Minmini (born P. J. Rosily; 12 August 1970) is a South Indian film

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 ...

. She is best remembered for the song "Chinna Chinna Aasai" from '' Roja'', the debut work of film composer A. R. Rahman, which was dubbed in Hindi as "Choti Si Asha". Most of her songs are in Tamil, most of them composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works in Indian cinema, predominately in Tamil cinema, Tamil in addition ...

and A. R. Rahman. Her Malayalam songs include "Souparnikamritha" from ''Kizhakkunarum Pakshi'', "Oonjal Urangi", and "Neelaraavi" from ''Kudumbasametham''. She has lent her voice to songs from films including ''Enga Thambi'' (1993), '' Karuththamma'' (1994), and ''

Thevar Magan ''Thevar Magan'' ( or ) is a 1992 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Bharathan, and written and produced by Kamal Haasan. It stars Sivaji Ganesan, Haasan, Revathi, Gautami and Nassar (acto ...

'' (1992). She made a comeback in 2015 with the song "Kanmaniye" from '' Mili''.

Early life and education

Minmini was born at Keezhmedu, Aluva, Kerala. She is the youngest of four girls. Her parents are P. A. Joseph and Treeza. Her name was P. J. Rosily in school. While her elder sisters were part of the choir at the village church, she started her singing career at the age of 5 with Kalabhavan, a local orchestra. She studied at St Francis Girl's High School, Aluva.

Career

Minmini had her film debut with Malayalam film Swagatham (1989), directed by Venu Nagavalli. She sang three songs in it, composed by Rajamani. She was introduced to Tamil film industry by Ilayaraja through Tamil film - '' Meera'' (1992). Ilayaraja christened her Minmini, making her name more appealing to the Tamilians. Minmini's first Telugu movie is "''Aathmabandham''" with music by Maragathamani. Her big break came in 1992 when she sang "Chinna Chinna Aasai" for the film '' Roja''. The number became such a big hit that the location where it was shot, Paana Theertham Falls in Tirunelveli district, attracted huge visitors and the Tamil Nadu government had to ban tourists to protect environment for almost nine years. Minmini has sung a few

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

film songs in 1995 for the movies Putnanja and ''Betegara''. ''Rangero holi'' a duet song with Mano from the movie Putnanja for Hamsalekha. In the same film she rendered humming in the song ''Putamalli puttamalli'' with Mano and Shyamala G. Bhave. She went on to work with Sadhu Kokila for the movie Betegara where she sang the song ''Mididiralu saviganasugalu'' with Mano. Gopi Sundar brought her back to the industry with the song "Kanmaniye" for the film '' Mili'' in 2015.

Personal life

Minmini married Joy Mathew in 1995 (Keyboard player of Koratty). The couple have a son and daughter. Minmini lost her voice in 1993 on a stage show in London. She was unable to even speak for some years. She regained her voice through treatments. Later she made a comeback. Along with her husband, she has also started a music school named Joy's Academy Of Performing Arts at Kakkanad in the then Cochin (now Kochi).

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Living people Indian women playback singers Tamil playback singers Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners Singers from Kochi Malayalam playback singers Singers from Kerala Film musicians from Kerala Women musicians from Kerala 20th-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian women singers People from Aluva 20th-century Indian women singers Year of birth missing (living people)