Shweta MohanTamil Playback Singer – Song Lyrics & Movies

Born to playback singer Sujatha Mohan and Krishna Mohan, Shweta has received six Filmfare Awards South for Best Female Playback Singer, one Kerala State Film Award and one Tamil Nadu State Film Award. She was also honoured by the Government of Tamil Nadu with the Kalaimamani award, the highest civilian award from that state, in 2023.

Apart from playback singing, Shweta has appeared as a judge on several television reality shows and in music videos. She has collaborated with several artists and produced Indie singles.

Shweta Mohan was born on 19 November 1985 to a Malayali family in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her father, V. Krishna Mohan is a pediatrician and also a musical enthusiast who has performed occasionally on musical stages, and her mother, Sujatha Mohan, is an accomplished playback singer. She completed her schooling at Good Shepherd Convent, Chennai and graduated from Stella Maris College, Chennai.

Though interested in music, Shweta expressed reluctance towards singing initially considering her voice was not good enough for playback singing. During her 10th grade, in a cultural competition, she sang "Bole Re Papihara" song from the film Guddi in the solo round which was judged by singer-composer, Bhavatharini. She won the first prize in the competition and Bhavatharini advised her to take up singing more seriously. This encouragement and recognition ignited her passion towards singing and made her to take up music as her career.

At the age of nine, Shweta began receiving formal training in classical music. Later, she started her lessons in Carnatic classical music and Hindustani classical music trained and groomed by vocalist, Binni Krishnakumar, and western vocals and piano under Augustine Paul. During one of her accompaniments with her mother for the song recordings with music director A. R. Rahman, she was asked to be part of the child chorus for his songs "Kuchi Kuchi Rakkamma" (Bombay, 1995) and "Accham Accham Illai" (Indira, 1995).

The year 2011 marked the beginning of Shweta's association with composer Sharreth through the Tamil – Telugu bilingual film 180. The soundtrack met with positive response from critics and audience, particularly her duet song with Karthik, "Nee Korinaal", receiving nomination as the best female playback singer at the 59th Filmfare Awards South. The song won the Listener's choice award at the Mirchi Music Awards South. Her collaboration with composer Harris Jayaraj began with the film Ko and 7 Aum Arivu. She had multiple hit songs in Tamil in the year 2011 and was awarded the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for multiple films including Kaavalan, Vettai, Thambikottai, Veppam and Vithagan. In Malayalam, she collaborated first time with the acclaimed singer K. J. Yesudas with the duet "Aaro Nee Aaro" for the film Urumi composed by Deepak Dev. Other popular Malayalam songs of the year 2011 came through the films Christian Brothers, Three Kings, Bangkok Summer and Snehaveedu. The epic devotional Telugu film Sri Rama Rajyam had music composed by Ilaiyaraaja and had multiple songs recorded by Shweta both in original and dubbed versions. The Telugu film 100% Love featured two hit songs in her voice.

The year 2012 marked the beginning of Shweta's association with the "new-gen" music composer Anirudh Ravichander through the Tamil film 3. The romantic duet "Nee Paartha Vizhigal" along with Vijay Yesudas topped the charts upon its release. The Malayalam song "Shyama Hare" from Arike composed by Ouseppachan was widely appreciated for her singing and brought her the second Filmfare Award for best singer. Both "Nee Partha" and "Shyama Hare" earned her the first nominations at the 2nd SIIMA Awards for her playback. In 2013, her collaboration with music directors expanded with Devi Sri Prasad, Ghibran, James Vasanthan, S. A. Rajkumar, Shahabaz Aman, Alex Paul, Prashant Pillai and Ramana Gogula offering her songs in their compositions. The Bharat Bala directed survival drama film Maryan further boosted her singing career with the song "Innum Konjam Neram" which was composed by A. R. Rahman and co-sung by Vijay Prakash. The song attained the peak position on the Radio Mirchi South Top 20 charts at No. 18 even after a month of its release. She was nominated at several award ceremonies including 8th Vijay Awards and 3rd SIIMA Awards under Best female playback singer category. She made her Bollywood debut with the song "Yun Hi Re" in the Anirudh Ravichander musical film David. In 2014, her biggest hits include "Yaarumilla" from A. R. Rahman musical Kaaviya Thalaivan which received wide acclaim from critics and audience and "Onnanam Kombathe" from the film Ottamandaram. Both these songs brought her several nominations and awards at various award ceremonies.