Sunitha Upadrashta is Telugu's most popular voice-over artist and playback singer with a record-breaking contribution of lending her voice to more than a hundred actresses, along with her singing.
Playback Singing:
Sunitha Upadrashta began her career as a playback singer under the music director Sasi Preetham at the age of 17. One of her songs which goes by the lyrics- "Eee Vela Lo Neevu" is as famous as her voice. Sunitha also got great recognition after she sang the title songs for Telugu's famous serials Ruthuragalu and Antarangalu.
Ilayaraja, Vidya Sagar, M.M. Keeravani, A.R Rahman, S.V. Krishna Reddy, Koti, Raj, Vandematharam Srinivas, Mani Sharma, Ramana Gogula, S.A. Raj Kumar, Sandeep Choutha, Micky-J-Mayer, Devisri Prasad, R.P. Patnaik, Chakri, Nihal, Kalyani Malik, Anup, Sunil Kashyap, Saluri Vasu Rao, Madhavapeddi Suresh, Saketha Sairam, Bunty, V. Harikrishna, Jassie Gift, S. Thaman are the famous music composers under whose assistance Sunitha had sung some famous songs.
Having sung in many south Indian films Sunitha banks a list of 3000 songs in her account. Her recent song in the year 2020 "Neeli Neeli akaasam" from the movie "30 rojullo preminchadamela" touched a whopping 100M digital views, which is a rare feat to achieve.
Dubbing:
Sunitha also holds a record of working for more than 750 movies as a voice-over artist. The Telugu Singing industry boasts of having a voice-over artist like Sunitha, who holds a record of lending her voice for 60 movies in a single year. Sunitha's voice-over for the movie 'Anand' by Shekhar Kammula is still one of the most loved ones from her dubbing career.
Childhood and early life:
Upadrasta Narasimha Rao and Sumathi (Maiden Name Malladi) who are well-known among music lovers at Vijayawada and Guntur are the parents of Sunitha, who started music training from Pemaraju Surya Rao in Carnatic Vocal. She also learned light music from Kalaga Krishna Mohan.
Sunitha had participated in a few programs featured by All India Radio at the age of 13. Sunitha received numerous awards and appreciations at a very small age in various competitions. She received her scholarship from Central Government to pursue her musical training.
Personal life and family:
Sunitha had tied a knot at the age of 19 to Kiran Kumar Goparaju. The couple ended up getting divorced years later. Aakash Goparaju and Shreya Goparaju are their kids.
In January 2021, Sunitha married a businessman named Rama Krishna Veerapaneni.
Significant works and Awards:
Sunitha has won many awards for her singing as well as dubbing in the movies. She has received several Nandi Awards as well as Filmfare awards. The list of her achievements include:
Nandi Awards:
Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie Sri Rama Rajyam (voice of the Nayantara) (2012)
Nandi Award for a TV film called Mamathala Kovela (2011)
Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for TV film Anthahpuram (2010)
Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the movie Godavari (2006)
Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie Pothe Poni[8] (2005)
Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie Anand (voice of the Kamalinee Mukherjee) (2004)
Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the Movie Athade Oka Sainyam (2003)
Nandi Award for Best Female Dubbing Artist for the movie Jayam (2002)
Nandi Award for Best Female Playback Singer for TV film Antha Rangaalu (1999)
Filmfare Awards
Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Kannada (2010) for the movie Cheluveye Ninne Nodalu for the song "O Priyathama"
Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer - Telugu (2014) for the movie Oohalu Gusagusalade for the song "Em Sandehamledu"
Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – Telugu (2009) for the movie Pravarakhyudu for the song "Neela Neela Mabbulu"
Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – Telugu (2010) for the movie Vedam for the song "Egiripothe"
Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – Kannada (2010) for the movie Modalasala for the song "Prathama"
