Anuradha Sriram

Biography

Anuradha Sriram (née Mohan; born 9 July 1970) is an Indian playback and classical singer. She is also a film composer and a voice artist. She has recorded over 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Hindi and in Sinhala. She is the recipient of Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Award and Karnataka State Film Award. She has also received the Kalaimamani award from Government of Tamilnadu and the honorary Doctorate for her contributions to Indian music by Sathyabama University in 2012.
Anuradha collaborated with her husband Sriram Parasuram and composed music for the film Five Star (2002). On the television front, she has been a judge of a number of Tamil reality shows like Sun Singer, Airtel Super Singer and Malayalam reality shows like Idea Star Singer and Top Singer across various seasons.

Early life

Anuradha was born in Chennai to playback singer Renuka Devi and Meenakshi Sundaram Mohan. She did her primary schooling at St. Francis Anglo-Indian Girls School, Coimbatore. She then studied at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, Chennai. She has a B.A and M.A in music from Queen Mary's College, Chennai of Madras University and secured the university gold medal in both the courses. She was given a fellowship to do her Master of Arts degree in Ethnomusicology and Composition from Wesleyan University, Connecticut, United States.

Film songs

Anuradha's first stint into films was as a child artist in the 1980 Tamil film Kaali. Her playback singing career began with her chorus performance of "Malarodu Malaringu" and "Idhu Annai Bhoomi" from the film Bombay composed by A. R. Rahman. In the same year, she was noticed in the song "Ini Achham Illai" from the film Indira, again composed by Rahman and the song "Meenamma" from the film Aasai, composed by Deva, became her breakthrough. After a couple of years of singing exclusively for Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films, she made her Bollywood debut in Ram Jaane and Virasat (1997) with the song "Jayengi Pee Ke".
Having sung more than 4,000 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam, and six North Indian languages, some of her Tamil hits are "Nalam Nalam Ariyaaval" (Kadhal Kottai), "Dilruba Dilruba" (Priyam), "Un Uthattora Sivappe" (Pachanlankurichi), "Anbendra Mazhayile" (Minsara Kanavu), "Malligaye Malligaye" (Ninaithen Vandhai), "Nilavai Konduvaa" (Vaalee), "Roja Poonthottam" (Kannukkul Nilavu), "Karu Karu Karuppayi" (Eazhaiyin Sirippil), "Oru Ponnu Onnu" (Kushi), "Karupputhan Enakku Pidicha" (Vetri Kodi Kattu), "Endi Soodamani" (Pammal K. Sambandam), "Ollikuchhi Udambukkari" (Red), "O Podu" (Gemini, "Kai Kai Kai Vekkura" (Bagavathi), "Enna Nenacha" (Chokka Thangam), "Lesa Lesa" (Lesa Lesa) and "Appadi Podu" (Ghilli) among many others. Her collaboration with Deva produced multiple popular songs, most of them being in folk genre. Their combination is well-regarded for delivering catchy and memorable melodies in Tamil cinema. She has collaborated with all the leading Tamil film composers such as Ilaiyaraaja, A. R. Rahman, Deva, Vidyasagar, Sirpy, Adithyan, Yuvan Shankar Raja, S. A. Rajkumar, Bharadwaj, Dhina, Srikanth Deva, D. Imman, Harris Jayaraj, Joshua Sridhar, Pravin Mani and G. V. Prakash Kumar.
In 1995, she debuted in Telugu cinema by recording three songs composed by Bharadwaj for the film Sogasu Chuda Taramaa. However, it was for the soundtrack of Annamayya, she received wide acclaim. Composed by M. M. Keeravani, the soundtrack featured four songs sung by Anuradha. She went on to sing for many films in the late 1990s and continued to sing for big production films throughout the 2000s. Kalisundam Raa, Yuvaraju, Jayam Manadera, Nuvve Kavali all released in 2000, Murari, Eduruleni Manishi, Ninnu Choodalani, Bava Nachadu, Daddy all released in 2001, Nuvve Nuvve (2002), Seetayya (2003), Vikramarkudu (2006), Dubai Seenu (2007), Kalidasu (2008) and Ragada (2010) were some of the films which had popular songs recorded by Anuradha.
In 1998, the song "Kushalave Kshemave" from the film Yaare Neenu Cheluve marked her first venture into Kannada playback singing. Her songs from the films Preethsod Thappa (1998), Preethse (1999), Diggajaru (2001), Malla (2004), Anna Thangi (2005), Ayya (2005) were acclaimed. She recorded numerous songs and collaborated frequently with Hamsalekha and V. Ravichandran.
Anuradha's entry into Malayalam cinema was in 1995 for the film Arabia which had music composed by Ouseppachan. She recorded more popular songs for the films such as Red Indians, Meesa Madhavan, Seetha Kalyanam, Daddy Cool, Makaramanju, Seniors, Ozhimuri, Ayaal, Vasanthathinte Kanal Vazhikalil and Rakshadhikari Baiju Oppu.
In Hindi, most of her hits were from collaboration with Anu Malik. They both worked in films such as Virasat, Gharwali Baharwali (1998), Biwi No.1 and Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain in 1999, Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi and Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai in 2001, Chor Machaaye Shor (2002) and Shaadi No. 1 (2005). The song "Jhin Min Jhini" from Vishal Bhardwaj's Maqbool (2004) was widely acclaimed.

Classical and Non-film songs

Anuradha has performed extensively all over India and the US, and has given many radio and TV programmes since the age of 12. She specialises in Carnatic music and has sung in over 1,000 concerts worldwide.
Anuradha has several Devotional albums to her credit. She also collaborates with her husband Sriram Parasuram on their classical music Jugalbandhi concerts and their TV programme Elaame Sangeetham Thaan. She has also presented many music programmes on TV.

Music composing and Voice acting

Anuradha has composed music for the film Five Star and television series Sivamayam produced by Radaan for Sun TV along with her husband. She also worked as a voice actor lending her voice for Kiran Rathod in the film Anbe Sivam (2003).

Personal life

Anuradha is married to singer Sriram Parasuram (whom she met at Wesleyan University). They have two sons named Jayant and Lokesh. Her brother Murugan is also a playback singer.

Awards and recognition

Karnataka State Film Awards
1999 : Best Female Playback – "Omkara Naadamaya" (Hrudayanjali)
Filmfare Awards South
2003 : Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Tamil - "O Podu" (Gemini)
International Tamil Film Awards
2003 : ITFA Best Female Playback Award – "O Podu" (Gemini)
2006 : Kalaimamani by the Government of Tamilnadu for her significant contribution to the field of music.
2012 : honorary Doctorate by the Sathyabama University for her accomplishments and contribution to the field of music.