Chinmayi Sripada

Biography

Chinmayi Sripada (born 10 September 1984), known mononymously as Chinmayi, is an Indian singer, voice actress, entrepreneur and a former radio and video jockey. She predominantly works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Hindi films. She rose to fame for her critically acclaimed song "Oru Deivam Thantha Poovae", composed by A. R. Rahman from the film Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), directed by Mani Ratnam. She debuted as a voice actress in Sillunu Oru Kaadhal (2006) rendering her voice for Bhumika Chawla, after being referred by one of A. R. Rahman's sound engineers.
She debuted as a composer with a short lullaby titled Laali, which she also sang and released as part of Instagram's #1MinMusic.
She is the founder and CEO of a translation services company Blue Elephant, a skincare company importing K-beauty to India, Skinroute (formerly Isle Of Skin), and a medi-spa Deep Skin Dialogues in Chennai and Hyderabad.
She is often credited as Chinmayee and was credited as Indai Haza which means "Angel of Music" (by composer A. R. Rahman for one of his songs - I Miss You da). She is also a social activist often raising her voice against issues faced by women and has been one of the faces of the second wave of #MeToo movement in India.

Early life

Chinmayi was born in Bombay, Maharashtra Kameswararao and Padmhasini Thirumalai. She was raised by her mother from the age of 1. She underwent formal training in Carnatic classical music from her mother from a very young age (3–4). She later decided to switch over to Hindustani classical music. She received the CCRT Scholarship for Young Talent for Carnatic Music from the Government of India at the age of 10. She won the gold medal from All India Radio for Ghazals in 2000 and the silver medal for Hindustani Classical Music in 2002 earning the B Grade for both, from All India Radio She learned German as a language in the Max Mueller Bhavan, French from Alliance Francaise in Chennai and completed certification courses from NIIT and SSI in web design. She homeschooled post her 10th grade, and she held jobs with both Sify and studentconcepts.org.
Chinmayi has a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of Madras and is currently pursuing a degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine from Canada. She has learned Odissi in the Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra style for over 10 years under the tutelage of Kshama Rau and learned Kathak, Sarangi and Tabla briefly. Chinmayi is a polyglot; apart from Tamil and Telugu she also speaks, English, Hindi, German and French fluently, and has a working knowledge of Spanish, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi and Punjabi.

Singing

She participated and won the singing show of Sun TV, Saptasawarangal, following which she was introduced by singer Srinivas to film composer A. R. Rahman. Chinmayi's playback singing career began with her performance of Rahman's "Oru Dheivam Thanta Poove" for the film Kannathil Muthamittal. After a couple of years of singing exclusively for Tamil, Telugu, Tulu and Malayalam films, she made her Bollywood debut in Mangal Pandey: The Rising with the song "Holi Re". About a year later, she garnered more recognition with her performances of "Tere Bina" and "Mayya" in the movie Guru. In 2007, the song "Beda Beda" marked her first venture into Kannada playback singing. She has since received critical acclaim for songs such as "Sahana Saaral", "Vaarayo Vaarayo", "Kilimanjaro", "Sara Sara", "Asku Laska", "Kaathale Kaathale" and Muththa Mazhai. She received her second break in Bollywood with three consecutive songs "Titli" from Chennai Express, "Zehnaseeb" from Hasee Toh Phasee, and "Main Rang Sharbaton Ka" from Phata Poster Nikla Hero. She then received critical acclaim for the song "Mast Magan" from 2 states, which she had sung along with Arijit Singh. She has also sung in Marathi language in movies such as "Sairat". Chinmayi as of 2020 had to her credit over 2,000 songs in 10 different languages. In 2025, Chinmayi had one of the biggest breakthroughs of her career, and also a re-entry to the Tamil industry with her performance of the song "Muththa Mazhai" from the Thug Life audio launch which went viral. Her live performance video uploaded on YouTube by Saregama Audio Label reached over 100M+ views, garnering widespread critical acclaim and an urge to include it in the official soundtrack by the audiences. Following this, "Muththa Mazhai (Reprise)" was officially released on music streaming platforms and included in the film's official soundtrack a day prior to its release. Additionally, as of the end of 2025, her song "Tere Bina" with A. R. Rahman continues to be in the top 10 streamed songs across India on Spotify.

