Haricharan

Haricharan Seshadri, known and credited mononymously as Haricharan (born 20 March 1987), is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, playback singer, and musician who predominantly works in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu And Kannada. He recorded his first Tamil film song for the film Kaadhal, in Joshua Sridhar's music when he was 17, and went on to record three songs in his debut movie. His song "Unakkena Iruppen" was nominated for the National Film Awards in 2005 which became widely popular. However he became popular only after his rendition to the song, "Thuli Thuli", composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja for the movie Paiyaa (2010).

Background

Haricharan comes from Tamil music family from Chennai, India . His grandfather P. S. Ganapathy was an organizer of mic-less Carnatic concerts in the 60s under the name "Aalapanaa", and his grandmother Smt. Alamelu Ganapathy is a national awardee in Mathematics, and has been in academia for more than 35 years. His father G. Seshadri is an artist through AIR, and a bank employee, and his mother Latha, a librarian in P. S. Senior Secondary School. Haricharan started learning Carnatic music at an early age of seven under Smt. Sethu Mahadevan, and then from stalwarts like K. V. Narayanaswamy, T. M. Prabhavathi and P. S. Narayanaswamy.

He recorded his first Tamil film song for the film Kaadhal, in Joshua Sridhar's music when he was 17, and went on to record three songs in his debut movie. His song "Unakkena Iruppen" was nominated for the National Film Awards in 2005 which became widely popular. Since then he has recorded several hit numbers for various music directors across the south, predominantly in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam languages. He became more famous after his more recent song, "Thuli Thuli". Haricharan is one of the most used singers in Yuvan Shankar Raja's music. He has also sung the Rotaract Change Anthem for RI Dist 3230.

In 2012, Haricharan sang alongside Rajinikanth for the song "Maattram Ondrudhaan Maradhadhu" from soundtrack of Kochadaiiyaan, which was composed by A. R. Rahman and released in 2014.

Rise To Fame

At the start of his career, Hariharan performed at concerts and also performed on TV. He sang for a number of TV serials (e.g., Junoon). In addition, he cut several successful ghazal albums, writing most of the scores himself.

One of Hariharan's first ghazal albums was "Abshaar-e-Ghazal" with Asha Bhonsle, which went gold in sales. Another outstanding ghazal album was "Gulfam", which not only hit double platinum in sales but also fetched Hariharan the Diva Award for the Best Album of the Year in 1994.

Hariharan entered the world of Tamil films in 1992 introduced by debutant music director A.R. Rahman with the patriotic song "Thamizha Thamizha" in Maniratnam's film Roja. He was judged best male playback singer in the 1995 Tamil Nadu State Government Film Awards for his soulful rendition of the song "Uyire Uyire" also by music director A.R. Rahman in Maniratnam's Bombay (Hariharan sang the song with K.S. Chitra).

Hariharan has been one of the most trusted singers of A.R. Rahman and has sung many songs for him in a long list of movies that include Roja, Minsara Kanavu, Jeans, Indian, Mudhalvan, Taal, Bombay, Rangeela, Indira, Iruvar, Anbe Aaruyire, Kangalal Kaithu Sei, Sivaji, Alaipayuthey, Kannathil Muthamittal, Guru, etc.

In 1998, Hariharan won the national award for the best playback singer for the soulful rendition of the song "mere dushman mere bhai" from the Hindi movie Border, composed by Anu Malik. He has sung more than 500 Tamil songs which is his highest in his career.

The year 1996 was a career milestone; he released the fusion album Colonial Cousins with Bombay-based composer/singer Leslie Lewis. This was the first Indian act to be featured on MTV Unplugged. It won a string of awards including the MTV Indian Viewers' Choice award.

Hariharan has also acted in a Tamil film with Khushboo, titled Power of Women & also played cameo roles in the Tamil film Boys & the Malayalam film Millennium Stars.

Recent Years

In 2004, he was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri and Yesudas Award for his outstanding performance in music.

Hariharan also collaborated with Pakistan-based band Strings for a track called "bolo bolo". Hariharan released an album called Destiny with Punjabi/bhangra artiste Daler Mehndi. His newest Ghazal album "Lahore ke rang, Hari ke sang" with renowned ghazal composers from Pakistan won him rave reviews and critical acclaim inside and outside india.

He also coined the terminology "Urdu Blues'' with his immensely successful album "Kaash" which featured musicians like Anandan Sivamani the percussion maestro, Ustaad Rashid Mustafa on tabla, Ustad Liyaqat Ali Khan on sitar & Ustad Sultan Khan on sarangi. Hariharan also worked with tabla maestro Zakir Hussain on his ghazal album Haazir. He also had the chance to sing in front of Sathya Sai Baba 2 years ago.

Awards, Accolades and Recognition 

It is in general very common to see the great artists receive the great awards for the efforts that they have taken to reach this level in their life. In this aspect the Playback singer Hari Charan should also be given the most prestigious awards for the best songs that he has contributed to the film industry. Apart from the awards that he has received he has also given various stage performances for his hit songs all over the world. His songs are not only popular in India but also very popular all over the world.

• Recipient of the VIRTUOSA award for the best male playback singer in the newcomer category in the year 2005 and several awards for the song in the movie Kaadhal.
• Recipient of the LG Sangam award for the best playback singer in telugu for the song “Jamma nee dele" in the film premisthe – the telugu version of Kaadhal.
• Received the best playback singer award from All India Radio for a song from the film Kaadhal.