Who is Kavita Krishnamurthy?
A Hindustani classical and playback singer, Kavita Krishnamurthy has been active for over 50 years. She began formal training in Hindustani classical music as a child, and she began recording songs as a teenager. She has since been recorded in more than 16 languages, including Rajasthani, Bengali, Kannada, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Odia, Marathi, English, Urdu, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Nepali, Assamese, Konkani and other language. She received the Padmashri in 2005.
The Early Days of Kavita Krishnamurthy’s Career
The youngest member of the Iyer family, Kavita was born to T.S. Krishnamurthy in New Delhi, where she grew up as Sarada Krishnamurthy. She was born on 25 January 1958. Her training in music began at the insistence of her aunt, Protimma Bhattacharya who enrolled her to study with Suruma Basu, who taught her the Rabindra Sangeet. She earned a gold medal at a music competition at the young age of eight. Her participation in the Inter-Ministry Classical Competition in New Delhi in the mid-1960s won her several medals.
When she was in her college St. Xavier College, Mumbai, Sharada got the chance to record a song in an Indian film with Lata Mangeshkar as a co-singer. The movie was Shriman Prithviraj and was made in 1971. While Sharada wanted to get a job in the Indian Foreign Service, at a young age, she moved to Bombay to become a playback singer in the Hindi film industry.
The singer is a graduate of St. Xavier’s College in Bombay. She was involved in the college’s music group, and met Ranu Mukherjee, the daughter of Hemant Kumar. After seeing how Kavita was involved in music, he decided to use her as a singer during his live performances. Kavita’s dad was impressed by her background in music, and used her as a singer during his live performances. She met playback singers Manna Dey and Jaya Chakravarthy through her aunt. She later met Hema Malini’s mother, Kavita Chakravarthy. Jaya took the initiative to introduce Kavita to Laxmikant and his family, after hearing her sing advertisement jingles in late 1976.
Achievements & Awards
Kavita Krishnamurthy, an Indian playback singer was given the National Award for Best Female Playback Singer in 1992 and the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1999. In 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2001 she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer. She has also won several other awards such as the Tamil Nadu State Awards, three Kerala State Film Awards, four Karnataka State Film Awards, six Maharashtra State Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards East, three Anandalok Puraskar awards and two Screen Videocon Awards.
For the first time in India, a singer has been given a Lifetime Achievement award. Kavita Krishnamurthy is a singer who started her career in the 60s. She was awarded by The South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) on the 4th of November 2016.
She has also sung for many Hindi films, such as Agneepath and Bajirao Mastaani among others. She is one of the most prominent singers of Hindustani classical music. She has received many prestigious awards in her lifetime, including the Padma Shri from the Government of India.
Best songs of Kavita Krishnamurthy of our choice
- Hawa Hawaii – Mr India
- Aaj Main Upar Aasman Neeche- Khamoshi
- Tum Ko- Rockstar
- Aye Watan Tere Liye – Karma
- Maar Dala – Devdas
