Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra

Background

She was born on July 27, 1963, in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, into a family of musicians, Chithra's father, the late Krishnan Nair, was also her first guru (teacher).

Education

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.

Career

K.S. Chitra got her initial break in Malayalam film industry as a playback singer when the Music Director M.G. Radhakrishnan invited her to sing a song for a film. From that point in time, she never looked back, and she kept really getting singing opportunities in different Malayalam films. Slowly, she became a regular playback singer in all Malayalam film songs. After the success of her songs in her initial film, K.S. Chitra was called by then existing Music Directors to sing songs for them. Thus, she got opportunities to sing songs for films such as Snehapurvam Meera, Attahasam, and Njaan Ekanaanu. Simultaneously, during that period, she began to accompany K.J. Yesudas in his music concerts. This accompaniment enabled her to gain reputation as a quality singer in worldwide platform. After her success in Yesudas-dotted music concerts, K.S. Chitra was noticed by the senior Music Directors like Jerry Amaldev, Shyam, Mohan Sithara, Raveendran, Johnson, and Kannur Rajan. With their help, she slowly climbed the success ladder to accomplish the stature of a popular playback singer.

K.S. Chitra got her first break in Tamil film industry, when she was called by Ilaiyaraaja to sing a song for a film Neethana Antha Kuyil. This opportunity was materialized for her because of her singing performance in Nokkethadhoorathu Kannum Nattu. The ace Music Director Ilaiyaraaja got so impressed by her song voice quality that he decided to offer her a chance to sing a song for the film Neethana Antha Kuyil. Later on, Chitra got another offer to sing songs for a Tamil remake of Nokkathadhoorathu Kannum Nattu, an ace film directed by Fazil. For the stellar singing performance in the song Chinna Kuyil Paadum in the film Poove Poochudava, she got the pet name Chinna Kuyil (Little Nightingale).

By 1980s, Chitra's reputation as a playback singer grew several folds. By that period, she became an indispensable feature for almost all melodious songs that were rendered. Thus, the nightingale of Kerala began to sing songs for the most famous composers in Malayalam. Simultaneously, she began to sing songs for Ilaiyaraaja in Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages. After hearing a few songs of K. S. Chitra, even the Academy Award winning A. R. Rahman also offered her chances to sing songs for his films also. Chitra's music association with A.R. Rahman became so popular that the director gave her more singing opportunities in his films.

When she was climbing the success ladder in playback singing, K.S. Chitra never antagonized the older stalwarts in film music. Thus, she sang for almost all music directors of the older generation. She sang for veteran composers such as M.B. Srinivas, K.V. Mahadevan, S.P. Venkatesh, G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamoorthy, M.S. Viswanathan, M.M. Keeravani, Bharadhwaj, Deva, Vidhyasagar, etc. As she became a popular playback singer in South India, the ace directors in Bollywood began to take notice of her singing ability. Hence, she ventured into the field of Bollywood playback singing as well. Till date, she has recorded songs for reputed Music Directors in Bollywood such as Anand-Milind, Anu Malik, A.R. Rahman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Rajesh Roshan, R.D. Burman, Viru Shah, Naushad Ali, etc.

After her success in film playback singing, Chitra's voice was liked by the general public. She sang for her first album Raaga Raaga way back in 1993. A song sung by her in a music album directed by Usthad Sultan Khan was rated as Gold in the year 2000. The album in which K.S. Chitra has sung the gold-rated song was Piya Basanthi. In another album titled Sunset Point, she sang 8 songs written, conceived and narrated by the reputed Hindi lyricist Gulzar. K. S. Chitra also has released a collection of Bhajans and Kirtis in memory of the legend Classical Vocalist M.S. Subalakshmi. This collection was titled as My Tribute. Other albums released by her in Hindi include A Salute to Lataji and a Ghazal album. Apart from these, she has also released albums based on the works of K.J. Yesudas, M. Jayachandran and Sharreth.

To help the film artists of yesteryears who have fallen wayward in the rapidly changing world of Indian Cinema, K.S. Chitra has established a fundraising organization. In this noble work, she was helped by a reputed Malayalam channel by the name Asianet Cable Vision (ACV). The name of the organization is Sneha Nandana. This fund-raising organization was formed on the occasion of Chitra completing thirty years of playback singing. This organization was officially launched at a function called Chitra Pournami in the year 2011. In this grand event, many people from the world of cinema participated and hailed the noble cause behind it.

Achievements

• Chithra is a recipient of six National Film Awards, seven Filmfare Awards South and 35 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. She is considered to be the first Indian woman to be honoured by House Of Commons, British Parliament, United Kingdom. She is considered to be the only South Indian female singer who presented her maiden concert in the world's prestigious concert hall Royal Albert Hall in London. She is considered to be the only singer from India who was honoured in Qinghai International Music and Water Festival by the Government of China. Her song "Kannalane/Kehna Hi Kya" from the film Bombay (1995) was included in The Guardian's "1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear" list.

Works

More photos

• album

  • Ormmakal Oodikalikkuvan
  • Hits of K. J. Yesudas and K. S. Chithra
  • Mahishasura Mardini Ashtalakshmi Stotram
  • Yesuvin Snehathal
  • Pon Veene
  • Janmasukruthamam Bhavanayam
  • K.S.Chitra Hit Songs
  • K. S. Chithra Birthday
  • Etho Varmukilin Kinavile
  • Evergreen Solo Songs Of K.S. Chithra

Connections

Chithra is married to Vijayashankar, an engineer and businessman and settled in Chennai. They had a daughter Nandana, who drowned in a pool in Dubai in 2011 when Chithra was about to perform for an A. R. Rahman's concert.

Father:

Krishnan Nair

husband:

Vijayashankar

Daughter:

Nandana