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SEPTEMBER 2016
I first met Chinmayee at AM Studio during the inaugural
recording with Lathaji. A.R.Rahman who had great regards
for Chinmayee’s voice, introduced Chinmayee to Lathaji. A
very good singer, it is no wonder she is now one of the most
established singers in multiple languages.
I would like to say singing is just one aspect
of this multi talented personality. She is the
voice of some of the very successful actors in
our country including Samantha, Tammana,
Kajal Agarwal and Sameera Reddy to name a
few, as a dubbing artiste. Her ability to emote
so well using her voice is probably what gives
her an added edge in giving so much of feel to
her songs.
In addition to all this she is a successful entrepreneur who runs a translation service venture
called Blue Elephant.
Chinmayee is the grand daughter of
Padmabushan awardee, Sangitha Kalanidhi,
Carnatic music great Dr. Sripada Pinaka Pani
the well know Musician and Musicologist,
which only reiterates that mastery in Carnatic
music is in her blood. Her initial musical training was from her mother. Her mother T.Padmahasini is an accomplished classical singer
and musicologist and has been the motivating
factor in Chinmayee’s life.… her friend, philosopher and guide and even manages her concert
dates and the regular activities at Blue Elephant, which enables the daughter to balance
her time between hectic schedules.
Hindi was again because of Rahman sir in
Mangal Panday. It was a song on Holi. It
was holi ray and thereaftesong
that actually got people to take notice
of me was in Guru ‘tere Bina’ and ‘maiya maiya’. So again a break in Hindi and
Telugu was from Rahman sir.
Q.You have received numerous
awards during your career, what
can you say about your prominent
awards ?
Kannathil muthamittal got me my Tamil
Nadu state Government award. But It was
varayo varayo and sara sara saarakathu
that got me a lot of awards for best female
Playback singer.
She won the Mirchi Music Awards multiple times, Zee cine awards a Film Fare
award for Titli ( Chennai Express), Multi-
Q. We know your Career was launched
by Music Composer A.R.Rahman, how
did it happen, please share your experience with the Genius composer?
A. Thanks to Srinivas sir, who as a judge, saw
me on ‘sapthaswarangal’ programme and introduced me to Rahman Sir. I sang the scratch
for ‘Oru dheivam thandha poove’ in Kannathil
Muthammital and the song was recorded,
when the lyrics came through. So my first ever
song was for Rahman sir. My first break in
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