Mahathi


Mahathi is a Carnatic musician and playback singer for film songs in several Indian languages.

Family

Hailing from a family of musicians, S.Mahathi is a child prodigy. Her father Sri. Thiruvaiyaru. P. Sekar, a Vocalist is a disciple of Padmavibhushan Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna. Her mother Smt. Vasanthi Sekar is a Flautist, is the grand disciple of Sri. T. R. Mahalingam, Sri. N. Ramani and Smt. Kesi. She is the great grand daughter of the famous violinist "Sangeetha Kalanidhi" Pazhamaneri Swaminatha Iyer.
Mahathi moved to Kerala as a toddler, and did her schooling at chinmaya vidyalaya and Hari Sri Vidya Nidhi School, Trichur and Sacred Heart Convent, Cochin. She graduated in Chennai from Meenakshi College, Kodambakkam with English literature as her main stream.
Mahathi married a surgeon in 2008; the couple have a child.

career

Mahathi started identifying Classical Ragas at the tender age of 1 ½ years. This talent was identified by the parents during her father's concert at a temple in Palakad. Her parents nurtured her talent by teaching her more and more Ragas.
She was able to identify about 75 Carnatic Ragas at the age of 3. To test her talents, her father used to mix up Carnatic Swaras but Mahathi did not hesitate to identify the exact swaras of the Ragas. When she was 3 yrs years old she came to Chennai with her mother for the December Music Season. At the Concert of Mandolin U. Shrinivas at the Mylapore Fine Arts, on December 25, Mahathi, sitting on her mother's lap kept identifying the Ragas played by the musicians on stage. The Secretary of the Sabha, who was sitting next to her mother arranged for a live demonstration of the child's talents, soon after the main item of the concert got over. Mahathi, without the slightest hesitation identified all the Ragas and enthralled the audience. This incident appeared in all the leading news papers at that time.
Mahathi underwent her initial musical training from her parents and from Deepa Gayatri of Trivandrum. When Mahathi's family moved to Trichur, she was put under the guidance of Sri. Mangad. K. Natesan. Mahathi underwent advanced Musical Training under the tutelage of Padma Bhushan “ Sangeetha Kalanidhi “ Madurai  Shri. T. N. Seshagopalan
Mahathi has been awarded the Central Govt Scholarship for Carnatic Music in 1994.She has sung for various Malayalam Devotional albums and Movies too.  Completing her 10th Standard, her family moved to Cochin, where she did her 11th in Sacred Heart Convent,Cochin.

Playback singing

Mahathi's introduction to playback singing came in 2003 when she sang a duet, "Iyyaiyyo Pudichirukku", with Hariharan, under the music direction of Harris Jayaraj in the Tamil movie, Saamy. Although she had a previous experience singing a song under the music direction of Ilaiyaraja, the movie for which it was recorded, Kaadhal Jaathi, was not released.
In 2008, Mahathi won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Naeraa Varattuma" from the movie "Nenjathai Killadhe".
Mahathi has since sung for movies in the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam languages.
She has more than 700 songs in all South Indian languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada,  Malayalam and Punjabi.
Mahathi ‘s Film Hits – to name a few
1.Aiyyao Pudichirukku- Saamy
2.Puyaley Puyale – Kovil
3. Kadhalikkum Asai / Vellai Kkara Mutham- Chellamay
4.Nee Vendum – Varnajaalam
5. Yammadi Athadi – Vallavan
6. Mudhal Mazhai – Bheema
7. Neduwaali – Osthe
8.Jaabilammavo and Chanti- Telugu
9. Bisi Bisi, Hello Ondhu –Kannada
10. Nenje Nenje – Ayan
11. Thee Illai - Engeyum Kadhal

Television works

Mahathi presented the music based quiz program, "Aaha Paadalam" on Doordarshan Podhigai TV with Raaghav. In October 2005 she presented Ilaiyaraja's Live-in Concert organised by Jaya TV, "Andrum Indrum Endrum" with actor Parthiban.
Apart from hosting shows, Mahathi has also appeared as a judge for various music competition reality shows such as Kairali TV's "Gandharva Sangeetham" in 2013, and in seasons 2, 3, and 4 of Vijay TV's musical reality-talent shows Airtel Super Singer and Airtel Super Singer Junior. She was a guest judge in seasons 1, 2, and 3 of the Carnatic music reality-talent show Tanishq Swarna Sangeetham.
Mahathi has also recorded title songs for various TV serials in Vijay TV and Jaya TV, and several advertisement jingles for brands like Pothys, Chennai Silks, Sathya Agencies, RMKV,Ram Silks etc.

Titles, awards, and other recognition