Kavita Krishnamurthy

Kavita Krishnamurti is an Indian film playback singer who has sung songs in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, English, Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Nepali, Bengali,Assamese, Konkani and Odiya Etc. Trained in classical music, Kavita Krishnamurti has recorded more than 25,000 songs in 16 languages in a career span of 30 years. She is the recipient of four Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Awards, including three consecutive awards in the period 1994–1996, and the Padmashri which she received in 2005. In 1999, she married violinist L. Subramaniam and residing in Bengaluru.

Kavita was born Sharada in a Tamil Iyer family in New Delhi, India to T.S. Krishnamurti, an employee of the Education Ministry. She began her music training at the insistence of her aunt, Protimma Bhattacharya who enrolled her with Suruma Basu, who taught her Rabindra Sangeet. She began her formal training in Hindustani classical music under Balram Puri, a classical singer.At the young age of eight, Kavita won a gold medal at a music competition. She won many medals participating in the Inter-Ministry Classical Competition in New Delhi in the mid 1960s.

During her college days at St. Xavier College, Mumbai, she got an opportunity to record a song in the Bengali film Shriman Prithviraj in 1971 with singer Lata Mangeshkar as co-singer under the auspices of the music composer and singer Hemant Kumar. Although the young Sharada aspired to work in Indian Foreign Services, she moved to Bombay when she was 14 to try her luck as a playback singer in the Hindi film industry.

She is an alumnus of St. Xavier's College, Bombay from where she did her BA Honors Economics. She was very active in the St. Xavier's Music Group during her college days. During the annual college festival (Malhar), she met Ranu Mukherjee, the daughter of Hemant Kumar. Ranu took the initiative of reintroducing Kavita to her father. He was impressed by her grounding in music, so he began using her as a singer during his live performances. In one such performance, playback singer Manna Dey spotted her and employed her to sing advertisement jingles. Through her aunt's strong contacts, she met Jaya Chakravarthy, the mother of actress Hema Malini, who later took the initiative of introducing Kavita to the music director Laxmikant (one of the composer duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal) in late 1976.

Playback singing

Laxmikant gave her an opportunity to work as a dubbing artist. Kavita impressed Laxmikant with her extremely strong grasp of Hindustani classical music. Initially, she recorded songs and cut demos of songs intended for singers like Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle. In her struggling phase, she received the patronage of music composers Laxmikant—Pyarelal, who backed her so strongly that she was labelled as a singer exclusively working with them. This gave many music directors an excuse to avoid working with her.

In 1978, she first sang the Kannada song "Ondanondu kaaladaga" in the film Ondanondu Kaladalli (Meaning: Once upon a time) directed by Girish Karnad.The song penned by Jnanpit awardee Chandrashekhara Kambara and music by Bhaskar Chandavarkar. Being the only song in the entire movie, Ondanondu kaladaga with its folk touch, became a hit and earned fame for Kavita Krishnamurti. Then she went on to sing so many Kannada songs.

In 1980, she sang the song, "Kaahe Ko Byaahi" in the film Maang Bharo Sajana (1980) - Kaahe Ko Byaahi, which featured her singing in her own voice. Unfortunately, the song was dropped from the final cut of the film. In 1985, her career took off with her first major hit, "Tumse Milkar Na Jaane Kyon" from the Hindi film Pyaar Jhukta Nahin (1985) - Tumse milkar.Na Jaane kyun Post the success of the song, it opened up opportunities beyond the Laxmikant–Pyarelal camp. However, "Hawa Hawaii" and "Karte Hain Hum Pyaar Mr. India Se", two popular songs from the equally popular movie Mr. India (1986) - Karte Hain Hum pyaar Mr. India se, roved to be a turning point in her career. (The songs were composed by music composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal, the latter being a duet with Kishore Kumar and lip-synced on screen by actress Sridevi.) Her collaboration with Laxmikant-Pyarelal produced several hits.

The 1990s thrust Kavita into being known as one of the leading female playback singers. Her performance as a singer in the film 1942: A Love Story, composed by R.D. Burman won her much popular acclaim. With a string of hits from 1942: A Love Story, Yaraana, Agni Sakshi, Bhairavi, and Khamoshi, Kavita established herself as the leading female playback singer alongside Alka Yagnik. She went on to work with several music directors of Hindi films of the 1990s, such as Bappi Lahiri, Anand-Milind, A. R. Rahman, Rajesh Roshan, Raamlaxman, Ismail Darbar, Himesh Reshammiya, Aadesh Shrivastava, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin Lalit, Viju Shah and Anu Malik. Her work with A. R. Rahman and Ismail Darbar remains some of the most critically acclaimed renditions of the last two decades. During her stint as a playback singer, she sang duets with the leading male singers of her times. Early in her career, she sang duets with Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, and Shailendra Singh. Her most prolific work was with the leading singers of the 1990s: Amit Kumar, Mohammad Aziz, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, and Abhijeet Bhattacharya. She has also sung extensively with younger singers in the 2000s such as Sonu Nigam, Shaan, and Babul Supriyo. Her female duets mostly have been with Alka Yagnik, Anuradha Paudwal and Sadhana Sargam with a few duets also with Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle. During the 90s, Kavita alongside Alka Yagnik and Poornima sang the most for leading ladies.

