“I'm excited about Sura ,” begins Rita, the young playback singer who made ears perk up to her ‘Allegra' and ‘Mambo Maamiya' in Kandaswamy . Vijay-starrer Sura will feature her in a duet with Karthik and a number with Janani Madan. “The second one is more Janani's song because she has sung most of it,” says Rita. Mani Sharma, the composer, is like a godfather, she says. Thanks to him, she has quite a few hits in Telugu too!
You can hear her singing a Dhina composition, in Guru Sishyan. Selvaganesh has used her voice for the yet-to-be-released Drohi , and she has also sung for Bhavani IPS , Sneha's next.
Quite a few of Rita's hits have been composed by Devi Sri Prasad. Besides Kandaswamy , she has turned up trumps with songs such as ‘…. Jalsa' and ‘Vaada Maapillai' ( Villu ). “Devi Sri Prasad experimented with my voice and gave me a free hand to come up with the humming in the background ,” she remembers. Among her songs for Yuvan Shankar Raja, ‘Oru Naalaikkul' in Yaaradi Nee Mohini topped the popularity charts.
Also, Ilaiyaraaja has used her voice for a couple of songs in Mayilu , which is still in the making. Stage shows with the maestro have been exhilarating experiences for Rita. “Travelling to several parts of the world and the country with his group has been rewarding. Initially, I was terrified about singing on stage, but now I've got used to it,” she says. Her first song before an audience was ‘Raakkamma Kaiya Thattu,' with SPB.
Rettaisuzhi, which should also be out soon, has Rita rendering two numbers. “Karthik Raja is unbelievably talented. He can make even folksy and fast-paced songs sound melodious,” she smiles.
Rita entered the arena through the backing vocals route, with Harris Jayaraj's ‘Kannum Kannum Nokia' ( Anniyan ), while her debut number was for Imman's Aanai .
Avenues are aplenty for talented singers today, and popular playback singers double up as constituents of the backing vocals group. So, you don't find any strong demarcation between chorus and lead singing. “I've been a part of A.R. Rahman's backing vocals for several songs. But, I'm still to sing a solo or duet for him,” says Rita.
Trained under Sharada Sundararaman (Pattammal disciple) in Carnatic music and Krishnanand in Hindustani (Rita is now a student of Sriram Parasuram), she says her base is Carnatic. “When I'm given a tune, instinctively I interpret and recognise it only as a raga and as swaras . However, I'm equally at ease in Western too, thanks to college cultural meets,” says this Fine Arts degree holder from Stella Maris. “My mom, sis and I have done the same course in the same college,” she laughs. Mother Lalitha Thyagarajan is an accomplished veena player and sister Poppy (“That's what we call her!”) has also sung in a couple of films.
It was a dream debut for Rita in Telugu when she crooned ‘I want a Spiderman,' for Mani Sharma for the Chiranjeevi starrer, Stalin . Though her first Telugu recording was for Sathyam Shivam Sundaram , it was Stalin that released earlier. Just as she sang with Vikram for Kandaswamy , she has also sung a duet with Junior NTR for Adhurs . Syeata with Charmi as heroine is one of Rita's recent assignments.
“I like the work culture in film music singing. It takes about two to three hours to learn, rehearse and record a song. I've also made some good friends among singers here,” she says.
Ask about her favourite number, and she says: “It's tough to pick out just one.” But, her ring tone coos ‘Allegra.'
