Sunitha Upadrashta, known mononymously as Sunitha, 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 ...

and a

voice actor Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

who primarily works in Telugu films. She is a recipient of nine

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are annual awards presented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh to recognise excellence in Telugu cinema, theatre, and television, as well as lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. The awards are named after the monolithic ...

and two

Filmfare Awards South The Filmfare Awards South are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. They are presented by ''Filmfare'' magazine of The Times Group. When it was intr ...

in various categories. She also received a National Award from All India Radio under light music category when she was 15 years old. She received her first Nandi award in the year 1999 and received

in a row for the years 2002 to 2006 and again for the years 2010 to 2012. She was also awarded with the

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar (; born Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. He ...

Best Singer Award for 2011 by the

Government of Andhra Pradesh The Government of Andhra Pradesh, abbreviated as GoAP, is the Administrative division, state government and the administrative body responsible for the governance of the States of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Amaravati is the capital ...

. Sunitha's commercial singing career began in the year 1995 with the movie Gulabi. She is also known as an anchor and host for music based programs and flagship programs. One among them was anchoring the historical Amaravati foundation-laying ceremony in the year 2015. Sunitha is also associated as a judge to musical reality shows in various channels, among them Padutha Theeyaga, a musical show that has been running for the last two decades on ETV which was launched and hosted by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam. Her contributions are widely noted as a voice-over artist giving voice to over 110 actresses in more than 750 films. Sunitha traveled extensively across 19 foreign countries as an artist. Countries include USA (almost every year since 1999), UK, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and Mauritius.

Early and personal life

Sunitha was born on 10 May 1978 in

Guntur Guntur (), natively spelt as Gunturu, is a city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district. The city is part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is lo ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. At the age of 6, she got training in music from Shri Pemmaraju Surya Rao in Carnatic Vocals, and Light music from Kalaga Krishna Mohan. At an young age, she got many opportunities to participate and perform in several concerts, including programs featured by All India Radio. At the age of 13, she participated in Tyagaraja Aradhana Utsavalu along with her Guru Pemaraju Surya Rao. She received scholarship from Central Government to pursue her musical trainings. She belongs to a music-loving family and her parents are fond of music. She got married at the age of 19 to Kiran Kumar Goparaju who works in the media. They later got divorced. The couple has two children, Akash and Shreya. Shreya sang her debut song, "Tick Tick Tick" in a Telugu movie Savyasachi. In January 2021, Sunitha married a businessman, Rama Krishna Veerapaneni in the presence of her family members and close friends.

Career

Playback singing

Sunitha began her singing career as a playback singer in films at 17. Sashi Preetham, a music director gave her a chance to sing in her debut film Gulabi and her debut song is "Ee Vela Lo Neevu" written by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry. She sang a single card for the Kannada film ''Bhoomi Geeth''a in 1997, music composed by Ilayaraja. Apart from that, she also sang Telugu TV serial title songs such as '' Ruturagalu'' and ''Antarangalu''. She received her first Nandi Award from the combined state of Andhra Pradesh for singing title song of ''Antharangalu'' in 1999. She has worked under the supervision of music directors like; Ilayaraja, Vidyasagar, M.M. Keeravani, A.R Rahman, S.V. Krishna Reddy, Vandematharam Srinivas, Mani Sharma, Ramana Gogula, S.A. Raj Kumar, Sandeep Choutha, Mickey J. Mayer, Devisri Prasad, R.P. Patnaik, Chakri, Anup Rubens, Sunil Kashyap, Madhavapeddi Suresh, V. Harikrishna, Jassie Gift, S. Thaman, and others. She rendered nearly 3000 songs in many South Indian films. She has sung in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada.

Voice acting

Sunitha began voice acting, after the release of the movie Choodalani Undi in the year 1998, starring Chiranjeevi and Soundarya, in which she sang for Soundarya. She achieved a very rare feat as a voice-over artist in Telugu film industry with a noted contribution of lending voice to more than 110 actresses spread across more than 750 films. She also holds a record of giving her voice for 60 movies in a single year. Gautamiputra Satakarni is her 750th movie as a dubbing artist in which she gave her voice to Shriya Saran.

Discography

Telugu

Selective works of singer Sunitha as a playback singer listed below

Kannada

Tamil

Other

Non film songs

Sunitha sang title songs for various Television serials and also lent her voice as a dubbing artist for the TV series ''Andam''.