Additional works

Chinmayi announced that she will release a single in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu in iTunes on occasion of Joy of Giving Week on 2 Oct, and proceeds of which shall go to 17000 ft.org so as to promote philanthropy, charity and the concept of giving.
She also collaborated with Shekar Ravjiani to launch a single in Tamil/Telugu the name of the album being Sitakokachiluka (Butterfly×Butterfly11 October 2013 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Butterfly3:58), again for which the legal downloads of it will go to Ma Niketan, a home that takes care of abandoned or uncared-for girl children in Thane, a charity that composer Shekhar has been supporting.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, she started an initiative called "Sing for Charity" through which her fans and audiences could support families in need (those who lost jobs due to the pandemic lockdown) by transferring some amount of money directly to the family, and in return, she would send them personalised singing videos/wishes for special occasions, for their friend/family member. Chinmayi, since April 2020 till the world returned to normalcy, has been able to raise money and essentials worth ₹1 crore to the needy through this initiative, by recording and sharing over 3,000 songs. She recollected one particular day when she recorded and sent over 85 such song requests.

Voice acting

Chinmayi turned a voice actor for the Tamil film Sillunu Oru Kadhal (2006), speaking dubbing for actress Bhumika Chawla, an opportunity that came through A. R. Rahman's office. Since then, she has dubbed for several lead actresses in Tamil films, including Tamannaah Bhatia, Sameera Reddy, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Trisha Krishnan. She has also provided her voice in dubbed Telugu films. She dubbed for the critically acclaimed fictional character Jessie who was portrayed by Trisha in Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya. The same character appeared in the film's Telugu version Ye Maaya Chesave and was portrayed by Samantha, while being portrayed by Amy Jackson in the Hindi version Ek Deewana Tha. Chinmayi dubbed for the character in all three films and won the Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for Ye Maaya Chesave in 2010. Chinmayi dubbed in Vettai for Sameera Reddy and has dubbed for her in all Tamil movies. She dubbed for Samantha Ruth Prabhu in Eega in Telugu and its Tamil version Naan Ee in 2012. She dubbed voice for Nayanthara in the Tamil version of the movie Sri Rama Rajyam, and in the Telugu version of Naanum Rowdy Dhaan. Chinmayi has also been the voice of Lavanya Tripathi in many of her movies, starting from Andala Rakshasi, then Bhale Bhale Magadivoy, Maayavan, Chaavu Kaburu Challaga, and A1 Express. Chinmayi has dubbed for Samantha Ruth Prabhu in many films like Rabhasa, Atharintiki Daaredi, Ramayya Vasthavayya, Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, 24, Oh! Baby and many more in Telugu. In the 2018 film '96 (film), she dubbed for the female lead Trisha and also sang all the songs in the film, and subsequently worked in the Telugu remake Jaanu, in which she dubbed for Samantha Prabhu and sang all the songs in the film. She made a comeback to dubbing in Tamil films in 2023 (after facing a 5-year ban from the Tamil film industry) with Lokesh Kanagaraj and Vijay's Leo in which she dubbed for Trisha's character, Sathya, in 3 languages - Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada. Leo also marks Chinmayi's dubbing debut in the Kannada film industry. Chinmayi dubbed for Mrunal Thakur in her Telugu debut Sita Ramam, which became a huge success, and she received appreciation for dubbing for the character of Sita Mahalakshmi/Princess Noorjahan. She subsequently dubbed for Mrunal in her next Telugu film, Hi Nanna. And in 2026 for her again in Dacoit: A Love Story.

Television, radio, and hosting

Chinmayi served as a television presenter during the first season of Airtel Super Singer on STAR Vijay that was aired between April and August 2006 and the first season of Airtel Super Singer Junior from February 2007 to July 2007. In 2008, she returned as host of the second season of Airtel Super Singer, though she discontinued her role before the completion of the season, as she stated the show extended the period of the initial contract. During this time, she was also a radio jockey on Aahaa FM 91.9 in Chennai, on a breakfast show titled Aahaa Kaapi Klub. She later began compering Star Plus's Chhote Ustaad, which ran concurrently with another music talent show she started hosting in June, the debut season of Sun TV's Sangeetha Mahayuddham. On 15 August 2010, Chinmayi announced that that day's Chhote Ustaad would be her last as host, leaving the show after only eight episodes. She appeared as a judge on Sun Singer which aired on Sun TV between 2016 and 2017. She was also on the judges' panel of Jaya Star Singers in Jaya TV, but the show was halted due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and did not resume further.
Chinmayi has also been the host for numerous audio launch functions in the Tamil film industry, with one such event being the audio launch of Shankar's I where she welcomed stalwarts like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rajinikanth. She hosted one of the largest events in Indian Cinema in 2013 along with Sivakarthikeyan, 100 years of Indian Cinema Celebrations, organized by the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce and inaugurated by the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa. She also hosted the event organized to facilitate music composer M. S. Viswanathan with the Thirai Isai Chakravarthy award by Jayalalithaa, titled "Ninaithale Inikkum".

