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Chinmayi Sripada | |
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.jpg) Chinmayi at Filmfare Awards 2018 | |
| Born | Chinmayi Sripada (1984-09-10)10 September 1984 (age 41) Chennai,Tamil Nadu, India |
| Alma mater | University of Madras |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2002–present (as singer) 2005–present (as dubbing artist) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives |
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| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | Vocals, Piano |
| Labels |
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Musical artist | |
Chinmayi Sripada (born 10 September 1984), knownmononymously asChinmayi, is an Indian singer and voice actress. She predominantly works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films. She rose to fame for her critically acclaimed song "Oru Deivam Thantha Poovae" fromKannathil Muthamittal (2002), directed byMani Ratnam and composed byA. R. Rahman . She debuted as a voice actress inSillunu Oru Kaadhal (2006) rendering her voice forBhumika Chawla, after being referred by one of A. R. Rahman's sound engineers. She debuted as a composer with a short lullaby titledLaali, which she also sang and released as part of Instagram's#1MinMusic.
She is the founder and CEO of a translation services companyBlue Elephant, a skincare company importing K-beauty to India -Skinroute formerlyIsle Of Skin, and a medi-spaDeep Skin Dialogues in Chennai and Hyderabad. She is often credited as Chinmayee and was credited as Indai Haza which means "Angel of Music," (named by composerA. 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.
Chinmayi was born inChennai,[1] Tamil Nadu to parents Sripada Kameswara Rao and Padmhasini Thirumalai, and is the granddaughter of legendary Carnatic musician and doctorSripada Pinakapani.[2] She underwent formal training inCarnatic classical music from her mother from a very young age (3-4). She later decided to switch over toHindustani classical music. She received theCCRT Scholarship for Young Talent for Carnatic Music from the Government of India at the age of 10.[3] She won the gold medal from All India Radio for Ghazals in 2000 and the silver medal for Hindustani Classical Music in 2002 also Carnatic classical music silver medal . She learned German as a language in the Max Mueller Bhavan in Chennai and completed certification courses fromNIIT and SSI in web design. During her school life, she held jobs with both Sify and studentconcepts.org.[citation needed]
Chinmayi has a Bachelor of Science degree inpsychology from theUniversity of Madras. She is also a versatile dancer and mostly enjoys the Odissi dance form. Chinmayi is apolyglot; apart fromTamil andTelugu she also speaks,English,Hindi, German and French fluently, and has a working knowledge of Spanish,Malayalam,Kannada, Marathi andPunjabi.[4]
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She participated and won the singing show ofSun TV,Saptasawarangal, following which she was introduced by singer Srinivas to film composerA. R. Rahman. Chinmayi's playback singing career began with her performance of Rahman's "Oru Dheivam Thanta Poove" for the filmKannathil Muthamittal. After a couple of years of singing exclusively for Tamil, Telugu, Tulu andMalayalam films, she made herBollywood debut inMangal 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 movieGuru. In 2007, the song "Beda Beda" marked her first venture intoKannada playback singing. She has since received critical acclaim for songs such as "Sahana Saaral", "Vaarayo Vaarayo", "Kilimanjaro", "Sara Sara", "Asku Laska", "Kaathale Kaathale" andMuththa Mazhai. She received her second break in Bollywood with the song "Titli" fromChennai Express and "Zehnaseeb" fromHasee Toh Phasee. She then received critical acclaim for the song "Mast Magan" from2 states, which she had sung along withArijit 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.[5] 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 theThug 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" withA. R. Rahman continues to be in the top 10 streamed songs across India on Spotify.
