Chennai-based Sai Vignesh is a carnatic vocalist, playback singer and musician in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada who shot to the limelight after being on the Tamil television singing contest Super Singer 4 (2013). He made his debut in playback singing in 2018 with the song Oora Nenjila from Eghantham and in 2022, he sang in several hit films like Sita Ramam (Telugu) and Kantara (Kannada). More recently the All India Radio A high grade artiste and empanelled artiste of ICCR (Indian Council For Cultural Relations) was also part of the Rocketry Sri Venkatesha Suprabhatam in Rocketry: The Nambi Effect (Hindi) and has just released a few Kannada songs in films like Mr Natwarlal and Unlock Raghava. Just as Kantara 2 is readying itself for release, we catch up with the voice behind the super hit Varaha Roopam — the song that launched Kantara in 2022 — at the recently held Knowledgeum Academy’s inter-school extravaganza Odyssey ’23 to find out more about his career, since.
How has life been after Varaha Roopam?
Life after Varaha Roopam has just been amazing because I started my playback singing career in the year 2018. I have sung like 12 songs, so far, but this song created a magical impact in my life and the reception from the audience has been just brilliant. Because even now I get messages from people saying, “I listen to this song everyday. I wake up listening to this song.” Many pregnant women have texted me saying, “whenever I listen to this song, my baby reacts to it within my womb.” It’s crazy! I am so grateful to the universe and the almighty for blessing me with this song.
When did you realise you wanted to be a singer and how did you go about your training?
My grandmother was a carnatic singer. She used to perform in sabhas and my father was a keyboard player. But he couldn’t continue professionally because of family duties and things like that. He put me into carnatic classes. But to be frank, the first two years I was actually reluctant to go and then my school supported me to participate in many competitions and my interest began. I used to go for a lot of competitions and in first two years I used to get rejected in almost all of them. Then, one day my guru, Lakshmi Ananthakrishnan sat with me and just said this one thing. She told me that I have the talent; and that I was a good singer; and that I was just wasting it. She explained a few other things to me too and that’s when when I realised music was very important to me and I had to start focusing on it. That was the day I started understanding the art of music and I started practicing with a lot more effort. I am here today only because of the blessings of my gurus.
Where do you see your career going in the next five years?
So, after Varaha Roopam, with god’s blessings, life has been really very blissful. So, in the next five years, I would want Sai Vignesh to become a very good human being and a good musician on the whole. I really also want to explore different genres.
What can we look forward to you from next?
I’ve recorded seven songs recently. Four are in Kannada and I am waiting for their releases. My latest release is from the Kannada films Mr Natwarlal and Unlock Raghava.
If you weren’t a singer, what do you think you would have been?
I had always wanted to be a pilot, so, I would have pursued that.
What’s your favorite raga and why?
My favorite raga is kalyani. It just creates positive vibes and it brings a smile on anyone’s face.
Finally, one song from all time that you would like to cover?
It has to be Sangeetha Jathi Mullai from the Tamil film Kaadhal Oviyam sung by the incomparable SP Balasubrahmanyam.
Varaha Roopam is streaming on all major audio and video platforms.
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