Chinmayi Sripaada is an Indian singer and voice actress who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil films. She rose to fame for her critically acclaimed song "Oru Deivam Thantha Poovae" from Kannathil Muthamittal, directed by Mani Ratnam and composed by A. R. Rahman. She was 15 years old when she made her singing debut in Kannathil Muthamittal. She debuted as a voice actress in Sillunu Oru Kaadhal 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 - Isle Of Skin, and a medi-spa Deep Skin Dialogues in Chennai and Hyderabad. She is often credited as Chinmayee and Indai Haza (named by composer A. R. Rahman for one of his songs). She is also a social activist often raising her voice against issues faced by women and has been the face of the second wave of #MeToo movement in India.
Chinmayi was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Marathi was one of the first languages she spoke as a child. She underwent formal training in Carnatic classical music from her mother Padmahasini T, 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.[1] She won the gold medal from All India Radio for Ghazals in 2000 and the Silver for Hindustani Classical Music in 2002. She learned German as a language in the Max Mueller Bhavan in Chennai and completed certification courses from NIIT and SSI in web design. During her school life, she held jobs with both Sify and studentconcepts.org.
Chinmayi has a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of Madras. She is also a versatile dancer and mostly enjoys the Odissi dance form. Chinmayi is a polyglot; apart from her mother tongue Tamil, she speaks Telugu, English, Hindi, German, French, and Marathi fluently, and has a working knowledge of Spanish, Malayalam, Kannada and Punjabi.[2]
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" and "Kaathale Kaathale". She received her second break in Bollywood with the song "Titli" from Chennai Express and "Zehnaseeb" from Hasee Toh Phasee. 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 date has to her credit over 1,000 songs in eight different languages.[3]
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.[4]
She also collaborated with Shekar Ravjiani to launch a single in Tamil/Telugu the name of the album being Sitakokachiluka (Butterfly), 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.
Chinmayi served as a television presenter during the first season of Airtel Super SingeronSTAR 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 2016-2017. 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".
Chinmayi was born in a Tamil Brahmin family and is the paternal granddaughter of Dr. Sripada Pinakapani.[6] In September 2013, through Twitter, Chinmayi's mother Padmahasini revealed Chinmayi was engaged to Rahul Ravindran, who is also a South Indian actor. Chinmayi and Rahul were friends, colleagues and in due course started dating each other by June 2013.[citation needed] They got married on 5 May 2014. She gave birth to twin children, Driptah and Sharvas on 18 June 2022.[7]
Through her Twitter account, Chinmayi has been at the forefront of highlighting claims of sexual harassment in the Indian music industry, in what is widely considered as India's Me Too movement. She accused Vairamuthu of sexual harassment[8] and highlighted claims made by others against OS Thyagarajan, Raghu Dixit, Karthik and several other carnatic singers. She said that in a concert to honor Sri Lankan Tamils held in Sweden in 2006, Vairamuthu attempted to harass her after having called her alone.[9] This was followed by multiple reactions from political activists that the allegations are motivated by caste prejudices. Further, Chinmayi tweeted allegations made by a woman against the Tamil Nadu Brahmins Association (TAMBRAS) president N Narayanan as part of her efforts.[10] Following the MeToo movement, she was terminated from the Tamil Film Dubbing Union by the leader of the union Radha Ravi on grounds of non-payment of the yearly dubbing union fee. She has also mentioned in interviews that her singing opportunities in Tamil films have dried up post the MeToo movement, and that she has been shadowbanned.
She has been selected as a Mentee to the Fortune/US State Department Global Women's Mentoring Partnership. She is one among three Indians and the only and first person from Tamil Nadu among 35 other women all over the world.[11][12]
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.[13] 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.[14][15] 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 K-Beauty products, 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.
Sripaada has produced songs since 2002 and done work in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and other regional variants. She has also produced various jingles for advertisements and television.
^Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee (21 April 2011). "WhatToNameIt: Another milestone". Chinmayisripada.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
^Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee (21 April 2011). "WhatToNameIt: Anothee". Chinmayisripada.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
^Chinmayi Sripada /Chinmayee (2 January 2008). "WhatToNameIt: Sahana". Chinmayisripada.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