Personal life

Chinmayi is married to Rahul Ravindran. In September 2013, through Twitter, Chinmayi's mother Padmhasini revealed Chinmayi was engaged to Rahul Ravindran, who is a National Award winning Screenplaywright (Chi La Sow) Indian actor and Director (Chi La Sow, Manmadhudu 2, The Girlfriend). Chinmayi and Rahul met at the screening of the film Andhaala Rakshasi. They got married on 5 May 2014. She gave birth to twin children, Driptah and Sharvas on 20 June 2022.

Activism

Chinmayi is a prominent figure in India's #MeToo movement, using her social media presence to publicise allegations of sexual harassment within the country's entertainment industry. In 2018, she accused lyricist Vairamuthu of sexual harassment, alleging two separate incidents that took place in Sweden and at his office in Kodambakkam, Chennai in 2006. She also amplified the claims of others against musicians such as Anu Malik, O. S. Thyagarajan, Raghu Dixit, and Karthik. Her allegations were met with cyberbullying and accusations from some political activists that they were motivated by caste prejudice. Sripada also publicised an allegation against N. Narayanan, the president of the Tamil Nadu Brahmins Association (TAMBRAS).

Following her accusations, Sripada's membership in the Tamil Film Dubbing Union was terminated by its president, Radha Ravi, citing non-payment of fees. Sripada stated that her singing and dubbing opportunities in the Tamil film industry declined significantly after her involvement in the movement and that she was effectively banned from working. The matter was taken to court and is sub judice.
A scene in the 2026 Tamil film Karuppu directed by RJ Balaji was inspired by Chinmayi's account of sexual harassment against Vairamuthu, incidentally having Chinmayi herself dub in this scene for the character of Preethi, an advocate, played by Trisha. The scene depicts a woman named "Kanmani" raising allegations of sexual harassment against an influential politician named "V. M. Pandian", reporting the incident many years after it occurred, and eventually getting justice despite initially being shamed for reporting it late.
Sripada was selected for the Fortune/US State Department Global Women's Mentoring Partnership in 2011, one of three Indian women chosen that year.

Entrepreneurship

Chinmayi is the CEO of "Blue Elephant", a translation services company she founded in August 2005. The company has since been the language service provider for various Multinational companies like Scope E Knowledge, Ford, Dell, Ashok Leyland, and Reliance India. She received an award from SAARC Chamber for Women Entrepreneurship for Excellence in a niche industry for Blue Elephant in 2010. In 2011, she became the first woman entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu to be selected for the FORTUNE/US State Department Global Women's Mentoring Partnership Program. She started an architectural and interior design firm "Heka Studios" along with two architects on 27 August 2015. She travelled to South Korea in 2018 to explore the K-Beauty market there, post which she founded her skincare brand "Isle of Skin" which legally imports Korean and Taiwanese skincare products to India. She then opened a medi-spa "Deep Skin Dialogues" in November 2021, which was inaugurated by actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu at Chetpet, Chennai. Another branch of DSD was opened in Hyderabad in May 2022. Isle of Skin was rebranded as "SkinRoute" in 2024. Deep Skin Dialogues was rebranded as "iGen Clinics" and expanded to provide world class Aesthetic Treatments, Pain and Regenerative medicine, Cardiology, Pulmonogy, Gynaecology and Neuro consult services in Chennai and Hyderabad. It was inaugurated by music maestro A. R. Rahman on 10 August 2026.

Other awards

1999: All India First and Best Performer Award from Sangam Kala Group
2000: All India First from All India Radio for Ghazals
2003: Pride of Sangam Award
2008: RITZ Amazing Woman Award
2009: Vikatan Award for Best Television Show Host
2011: Award from SAARC Chamber for Women Entrepreneurship for Excellence
2011: Vocational Excellence Award from Rotary Club of Madras
2015: Mercedes Benz - Ritz Woman of Merit award
2015: Rotary Club Inner Wheel (Nanganallur) : Swarna Ratna Award
2016: Indian of the Year: CNN IBN : Chennai Micro
2025: Golden Icon of Inspiration : Galatta Pink