Karthik (singer)

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Karthik
Karthik
Background information
Born	(1980-11-07) 7 November 1980 (age 40)
Origin	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation(s)	Playback singer, composer
Instruments	Vocals, keyboard
Years active	2000–present

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

The Amrita Film Awards honoured Karthik for his versatility in the industry which gave him the opportunity to sing a variety of songs.^[1]

Early life[]

Karthik was born into a Tamil family. Karthik developed an interest in music, early in his life. He is a trained Carnatic music vocalist and has been training since his school days. 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.

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.

Karthik received wide appreciations for the theme song of 10th World Tamil Conference by Composer Rajan Somasundaram from the album Sandham: Symphony Meets Classical Tamil. The album was featured in Amazon's Top#10 International Music albums in July 2020.^[3]

Composing[]

He has composed music for a multi lingual Coca-Cola Advertisement (for Rajeev Menon featuring actor Vijay)^[4] 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.^[5] The Orchestration was done by Music director Sai Madhukar. He also performed in Oxford engineering college Bengaluru.

He has also composed a new song 'Koova'.

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 "Directed by Gautham Vasudhev Menon

Filmography[]

As Composer[]

Year	Tamil	Telugu	Hindi	Malayalam	Notes
2012	Aravaan •	Eka Veera	Jungle-The Battleground
2013		Okkadine •	Aur Ek Dushman	Kanalattam
2016	Tamilselvanum Thaniyar Anjalum •[6]	Courier Boy Kalyan •	Courier Boy Kalyan
2020	Paava Kadhaigal (Vaanmagal)
2021	Kutty Story (Edhirpaara Muththam)
	Joshua Imai Pol Kaakha •
	Navarasa (Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru)

• The films are listed in order that the music released, regardless of the dates the film released.
• The year next to the title of the affected films indicates the release year of the either dubbed or remade version in the named language later than the original version.
• • indicates original language release. Indicates simultaneous makes, if featuring in more languages
• ♦ indicates a remade version, the remaining ones being dubbed versions

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[]

• He co-judges some Musical Shows Occasionally.
• 2016 He co-judges the Musical Show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs with Vijay Prakash and Sujatha Mohan
• 2017-2018 He co-judges the Musical Show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Seniors with Vijay Prakash and Srinivas
• 2018 He co-judges the Musical Show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs Season 2 with Vijay Prakash, Srinivas and Sujatha Mohan
• 2019 He co-judges the Musical Show Sun Singer Season 6 with Mano and Remya Nambesan

Awards[]

• Filmfare Awards South

Year	Category	Language	Song	Film
2005	Best Male Playback Award	Tamil	Oru Maalai	Ghajini
2007	Best Male Playback Award (Telugu)	Telugu	Arey Rey	Happy Days
2008	Best Male Playback Award	Telugu	Nijanga Nenena	Kotha Bangaru Lokam
2009	Best Male Playback Award	Tamil	Hasili Fisili	Aadhavan
2010	Best Male Playback Award	Tamil	Usure Poguthey	Raavanan
2016	Best Male Playback Award (Telugu)	Telugu	Yellipokey Shyamala	A Aa

• Other Awards

Year	Category	Song	Film	Language
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 Singer			Telugu
2009	Tamil Isaiaruvi Music Awards 2010	Hasili Fisili	Aadhavan	Tamil
2009	Vijay Awards 2010			Tamil
2010	Asiavision Awards Best Male Playback Singer	Neelathamara	Neelathaamara	Malayalam
2010	Vijay Music Awards – Popular Singer Male	Usure Poguthey	Raavanan	Tamil
2010	Tamil Nadu State Film Awards – Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Male Playback singer			Tamil
2010	Mirchi Music Awards South – Best Male Playback Singer			Tamil
2011	TSR TV9 National film awards – Best Playback Singer (Male)	Choosthunna	Mogudu	Telugu
2012	Amrita Film Awards 2012[7] – Versatile Singer[8]	various songs	Ordinary, Spanish Masala	Malayalam
2012	Ghantasala Puraskar Award[9] – Young Achiever Award 2012
2012	Mirchi Music Awards South – Best Male Playback Singer	Kaatrai Konjam	Neethane En Ponvasantham	Tamil
2012	Mirchi Music Awards South – Best Upcoming Music Director	Nila Nila	Aravaan	Tamil
2013	Globus Style Awards 2013[10] – Stylish Singer Award			Malayalam
2013	Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer	Janmandarangalil	Orissa	Malayalam
2017	Asiavision Awards Best Male Playback Singer	ee Kaatu	Adam Joan	Malayalam
2018	Mazhavil Music Awards -/Best Male Singer	Kadavathoru thoni	Poomaram	Malayalam

References[]

External links[]

• Karthik at IMDb
• Listing of Karthik's songs in alphabetical order of albums
• Listing of Karthik's songs in alphabetical order of songs