Sunitha (Telugu singer)

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Sunitha Upadrashta is an Indian playback singer and voice actor who primarily works in Telugu films.^[1][2] She is a recipient of nine Nandi Awards and two Filmfare Awards South in various categories. She also received a National Award from All India Radio under light music category when she was 15 years old.^[3] She received her first Nandi award in the year 1999 and bagged Nandi Awards in a row for the years 2002 to 2006 and again for the years 2010 to 2012. She was also honored with Lata Mangeshkar Best Singer Award for 2011 by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.^[4][5]

Sunitha's commercial singing career began in the year 1995 with the movie Gulabi. She is also known as an anchor and host for music based programs and flagship programs, one among them was anchoring the historical Amaravati foundation-laying ceremony in the year 2015.^[6][7] Sunitha is also associated as a judge to musical reality shows in various channels, among them Padutha Theeyaga, a musical show that has been running for the last two decades on ETV which was launched and hosted by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam.^[8][9][10] Her contributions are widely noted as a voice-over artist giving voice to over 110 actresses in more than 750 films.^[11][12][13]

Sunitha traveled extensively across 19 foreign countries as an artist. Countries include USA (almost every year since 1999), UK, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Mauritius.

Sunitha was born on 10 May 1978 in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.^[14] At the age of 6, she got training in music from Shri Pemmaraju Surya Rao in Carnatic Vocal and Light music from Kalaga Krishna Mohan. At a very early age, she got many opportunities to participate and perform in several concerts, including programs featured by All India Radio. At the age of 13, she also participated in Tyagaraja Aradhana Utsavalu along with her Guru Pemaraju Surya Rao. She received numerous awards and appreciations in various competitions for her performances as a child prodigy, one of the special mentions is her scholarship from Central Government to pursue her musical trainings.

She belongs to a music-loving family and her parents are fond of music. She got married at the age of 19 to Kiran Kumar Goparaju who works in the media and they later got divorced. The couple has two children Akash and Shreya.^[14] Shreya sang her debut song, "Tick... Tick... Tick..." in Telugu movie Savyasachi.

In January 2021, Sunitha married a businessman Rama Krishna Veerapaneni in the presence of her family members and close friends.^[15][16]

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Sunitha has begun her singing career as a playback singer in films at an age of 17. Sashi Preetham, a music director first gave her a chance to sing in her debut film Gulabi and her debut song is "Ee Vela Lo Neevu" written by Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry. She sang a single card for the Kannada film Bhoomi Geetha in 1997, music composed by Ilayaraja. Apart from that she also sang Telugu TV serial title songs such as Ruturagalu and Antarangalu. She received her first Nandi Award from the combined state of Andhra Pradesh for singing title song of Antharangalu in 1999.

She has worked under the supervision of music directors like Ilayaraja, Vidyasagar, M.M. Keeravani, A.R Rahman, S.V. Krishna Reddy, Koti, Raj, Vandematharam Srinivas, Mani Sharma, Ramana Gogula, S.A. Raj Kumar, Sandeep Choutha, Mickey J. Mayer, Devisri Prasad, R.P. Patnaik, Chakri, Nihal, Kalyani Malik, Anup Rubens, Sunil Kashyap, Saluri Vasu Rao, Madhavapeddi Suresh, Saketha Sairam, Bunty, V. Harikrishna, Jassie Gift, S. Thaman, etc. She rendered nearly 3000 songs in many south Indian films.^[13] She has sung in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada.

Sunitha stepped in to the world of dubbing quite unwillingly after release of the movie Choodalani Undi in the year 1998 starring Mega star Chiranjeevi and Soundarya, in which she gave her voice to Soundarya. She achieved a very rare feat as a voice-over artist in Telugu film industry with a record breaking contribution of lending voice to 110+ actresses spread across 750+ films.^[12][11][17] She also holds a record of giving her voice for 60 movies in a single year. Gautamiputra Satakarni is her 750th movie as a dubbing artist in which she gave her voice to Shriya Saran.^[18] Her top 10 movies as a voice-over artist include Choodalani Vundi, Ninne Premista, Nuvvu Vastavani, Shankar Dada MBBS, Manmadhudu, Sri Ramadasu, Nenunnanu, Anand, Godavari, Jayam.

