awards 2012 photos00-354.JPG – Kerala9.com". kerala9.com.
  11. "Globus Style Awards 2013, Event Gallery, Globus Style Awards 2013, KS Ravikumar". behindwoods.com.