Chitra Iyer (also credited as Chitra Sivaraman) is an Indian

playback singer A playback singer, as they are usually known in South Asian cinema, or ghost singer in Western cinema, is a singer whose performance is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and the performers lip-sync the ...

who has worked in Indian and Italian films across five different industries primarily in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

. A resident of

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, Chitra worked extensively with

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

during the early 2000s on his Tamil films, while also having an alternate career as a television host and actress on Malayalam television.

Career

Early in her career, Chitra Iyer attempted to reach out to composer

to work with him, but found it difficult as she was based out of

. In 2000, Rahman initiated contact with Chitra and invited her to come to Chennai with a demo cassette of her work, with Chitra recording a series of Tamil and Malayalam songs. On the day of her visit to Chennai, Rahman immediately heard the songs and hired her to record for the song "Athini Sithini" for the film ''

Thenali ''Thenali'' () is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language comedy film directed and co-written by K. S. Ravikumar. The film stars Kamal Haasan, Jayaram, Devayani and Jyothika, with Delhi Ganesh, Charle, Ramesh Khanna and Madhan Bob in supporting roles. I ...

'' (2000) during the same evening. She subsequently continued to work for other composers in Tamil cinema including

Karthik Raja Karthik Raja (born 29 June 1973) is an Indian composer and playback singer based in Chennai. He made his debut as a film composer in the Tamil film ''Pandiyan'' (1992) and went on to score music for many critically and commercially acclaimed f ...

Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja (born 31 August 1979), is an Indian composer and playback singer. He mainly scores music for Tamil films along with few Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use o ...

, Bharadwaj and

Vidyasagar Vidyasagar or Vidya Sagar may refer to: People *Acharya Vidyasagar (born 1946), prominent Digambar Jain Acharya (1946-) *Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820–1891), Bengali scholar *Vidyasagar (composer) (born 1963), South Indian music director * C ...

under her post-marriage name of Chitra Sivaraman. Furthermore, apart from in her mother tongue of Tamil, Chitra continued to sing playback for Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi films. In the Malayalam entertainment industry, she had an alternate career as an anchor of a Malayalam singing show, ''Jeeva's Sapta Swarangal'' and hosted it under her maiden name, Chitra Iyer. Having done her education in Kerala, she had a good foundation in the Malayalam language, with her work on the show leading to further opportunities to sing for films.

Personal life

Chitra Iyer is married to former Air Force pilot Vinod Sivaraman since 12 July 1989. The pair met at the insistence of their parents at Chennai Gymkhana Club in early 1989, and have since had two daughters Aditi and Anjali. Anjali is known for her performance in the 2023 Netflix series ''

Class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

''. In recent years, alongside her television commitments, Chitra has worked as the founder and trustee of the Society for Elephant Welfare in Kerala. She has also promoted farming with the state, supporting a project launched by her mother Rohini Iyer. Likewise, she launched a software company, Darkhorse Productions, in 2013 alongside her daughters Aditi and Anjali Sivaraman.

Notable discography

;Tamil ;Malayalam

Television

*Sapthaswarangal (Asianet) as Host * Idea Star singer 2006 (Asianet) as Judge *Voice of Kerala (Surya TV) as Judge *Sangeetha Mahayudham (Surya TV) as Team Captain *

Malayalee House ''Malayalee House'' was an Indian Malayalam TV reality show which aired on Surya TV. It was an adaptation of ''Big Brother (TV series), Big Brother''. The first season started airing on 5 May 2013, and ended on 30 August 2013. Revathi was the h ...

(Surya TV) as Contestant *Super Star Global (Amrita TV) as Judge *Flowers Oru Kodi (Flowers TV) as Contestant ; Other TV Shows as guest * JB Junction *

Onnum Onnum Moonu ''Onnum Onnum Moonu'' is an Indian celebrity talk show hosted by singer '' Rimy Tomy'' on Mazhavil Manorama. The first season of the show began airing on 7 the April 2013 and has completed four seasons. ''Onnum Onnum Moonu'' is all based on ...

