Karthik (singer)

Karthik(born 7 November 1980) is an Indianplayback singerandcomposer. Karthik started his professional singing career as a backing vocalist and has since been working as a playback singer. He has sung more than 8000 songs in 10 Indian languages includingTamil,Telugu,Malayalam,Kannada,Odia,Bengali,MarathiandHindi.
Karthikeyan hails fromTiruvarurdistrict. He is a trained Carnatic music vocalist. He was part of a college band and regularly participated in IIT Madras FestSaarang. An ardent fan ofA. R. Rahman, Karthik's dream was to meet Rahman and sing for him. Playback singerSrinivas, who collaborated often with Rahman was Karthik's close friend's cousin. Srinivas encouraged Karthik to look at singing as a career, which prompted Karthik to resume his singing lessons. One year later, Srinivas recommended Karthik's name to Rahman, who needed fresh voices for backing vocalists for a song fromPukar. Karthik eventually got the opportunity and recorded for the song. Having spent over a year being a backing vocalist, Karthik got his break during the Rahman's scoring ofOne 2 Ka 4. For the background score, A. R. Rahman wanted a high-pitchedalapand he eventually chose Karthik to sing the alap. Soon after, Rahman asked him to sing the song "Nendhukittaen" from the filmStar.
Karthik was a CA aspirant before he became a professional singer. He is married to Ambika, they have a daughter and a son.
Karthik has sung a number of songs for many popular music directors, includingA. R. Rahman,Ilaiyaraaja,Hamsalekha,Vidyasagar,Devi Sri Prasad,Harris JayarajandManisharma, in several languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. "Ennaku Oru Girlfriend" from the Tamil filmBoyswas one of the biggest hits of the year as was "Oru Maalai" (Ghajini; 2005). His songs for Telugu films forKotha Bangaru Lokam(Nijanga Nenenaa),Happy Days(Arare Arare, Oh My Friend),  "Yedhuta Nilachindi Choodu" (Vaana), "Badhulu Tochanai" (Mr.Perfect), "Manase Guvvai" (Naa Peru Shiva), "Oh Oh My Friend" (Oh My Friend), "Meghama" (Journey), "Yevvaro" (Bodyguard) are popular. His other popular songs include the title track fromUnnale Unnaleand "Mundhinam Paarthene" and "Ava Enna", both fromVaaranam Aayiram(2009). The dubbed versions of his Tamil songs in Telugu are also popular.
Karthik has sung Kannada songs and has many super hit chart buster songs to his credit like Ale Ale, Anuraaga Aralo Samaya, Thangaliyalli Theli Hode, Nee Chummu Chummu Munjaaneli, Manasaithu Ninna Myaale, Sum Sumne Yaako, Hosadondu Hesaridu Nanange, Kanne Koodiruvaaga, Madhumasa, Nenapidu Nenapidu, Thanthaane Thannamthaane, Baruve Odi Odi Nalidu, Raktha Sambandhagala, Saluge Saluge, Mannige Mara Bhaarave and many more.
"Behka" fromGhajiniis also popular.
In 2010, he sang a track "Behene De", from Hindi filmRaavan, which is widely considered as the biggest song in his career.The track, which topped music charts for many continuous weeks, also received rave critical reviews.
The song Yayum Ngayum from the albumSandham: Symphony Meets Classical Tamilis considered as one of Karthik's career best for the way how he has brought sensuality to the 2000 year old poetry. He received wide appreciations for the theme song of 10thWorld Tamil Conferencefrom the same albumSandham: Symphony Meets Classical Tamil. The album was featured in Amazon's Top#10 International Music albums in July 2020.
He has composed music for a multi lingual Coca-Cola Advertisement (for Rajeev Menon featuring actor Vijay)and Prince Jewellery advertisements. He is the music director ofVasanthabalan's period filmAravaanand Srinivas Raga'sOkkadinestarringNara RohitandNithya Menenin Telugu.
He has also released an album called "Music I Like". It is based on carnatic ragaas and it is a contemporary take on some well known keerthanas. The orchestration was done by the music director Sai Madhukar.
He is the composer of the segment 'Guitar Kambi mele Nindru' directed byGautham Vasudev Menonin the Netflix anthology movieNavarasa(2021). He has also composed music for an upcoming film "Joshua Imai Pol Kaakha".
Karthik is a part of a band called Arka which is a contemporary fusion band.
Arka denotes theSuninSanskritand to rightly interpret the meaning, it is the warmth and radiance of music that spreads across everyone listening. With the exclusive intention of extending a new musical outreach, few renowned artists in unison have created this band and intend to broaden the horizons of Indian fusion music.
Arka is the epicenter of an erupting musical form with core and artists like Karthik,SelvaGanesh,Gino Banks, Ravichandra Kulur, Santhosh Chandran, Mishko M'Ba, and guest artists like the legendsVikku Vinayakaramand Swaminathan.
Dubbed and sang for the character Aladdin for its 2019version. He also lent his voice toAllu Arjunfor the Tamil dubbed version ofAla Vaikunthapurramuloo, and also rendered thesongsfor the same.
As part of the#MeToo movement, Karthik was accused of sexual harassment in 2018 by several anonymous women. SingerChinmayi Sripaadatweeted these allegations messaged to her by women who wished to remain anonymous.Karthik responded to the allegations by tweeting "I want to put it out there that I have never intentionally acted in a way that would make anybody feel uncomfortable or unsafe. If anybody felt hurt because of any of my actions in the past, please reach out to me directly. I do believe in facing the consequences of one's actions. I fully support #MeToo and if there's truth in anybody's grievance, I shall be more than willing to apologise or face legal action because I don't want to ever leave a sour taste in anyone's life".