Uthara Unnikrishnan (born 2004) is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

. In 2015, she won the

National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer The National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to a female playback singer for the best renditions of songs from soundtracks within the Indian film industry ...

at the

62nd National Film Awards The 62nd National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presents its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2014 in the Cinema of India, Indian cinema. The awards were announced on 24 M ...

for her rendition of the song "Azhagu" from the 2014

Tamil film Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

Saivam ''Saivam'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language drama film written, directed and produced by A. L. Vijay. The film features Nassar in the lead role and child actress Sara Arjun plays another pivotal role. The film's cinematography was handled by Ni ...

'', a family drama directed by

A. L. Vijay A. L. Vijay, known professionally as Vijay, is an Indian film director who works in the Tamil film industry. An assistant director with Priyadarshan, he debuted as director with films such as '' Kireedam'' and the critically acclaimed ''Madr ...

. She received the award at the age of 10, becoming its youngest recipient.

Biography

Uthara Unnikrishnan is the daughter of Carnatic classical singer

P. Unni Krishnan Parakkal Unnikrishnan (born 9 July 1966) is an Indian Carnatic vocalist and playback singer. Early life and background Unnikrishnan was born to K. Radhakrishnan and Dr. Harini Radhakrishnan in Palakkad, Kerala. The family home, Kesari Kutee ...

and

Bharatanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of S ...

dancer Priya Unnikrishnan. Her father, a recipient of multiple National Film Awards for Best Male Playback Singer, received his first award in 1995 for his debut performance of the Tamil songs "Ennavale adi ennavale" and "Uyirum neeye". Uthara began learning Carnatic music at the age of six from Sudha Raja. She studied in

Lady Andal Lady Andal Venkatasubba Rao School, popularly known as Lady Andal, is an academic institution in Harrington road, Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. It is a unit of the Madras Seva Sadan, established in 1987. The school follows the Montessori philo ...

school and APL Global school. Apart from Tamil music, she enjoys Western (classical, rock and pop) and wants to master all these genres.

Songs

"Azhagu" (Beauty) was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar, based on

raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...

Kanada Kanada may refer to: *Kanada (philosopher), the Hindu sage who founded the philosophy of Vaisheshika *Kanada (family of ragas), a group of ragas in Hindustani music *Kanada (surname) *Kanada Station, train station in Fukuoka, Japan *Kannada, one of ...

. The song describes a child's perception of the beauty around her. The song was penned by

Na. Muthukumar Nagarajan Muthukumar (12 July 1975 – 14 August 2016) was a Tamil poet, lyricist, and author. Best known for his Tamil language film songs, he received the most Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricist in Tamil and was a two-time recipient of the Nat ...

, who also received the

National Film Award for Best Lyrics The National Film Award for Best Lyrics (the Silver Lotus Award) is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) to a lyricist who has composed the best song for films produced within the Ind ...

. When Uthara Unnikrishnan accompanied her mother to Carnatic singer

Saindhavi Saindhavi is a Carnatic music vocalist and an Indian film playback singer. She has been performing from the age of 12. Personal life Saindhavi married her schoolmate, composer G. V. Prakash Kumar, on 27 June 2013 in Chennai, India. They were ...

's house during

Golu Golu is the festive display of dolls and figurines in South India during the autumn festive season, particularly around the multiday Navaratri (Dussehra, Dasara) festival of Hinduism. These displays are typically thematic, narrating a legend fro ...

festival, she sang a few lines. A couple of months later, Saindhavi's husband G. V. Prakash Kumar called upon Uthara to croon a solo melody for Saivam. Uthara recorded the song for child actor

Sara Arjun Sara Arjun (born ) is an Indian child actress who mainly appears in Tamil and Hindi films and commercials. Sara had appeared in a series of commercials and a short Hindi film before the age of six. In 2010, she was signed on to portray a lea ...

when she was eight years old in 2013. Apart from "Azhagu", she has sung two more Tamil songs. While praised by most in regards towards her 2015 win of the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her rendition of the song "Azhage", singer Pradip Somasundaran criticised the jury's selection, terming the song as having been heavily modified through use of

pitch correction Pitch correction is an electronic effects unit or audio software that changes the intonation (highness or lowness in pitch) of an audio signal so that all pitches will be notes from the equally tempered system (i.e., like the pitches on a piano) ...

software. Uthara later worked on '' Theri'' with G. V. Prakash Kumar in the song "Eena Meena Teeka".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unnikrishnan, Uthara Living people Tamil musicians Tamil playback singers Indian women playback singers 2004 births Indian child singers Singers from Chennai 21st-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian women singers Women musicians from Tamil Nadu Best Female Playback Singer National Film Award winners