Last year was a year of chartbusters for Sithara Krishnakumar. She topped it off by winning the Kerala State Film award for the best female playback singer for the melodious track Vaanamakalunnuvo... from Vimanam , composed by Gopi Sunder. It is the second state award for the singer; the first one was for the retro song Enundodi Ambili chandam... from Celluloid (2012).
An ecstatic Sithara says that the award was unexpected. “It was a surprise for me. I had sung several good solos last year and so when a friend told me that I was chosen for the award, I was curious to know which song had won it! If I were asked to pick my best five solo songs, Vaanamakalunnuvo... is definitely one of them,” she says.
The video of Vaanamakalunnuvo... was not released by the makers until the award was announced and so not many people were familiar with the song. “It is a beautiful composition and I consider it one of the best works of Gopi chettan’s . So I was sad when the song didn’t reach out to many people. It is a comparatively long one, adhering to the proper song structure. It took nearly an hour to record,” she says. Rafeeq Ahamed is the lyricist of the number.
Then and now
Talking about the two state awards, Sithara says that the scenario was totally different for her when she won the first award. “Before I won the award for Celluloid , not many people knew me and my songs. Even though I have been in the industry for quite some time, I had to tell people that I had sung such and such songs. But once I won the award things changed for the better. My career took a new turn. Awards always give you a special energy, they also remind you of your responsibility as a musician,” says Sithara, who has completed a decade in the industry.
While she experimented with her voice texture for Enundodi Ambili chandam..., she considers herself lucky as she was not asked to repeat the same in the other films that followed. In fact, she got to work with almost all the leading composers last year and came out with some memorable numbers in films such as C/O Saira Banu, Godha, Udaharanam Sujatha, Sakhavu, Thondimuthalum Drisksakshiyum and Villain .
Last year, she also turned composer. First came the single Ente Akaasham..., which was released on International Women's Day. She composed the title track of the movie, Kadha Paranja Kadha , released early this year. Her forthcoming release as a composer (along with Mithun Jayaraj) is Udalazham , which has a host of other state award winners in it — Indrans, Appu Bhattathiri and Renganath Ravee. Two songs from the movie have already been released.
“I used to compose for my performances and have made a few jingles also. But composing for films is a different thing because you have to take a lot of other things into consideration. Till now I have worked within a friendship circle and I don’t know how it would be when I step out of that comfort zone,” she says.
