Kurumugil is a very special song to me in my playback singing career: Sai Vignesh

Carnatic musician and playback singer Sai Vignesh says he is overwhelmed by the reception to his latest song Kurumugil from the recent romantic film Sita Ramam, which had Dulquer Salmaan, Mrunal Thakur and Rashmika Mandanna in lead roles.
“I have been working with Vishal Chandrashekar, the composer of Sita Ramam, for many years now. In fact, I sang my first jingle for him, when I was in Class 8.I have sung backing vocals for many of his songs and background scores. One day, Vishal’’ wife Sindhuri called me to sing a track. We recorded this in March. I did not know then that it was for this film,” begins the singer.
He credits Sindhuri for helping him out with “the song’s dynamics and nuances”. “It came out really well, but they told me that they were not sure if it would be retained in the final version as that call would be taken by the film’s director. But they said that they were happy with my voice, and would definitely recommend it to the director. And a couple of days before the album’s release, Sindhuri called and told me that they have retained my voice in the actual song,” he recalls.
Post the release, the singer says the reaction has been very encouraging. “The songs came out in July and the film in August. But since it was primarily a Telugu film, not many knew of the song here until then. But an Insta version of the song became a hit and only then it caught the attention of music lovers here,” states the singer, who was a runner-up at the Times Tyagaraja Awards 2014.
Sai Vignesh has also lent his voice to another film that is making waves — the Kannada movie Kantara. “I have sung the climax song in the film, titled Varaha Roopam. It is a very intense number. While Kurumugil was a romantic melody, this song was special because I’ve been learning Carnatic music for 18 years and have always wanted to sing a classical number with a contemporary touch. I am very thankful to composer Ajaneesh Loknath for calling me to sing this one. Even here, I was originally asked to sing the track version. To be frank, the industry functions this way. Most singers get called to sing tracks and if the composer and director like your voice, they retain it. But it was a good experience to learn the lyrics and sing in Kannada, a language that I’m not familiar with,” says the youngster, who has also sung the backing vocals in AR Rahman’s recent song Devaralan Aattam, in the Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam versions.
“It has been a totally surreal experience as all these three opportunities came in a span of three months,” signs off the singer.