Vidhu Prathap (born 1 September 1980) is an Indian playback singer. He has sung many songs in over 600 films in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

languages.

Career

Early life

Vidhu Prathap was born in 1980 in Kaithamukku in

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

, Kerala, as the son of Prathapan and Laila. He did his early education from Holy Angel's Convent Trivandrum and then completed his schooling at

Christ Nagar School, Thiruvananthapuram Christ Nagar Higher Secondary school started in 1976 as a private English Medium School in Trivandrum, India, recognised by the state government of Kerala as a minority educational institution. In 2002, Christ Nagar High School was upgraded to h ...

. During his school days in Christ Nagar, he used to participate in mono-acts and mimicry and had a real penchant for singing. Vidhu was the college union Arts Club Secretary in

Mar Ivanios college Mar Ivanios College is an autonomous educational institution situated in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. The college was ranked as 29th best college in the country by Ministry of Education's National Institutional Ranking Framework in 2019 ...

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

, where he did his graduation. In 1997–98, at the age of 17, he won the 'Voice of the Year Award' in a music competition conducted by

Asianet Asianet may refer to: Disney Star channels *Asianet Communications, an Indian media company wholly owned by Disney Star **Asianet (TV channel), a Malayalam language general entertainment channel **Asianet Plus, a Malayalam language general entertai ...

, a leading private channel. It was after this that he seriously thought about becoming a singer. Vidhu started taking music lessons when he was three years old and has won many competitions in several musical categories.

Playback singing

He first sang for a movie called '' Paadamudra'', when he was in class IV. But his real break was in 1999 in a movie ''

Devadasi In India, a devadasi was a female artist who was dedicated to the worship and service of a deity or a temple for the rest of her life. The dedication took place in a ceremony that was somewhat similar to a marriage ceremony. In addition to taki ...

'' rendering 'Pon Vasantham', a difficult song with a classical touch. His rendering of the fast number ''Shukriya Shukriya'' in

Niram ''Niram'' () is a 1999 Indian Malayalam-language romantic comedy film directed by Kamal and written inspired by Sathrughnan, a story by Iqbal Kuttippuram. ''Niram'' marks the fourth and final collaboration of the leading pair, Kunchacko & Shali ...

(1999) made him popular. Besides, with a generation shift in Malayalam cinema, younger actors like

Dileep Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan Pillai, better known by his stage name Dileep, is an Indian actor, producer, and businessman who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He has acted in more than 150 films and has won several awards, inc ...

Kunchacko Boban Kunchacko Boban (born 2 November 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer. Sometimes referred to as Chackochan, he works in the Malayalam film industry and has acted in more than 90 films in more than two decades. He is a member of the List ...

and

Prithviraj Sukumaran Prithviraj Sukumaran (born 16 October 1982) is an Indian actor, director, producer and playback singer primarily working in Malayalam cinema. He has also done Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. He acted in more than 100 films in a variety of rol ...

needed a young voice to suit their style, where Vidhu was fitted in. His depth and range were once again evident in the movie

Sayahnam ''Sayahnam'' ( en, Twilight) is a 2000 Malayalam feature film that marks the directorial debut of R. Sarath with screenplay by himself. The film is a drama centred on the environmental and anti-nuclear issue in India. It stars O. Madhavan, Gomat ...

, directed by

R. Sarath R. Sarath is an Indian film director and screenwriter working primarily in the Cinema of Kerala, Malayalam film industry. Career Sarath's rendezvous with films started with ''Sayahnam (Twilight)'' in 2000.The film marked his debut as a directo ...

, which won Vidhu the

Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer The Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer is an honour, established in 1969, and presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India for best female and male playback singer in Malayalam cinema. The first recipients of the award were P. ...

in 2000 for the song ''Kaalame Kaikolluka Nee''. His rendition of

Mohan Sithara Mohan Sithara is an Indian music composer. He received the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Music Director (2009) for the songs in Priyanandan's ''Soofi Paranja Kadha''. Since 1986 he has been an active musician in the Malayalam film industr ...

's ''Sukhamani Nilaavu'' from the movie

Nammal ''Nammal'' () is a 2002 Indian Malayalam-language romantic comedy-drama film directed by Kamal and written by Kalavoor Ravikumar. The film features Jishnu, Sidharth Bharathan in the lead roles. It was the debut film of Sidharth, Renuka, and ...

won him the Asianet Best Male playback singer award in 2002. The credit for his 'mood rendition' should go to music director

G. Devarajan Paravoor Govindan Devarajan (1927–2006), popularly known as G. Devarajan or Devarajan master, was an Indian music composer and Carnatic singer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Indian film music. He sco ...

, with whom he trained for four years. He has also trained under composer

Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath () is an Indian musician from Kerala. He is well known as a carnatic musician as well as a composer. He lives in Thiruvananthapuram now, though hails from Perumbavoor, Ernakulam. His works always have the deep-roote ...

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

introduced him in Tamil in the movie

Solla Marandha Kadhai ''Solla Marandha Kadhai'' () is a 2002 Tamil-language film. This film is based on writer Nanjil Nadan's novel ''Thalaikeezh vigithangal''. Plot Sivadhanu( Cheran) is the eldest son of poor family and educated but unemployed person.He has the re ...

(2002). Later he sang many Tamil songs, most of them became hits. In 2003, he got another hit song ''Vaaleduthal Ankakali'' from

Meesa Madhavan ''Meesha Madhavan'' () is a 2002 Indian Malayalam-language action comedy film directed by Lal Jose and written by Ranjan Pramod. The film stars Dileep in the title role, while Kavya Madhavan, Indrajith Sukumaran, Jagathy Sreekumar and Cochin Han ...