Private albums

Sunitha was a part of numerous private album recordings. Meera Padavali and Aanota – Manasu Palike Vela are her two most known works, composed by her Guru, Kalaga Krishna Mohan. She also got featured in the private album Sri Ramachandra Krupalu, a bhajan by Tulsi Das and produced by sunithanmusic.com. Chandrashekara Ashtakam also takes a special mention for which music is composed by Sai Madhukar. Few other private albums to mention are Raghuram, Sai Sudha, Sri Venkateswara Thatwanidhi, Sri Vallabha Bhakthi Geethalu, Sai Darshanam, Sri Chidvilasam, Amma durgamma, Pahimaam, Sri Rama Charanam, Govinda Ganamrutham, Saye Dhaivam, Bathuku Paata.

Performances

Sunitha traveled extensively across 19 foreign countries, offering her exclusive live performances across the world as an artist. Countries include USA (almost every year since 1999), UK, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Mauritius. In 2009, she started her "Melodious Moments with Sunitha" musical journey in 2019 which was organized in 5 major cities of the USA: San Jose, Charlotte, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Los Angeles. The event in Indianapolis witnessed her performance in the iconic Old National Center. Celebrating this success, "Melodious Moments with Sunitha" unveiled its first live show in Hyderabad on 4 August 2019 in Shilpakala Vedika, which then extended to various cities and towns in Telugu states. Her other noted performances include groundbreaking ceremony for Amaravathi - new capital of Andhra Pradesh, 200 years of Secunderabad celebrations by the state Government, hosting 50 years celebrations in the state Assembly, singing Vande Mataram along with S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, at the Congress Plenary Meet during 50 years of Indian Independence.

Filmography

As Voice actor

TV shows

Sunitha anchored, hosted and performed as a singer in many music-based programs and live shows in most of the reputed Telugu television channels. She has given about 500 programs so far on AIR, DD channel, ETV, Gemini TV, and MAA TV.

Short films

Sunitha played the lead role in her first short film ''Raagam''. It was nominated for SIIMA, 2017 in the short film category.

Awards

Nandi Awards

* Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for TV film ''Antha Rangaalu'' (1999) * Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie '' Jayam'' (2002) * Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the Movie '' Athade Oka Sainyam'' (2003) * Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie '' Anand'' (voice of the Kamalinee Mukherjee) (2004) * Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie ''Pothe Poni'' (2005) * Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the movie '' Godavari'' (2006) * Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for TV film ''Anthahpuram'' (2010) * Nandi Award for a TV film called ''Mamathala Kovela'' (2011) * Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie '' Sri Rama Rajyam'' (voice of the Nayantara) (2012)

Filmfare Awards

* Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Kannada (

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

) for the movie '' Cheluveye Ninne Nodalu'' for the song "O Priyathama" * Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Telugu (

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

) for the movie '' Oohalu Gusagusalade'' for the song "Em Sandehamledu" * Nominated-Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Telugu (2009) for the movie Pravarakhyudu for the song "Neela Neela Mabbulu" * Nominated-Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Telugu (2010) for the movie Vedam for the song "Egiripothe" * Nominated-Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Kannada (2010) for the movie Modalasala for the song "Prathama"

Other Awards

* TV Award 2009 for Best Female Playback Singer presented by Delhi Telugu Academy in Hyderabad on 8 August 2010 * Lata Mangeshkar Best Singer Award for 2011 was presented by the State Government at 2nd * TSR TV9 Best play back singer award for the song "Em Sandeham ledu" in 2014 * NTR memorial award 2015 * Singer of the decade award in the year 2016 by Zee Apsara Awards * Prestigious Indywood Academy award as best playback singer for the song "Chivaraku migiledhi" from the epic biopic Mahanati in 2018 * Vishishta seva puraskar by "I Stand for the Nation" NGO in 2019

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Upadrasta, Sunitha Living people Indian women playback singers Indian voice actresses Filmfare Awards South winners Kannada playback singers Singers from Andhra Pradesh Telugu playback singers Nandi Award winners 1978 births 20th-century Indian actresses Actresses from Andhra Pradesh 20th-century Indian singers 20th-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian actresses Women musicians from Andhra Pradesh Musicians from Andhra Pradesh People from Andhra Pradesh People from Guntur Film people from Andhra Pradesh