* Symphony * Ente Daivam * Tharapakittu * Annonyam * Tarang * Thara Dambathimarude Samsthana Sammelanam She has also performed in a few

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

Television shows as Performer ;TV serials -

Filmography

*2005 - Athira X C (Malayalam) - telefilm *2007 -

Rathri Mazha ''Rathri Mazha'' () is a 2007 Indian Malayalam-language film by Lenin Rajendran starring Vineeth and Meera Jasmine in lead roles. Rathri Mazha was chosen as one of the Indian entries for the Asian, African and Latin American Competition segment o ...

(Malayalam) as Mohini Natyamandir *2009 -

Makante Achan ''Makante Achan'' () is a 2009 Indian Malayalam-language comedy drama film directed by V. M. Vinu, written by Samjad Narayanan, and produced by Seven Arts International. It stars Vineeth Sreenivasan, Sreenivasan and Suhasini in the lead roles ...

(Malayalam) as herself *2010 -

Kaaryasthan ''Kaaryasthan'' () is a 2010 Malayalam-language action comedy film written by the duo Udaykrishna–Sibi K. Thomas and directed by debutant Thomson K. Thomas. It stars Dileep, Siddique, Madhu, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Biju Menon. It was Dileep's ...

(Malayalam) as herself *2011 -

Makaramanju ''Makaramanju'' () is a 2011 Malayalam language romantic drama film written and directed by Lenin Rajendran. The film is about a certain stage in the life of a celebrated painter, Raja Ravi Varma. It also narrates the story of the epic character ...

(Malayalam) as Rukku Bai *2012 -

Casanovva ''Casanovva'' (also known as ''Confident Casanovva'') is a 2012 Indian Malayalam-language romantic action thriller film directed by Rosshan Andrrews and written by Bobby & Sanjay. It was produced by Roy C. J. of Confident Group in association ...

(Malayalam) as Salsa Teacher *2012 -

Unnam ''Unnam'' is a 2012 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Sibi Malayil, starring Lal (actor), Lal, Asif Ali (actor), Asif Ali and Sreenivasan. The film is an official remake of the 2007 Hindi film ''Johnny Gaddaar'' which itself was an unc ...

(Malayalam) as Padma *2012 - Arike (Malayalam) as Kalpan's chitta *2018 -

B.Tech A Bachelor of Technology (BTech) is an undergraduate degree that is awarded for a higher education program in engineering. Countries Australia In Australia, the Bachelor of Technology degree is offered by RMIT University, Edith Cowan Unive ...

(Malayalam) as Priya's mother *2021 - Mohan Kumar Fans as herself *2022 -

Jana Gana Mana "" is the national anthem of the Republic of India. It was originally composed as " Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata" in Bengali by polymath and activist Rabindranath Tagore on 11 December 1911. The first stanza of the song " Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata" ...

as Swetha Gupta *2022 -

Meri Awas Suno ''Meri Awas Suno'' () is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language musical drama film written and directed by Prajesh Sen and produced by B. Rakesh. A remake of Bengali language, Bengali film Konttho, ''Konththo'' (2019) by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mu ...

as Prof. Renuka Varma *2024 -

Manorathangal ''Manorathangal'' () is a 2024 Indian Malayalam-language anthology television series. The anthology features nine featurettes based on M. T. Vasudevan Nair's nine short stories: Aswathy V Nair, daughter of M.T. Vasudevan Nair, is the creative ...

as Tamil lady - Anthology series ; Segment : Vilpana

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iyer, Chitra Living people Indian women playback singers Tamil playback singers Kannada playback singers Telugu playback singers Singers from Chennai 21st-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers Women musicians from Tamil Nadu Year of birth missing (living people) Actresses in Malayalam television Actresses in Malayalam cinema