. He also sang a song for the

musical album

Chempakame ''Chembakame'' is a Malayalam musical album released in 2006. Franco, Madhu Balakrishnan, Asha G Menon, Vidhu Prathap and Jyotsna are the singers and Shyam Dharman was the composer. Raju Raghavan wrote lyrics for the songs. The album was a runaway ...

, the song ''Melemaanathu'' got many positive reviews from critics. Some movies that featured songs by him are 'Meesa Madhavan', 'Nammal', ' Swapnakoodu', ' Pattalam', '

Runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

', '

Pandippada ''Pandippada'' () is a 2005 Indian Malayalam-language comedy drama film written and directed by Rafi Mecartin. The film stars Dileep in the lead role while Navya Nair, Prakash Raj, Rajan P. Dev, Harisree Asokan, Salim Kumar, Cochin Haneefa, Am ...

', '

Ravanan Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations. In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. He a ...

', '

Vargam ''Vargam'' is a 2006 Indian Malayalam-language action film written and directed by M. Padmakumar. The film stars Prithviraj Sukumaran, Renuka Menon, Vijayaraghavan, Devan and Captain Raju. Padmakumar who was an assistant director for Devasura ...

', '

Out of Syllabus ''Out of Syllabus'' is a 2006 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Viswanathan. It was released on 17 February 2006. Story The film tells the story of Gopikrishnan, a village lad who goes to a city college, and becomes the butt of all jo ...

', ' Chathikkatha Chanthu', '

Thanmathra ''Thanmathra'' ( ml, തന്മാത്ര, en, Molecule) is a 2005 Indian Malayalam-language Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Blessy, based on Padmarajan's short story "Orma". It portrays the effects of Alzhei ...

', '

Vasthavam ''Vaasthavam'' () is a 2006 Indian Malayalam-language romantic political crime drama film written by Babu Janardhanan and directed by M. Padmakumar. The film revolves around a youth Balachandran Adiga (Prithviraj Sukumaran) and follows his ri ...

', 'Kadha', '

Kangaroo (2007 film) ''Kangaroo'' is a 2007 Indian Malayalam-language drama thriller film directed by Raj Babu and starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, Jayasurya and Kavya Madhavan. The screenplay was written by J. Pallassery from a story by Anil Raj. This film was an a ...

', '

In Ghost House Inn ''In Ghost House Inn'' is a 2010 Indian Malayalam-language comedy horror film written, directed, and co-produced by Lal,. Starring Siddique, Mukesh, Jagadish and Ashokan in the lead roles, the movie is a sequel to ''2 Harihar Nagar'' (2009) ...

', '

Lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc. Lollipops are availa ...

', '

Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja Pazhassi Raja () (3 January 1753 – 30 November 1805) was known as Kerala Varma and was also known as Cotiote Rajah and Pychy Rajah. He was a warrior Hindu prince and de facto head of the kingdom of Kottayam, otherwise known as Cotiote, in ...

', '

Oru Naal Varum ''Oru Naal Varum'' () is a 2010 Indian Malayalam-language satirical film directed by T. K. Rajeev Kumar, written by Sreenivasan, and produced by Maniyanpilla Raju. It stars Mohanlal and Sameera Reddy in her Malayalam debut, with Sreenivasan, ...

', '

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

', and '

180 __NOTOC__ Year 180 ( CLXXX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rusticus and Condianus (or, less frequently, year 933 '' Ab ...

'. He has sung the most songs for music director

Alex Paul Alex Paul is an Indian music director who works in Malayalam cinema. Personal life Alex is the son of A. M. Paul, a music artist who formed the first orchestra (in Malayalam: 'ganamela') troupe in Kochi & Philomina. He is the younger brother ...

. He has completed songs in over a 150 movies, and hundreds of music albums. Vidhu is also an active performer in many stage shows in India as well as abroad.

Other Works

He also tried his hands at acting for a time. He starred in a serial directed by the yester-years musician-lyricist-director

Sreekumaran Thampi Sreekumaran Thampi (born 16 March 1940) is an Indian lyricist, music director, director, producer, and screenwriter in Malayalam cinema. He also writes poetry and is a recipient of the Vallathol Award. In 2017, he was awarded the J. C. Daniel ...

. It is called 'Paattukalude Paattu', and the story revolves around a struggling but upcoming stage singer. He has hosted shows like '' Idea Star Singer 2006'' and ''Surya Challenge''. He has judged '' Top Singer'' on

Flowers TV A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

and is now a judge of

Super 4 (Indian TV series) ''Super 4'' is a weekend Malayalam musical reality show which airs on Mazhavil Manorama and streams on Mano ...

Mazhavil Manorama Mazhavil Manorama is an Indian Free-to-air Malayalam general entertainment television channel operated and owned by Malayala Manorama Television (MMTV), the publisher of the widely circulated ''Malayalam Manorama'' daily, and the Malayalam wom ...

Personal life

He married Deepthi Prasad, a TV anchor and a professional classical dancer on 20 August 2008.

Awards

He has several awards to his credit, most important being the first Asianet Voice of the Year Award (1997),

for the song 'Kaalame Kaikolluka Nee' from

(2001), Asianet Best Male Singer Award for 'Sukhamani Nilaavu' from

(2002), Sathyan Foundations Award, GMMA Award, Krystal Symphony TV Young Achiever's Award, and Film Critics Award (2012).

TV shows

Notes and references

External links

*
Blog of Vidhu Prathap
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prathap, Vidhu 1980 births Living people Singers from Thiruvananthapuram Malayalam playback singers Indian male playback singers Tamil playback singers Malayali people Film musicians from Kerala Kerala State Film Award winners 21st-century Indian singers 21st-century Indian male singers