After her marriage to violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam in Bangalore on 11 November 1999, Kavita got extremely selective and cut down on her film singing. She started expanding her artistic range to areas which were never explored. She was the main featured soloist in the Global Fusion album released by Warner Bros. featuring musicians from five continents. As she actively started exploring fusion music, Kavita traveled around the world including to the US, UK, UAE, Europe, Africa, Australia, East Asia, the Middle East, and South America. She performed in concert halls including Royal Albert Hall in London, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Madison Square Garden, The Lincoln Center in New York City, the Zhongshan Music Hall in Beijing, The Esplanade in Singapore, The Putra Jaya World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, and Gewandhaus Leipzigm.

Although primarily a playback singer, Kavita has sung with orchestras as a soloist; she collaborated with Western artists from jazz, pop and classical fields. She has lent her voice for many an album. As a playback singer, Kavita has performed throughout India. In 2014, she also sang a song titled "Koi Chahat Koi Hasrat" for the album Women's Day Special: Spreading Melodies Everywhere. It was composed by Nayab Raja and penned by Dipti Mishra.

In Kannada

Kavita's playback singing career had started with Kannada films. Her first film song was in the Kannada film Ondanondu kaladalli (1978) with the same title. She has sung many hit songs in Kannada since then. Songs like "Bareyada mounada Kavithe" (Sparsha), "Hoove Hoove" (H2O), "Endo Kanda kanasu" (Lankesh Patrike), "O malle o dumbi" ('Naga Devate'), "Artha madkolo" (Shishya), "Kaveri Kaveri" (Raja Huli) and many more superhit songs made her name house hold in Karnataka.

Pop and devotional singing

Due to her participation in fusion and pop music, Kavita has lent her voice for several pop and devotional albums. The most prominent ones being:

• Bhalobasi
• Dujone Dekha Holo
• Together Tagore
• Premer Neshay
• Mohe Raam Dhun Laagi
• Bhajan Stuti
• Aadi Ganesh
• Venkatesha Suprabhatam
• Shiva Shlokas
• Koi Akela Kahan
• Meera Ka Ram
• Mahalakshmi Stotram
• Pop Time
• Sai Ka Vardaan
• Shagufthagi
• Dil Ki Awaaz
• Hasratein
• Athens
• Asmita
• Mahiya

Kavita Subramaniam has been making appearances in various music reality shows as a guest judge owing to her popularity as a playback singer. She recently was a judge for Bharat Ki Shaan: Singing Star (Season 1), which aired on DD National at prime time. She also appeared in Vijay TV Airtel Super Singer and Colors Bangla Great Music Gurukul. She has also sung for serials like Alif Laila {1980} DD National, Mahabharat, Ramayan (1986), Shri Krishna, and Ramayan (2008), Kavita Krishnamurthy At Know In 2017 Spacial Juries and Judge UAE Singers of Student, The Give as Prices 5,000 Dinar In Winner. She also appeared in Rising Star Season 2 which was broadcast on Colors TV in 4 March 2018 as a guest.

Kavita Krishnamurti married Dr. L. Subramaniam in Bengaluru, Karnataka on 11 November 1999. They have no children. Subramaniam has four children from his previous marriage. His eldest daughter Gingger Shankar is a singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist while Bindu Subramaniam is a law graduate and singer/songwriter. Narayana is a qualified doctor while the youngest, Ambi Subramaniam, is an accomplished violinist. Kavita and her family have settled in Bengaluru since Kavita's marriage. Kavita and her husband have started a music institute, called the Subramaniam Academy of Performing Arts, in Bengaluru in 2007. In March 2013, she launched her own app which is available for free download in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.. She was awarded a Doctorate (Honoris Causa) for her contributions to the Indian Music by Jain University in 2015.

Civilian Awards

• 2005 – Padma Shri – India's fourth highest civilian honours

Filmfare Awards

• 2003– Best Female Playback Singer (shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – "Dola Re Dola" (Devdas)
• 1997 – Best Female Playback Singer – "Aaj Main Upar" (Khamoshi: The Musical)
• 1996 – Best Female Playback Singer – "Mera Piya Ghar Aaya" (Yaraana)
• 1995 – Best Female Playback Singer – "Pyaar Hua Chupke Se" (1942: A Love Story)

Star Screen Awards

• 1997 – Best Female Playback Singer – "Aaj Main Upar" (Khamoshi: The Musical)
• 2000 – Best Female Playback Singer – "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam)

Zee Cine Awards

• 2003 – Best Female Playback Singer (shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – "Dola Re" (Devdas)
• 2000 – Best Female Playback Singer – "Nimbooda" (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam)

IIFA Awards

• 2001 - Best Female Playback Singer - "Aey Dil laya Hai Bahar" (Kya Kehna)
• 2003 – Best Female Playback Singer (shared with Shreya Ghoshal) – "Dola Re Dola" (Devdas)

Other Awards

• Prafulla Kar Samman (2018) Odia Film Industry.
• Phonomenal that's me award for her Contribution To The Kannada film industry
• Swaralaya Yesudas Award (2008) by Swaralaya, for exceptional contribution to Indian music.
• Kishore Kumar Journalists'/Critics' Award in Calcutta (2002)
• Lion's / Club Bollywood Award, held in New York (2000) At The Same year (2002)
• Shri Ravindra Jain Sangeet Samman (2012)
• Lata Mangeshkar Award from the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh (2005)