Selective works of singer Sunitha as a playback singer listed below

Sunitha sang title songs for various Television serials and also lent her voice as a dubbing artist for the TV series Andam.

Sunitha was part of numerous private album recordings. Meera padavali and Aanota – Manasu palike vela are her two most known works composed by her Guru Kalaga Krishna Mohan. She also featured in the private album Sri Ramachandra Krupalu, a bhajan by Tulsi Das and produced by sunithanmusic.com.

Chandrashekara Ashtakam also takes a special mention for which music is composed by Sai Madhukar.

Few other private albums to mention are Raghuram, Sai Sudha, Sri Venkateswara Thatwanidhi, Sri Vallabha Bhakthi Geethalu, Sai Darshanam, Sri Chidvilasam, Amma durgamma, Pahimaam, Sri Rama Charanam, Govinda Ganamrutham, Saye Dhaivam, Bathuku Paata.

Sunitha traveled extensively across 19 foreign countries offering her exclusive live performances across the world as an artist. Countries include USA (almost every year since 1999), UK, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, SriLanka, Thailand, Japan, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Mauritius. In 2009, she started her Melodious Moments with Sunitha musical journey which in 2019 was organized in 5 major USA cities San Jose, Charlotte, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Los Angeles.^[20] The event in Indianapolis witnessed its performance in the iconic Old National Center.^[21] Celebrating this success, Melodious Moments with Sunitha unveiled its first live show in Hyderabad on 4 August 2019 in Shilpakala vedika which then extended to various cities and towns in Telugu states.^[22]

Her other noted performances include groundbreaking ceremony for Amaravathi - new capital of Andhra Pradesh, 200 years of Secunderabad celebrations by the state Government, hosting 50 years celebrations in the state Assembly, singing Vande Mataram along with S.P.Balasubrahmanyam at the Congress Plenary Meet during 50 years of Indian Independence,

Sunitha anchored, hosted and performed as a singer in many music-based programs and live shows in most of the reputed Telugu television channels. She has given about 500 programs so far on AIR, DD channel, ETV, Gemini TV, and MAA TV

Sunitha played the lead role in her first short film Raagam. It was nominated for SIIMA, 2017 in the short film category.^[23][24][25]

• Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for TV film Antha Rangaalu (1999)
• Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie Jayam (2002)
• Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the Movie Athade Oka Sainyam (2003)
• Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie Anand (voice of the Kamalinee Mukherjee) (2004)
• Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie Pothe Poni^[26] (2005)
• Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the movie Godavari (2006)
• Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for TV film Anthahpuram (2010)
• Nandi Award for a TV film called Mamathala Kovela (2011)
• Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie Sri Rama Rajyam (voice of the Nayantara) (2012)

• Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Kannada (2010) for the movie Cheluveye Ninne Nodalu for the song "O Priyathama"
• Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Telugu (2014) for the movie Oohalu Gusagusalade for the song "Em Sandehamledu"^[27][28]
• Nominated-Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Telugu (2009) for the movie Pravarakhyudu for the song "Neela Neela Mabbulu"
• Nominated-Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Telugu (2010) for the movie Vedam for the song "Egiripothe"
• Nominated-Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Kannada (2010) for the movie Modalasala for the song "Prathama"

• TV Award 2009 for Best Female Playback Singer presented by Delhi Telugu Academy in Hyderabad on 8 August 2010^[29]
• Lata Mangeshkar Best Singer Award for 2011 was presented by the State Government at 2nd^[30]
• TSR TV9 Best play back singer award for the song "Em Sandeham ledu" in 2014^[31]
• NTR memorial award 2015^[32]
• Singer of the decade award in the year 2016 by Zee Apsara Awards^[33]
• Prestigious Indywood Academy award as best playback singer for the song "Chivaraku migiledhi" from the epic biopic Mahanati in 2018^[34]
• Vishishta seva puraskar by "I Stand for the Nation" NGO in 2019^[35]

• Sunitha at IMDb
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