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.[6]
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 turned a voice actor for the Tamil filmSillunu Oru Kadhal (2006), speaking dubbing for actressBhumika Chawla, an opportunity that came throughA. R. Rahman's office. Since then, she has dubbed for several lead actresses in Tamil films, includingTamannaah Bhatia,Sameera Reddy,Samantha Ruth Prabhu andTrisha 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 inVinnaithaandi Varuvaaya. The same character appeared in the film's Telugu versionYe Maaya Chesave and was portrayed by Samantha, while being portrayed byAmy Jackson in the Hindi versionEk Deewana Tha. Chinmayi dubbed for the character in all three films and won theNandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist forYe Maaya Chesave in 2010. Chinmayi dubbed inVettai forSameera Reddy and has dubbed for her in allTamil movies. She dubbed for Samantha Ruth Prabhu inEega in Telugu and its Tamil versionNaan Ee in 2012. She dubbed voice forNayanthara in the Tamil version of the movieSri Rama Rajyam, and in the telugu version ofNaanum Rowdy Dhaan.[7] Chinmayi has also been the voice ofLavanya Tripathi in many of her movies, starting fromAndala Rakshasi, thenBhale Bhale Magadivoy,Maayavan,Chaavu Kaburu Challaga, andA1 Express. Chinmayi has dubbed for Samantha Ruth Prabhu in many films likeRabhasa,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 leadTrisha and also sang all the songs in the film, and subsequently worked in the Telugu remakeJaanu, in which she dubbed forSamantha 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) withLokesh Kanagaraj andVijay'sLeo in which she dubbed forTrisha's character, Sathya, in 3 languages - Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.Leo also marks Chinmayi's dubbing debut in the Kannada film industry. Chinmayi dubbed forMrunal Thakur in her Telugu debutSita 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.
Chinmayi served as a television presenter during the first season ofAirtel Super Singer onSTAR Vijay that was aired between April and August 2006 and the first season ofAirtel Super Singer Junior from February 2007 to July 2007. In 2008, she returned as host of the second season ofAirtel 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 aradio jockey on Aahaa FM 91.9 inChennai, on a breakfast show titledAahaa Kaapi Klub. She later began comperingStar Plus'sChhote Ustaad, which ran concurrently with another music talent show she started hosting in June, the debut season ofSun TV'sSangeetha Mahayuddham. On 15 August 2010, Chinmayi announced that that day'sChhote 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 inJaya 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 ofShankar'sI where she welcomed stalwarts likeArnold Schwarzenegger andRajinikanth. She hosted one of the largest events in Indian Cinema in 2013 along withSivakarthikeyan, 100 years of Indian Cinema Celebrations, organized by theSouth Indian Film Chamber of Commerce and inaugurated by the then Chief Minister of Tamil NaduJ. Jayalalithaa. She also hosted the event organized to facilitate music composerM. S. Viswanathan with theThirai Isai Chakravarthy award by Jayalalithaa, titled "Ninaithale Inikkum".
Chinmayi is married toRahul Ravindran. In September 2013, through Twitter, Chinmayi's mother Padmhasini revealed Chinmayi was engaged toRahul Ravindran, who is also an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter. Chinmayi and Rahul were friends, colleagues and 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.[8]
Sripada is a prominent figure in India'sMe Too movement, using her social media presence to publicise allegations of sexual harassment within the country's entertainment industry. In 2018, she accused lyricistVairamuthu of sexual harassment, alleging an incident took place inSweden in 2006.[9][10] She also amplified the claims of others against musicians such asO. S. Thyagarajan,Raghu Dixit, andKarthik.[11] Her allegations were met withcyberbullying and accusations from some political activists that they were motivated bycaste prejudice. Sripada also publicised an allegation against N. Narayanan, the president of the Tamil Nadu Brahmins Association (TAMBRAS).[12]
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 issub judice.
Sripada was selected for the Fortune/US State Department Global Women's Mentoring Partnership in 2011, one of three Indian women chosen that year.[13][14]
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 fromSAARC Chamber for Women Entrepreneurship for Excellence in a niche industry for Blue Elephant in 2010.[15] 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.[16][17] 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 actorSamantha Ruth Prabhu at Chetpet, Chennai. Another branch ofDSD was opened in Hyderabad in May 2022.
Chinmayi 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.
| Year | Title | Role | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Famously Filmfare | Host | Telugu | MX Player talk show - 10 Episodes |
| 2021 | Most Eligible Bachelor | Herself | Cameo appearance along with her husbandRahul Ravindran |
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