Chinmayi

Firstly, I'd say that A. R. Rahman sir is one of the biggest influences in my life. He's given me some great numbers, and I've looked at him for inputs many a time with regards to my career.

It was one of the best experiences in my life to work with Director Prem.

Every time I meet Rahman sir, it's a fan moment for me. I don't take the fact that I am working with him lightly. I get excited every time I see and work with him. But I don't embarrass him.

By the time I was 14, I had seen only three Tamil films - 'Anjali,' 'Bombay,' and 'Puthiya Mugam.' And I loved the music in the films. When I found out Rahman sir was the man behind the music, I made up my mind that I wanted to sing for him.

To be honest, until I started dubbing, I didn't realize the amount of work of a dubbing artiste puts in. Especially the artistes that dub for villains. They really stretch their vocal cords to a different dimension.

I got recognised for my work in 'Guru' as 'Tere Bina' became extremely popular, but very few people know that I have sung major lyrical portions of the song 'Maiyya' as well.

There is a myth that Rahman sir only works at night. He works through the day and night, so it depends what time slot you end up working with him. Besides nights, I have sung for him in the morning and at noon, too. I think he's the first composer to work at night, and that's why it's spoken about so much.

A dubbing artiste does a lot of repair work for an artiste who doesn't naturally speak the language they are acting in.

I feel blessed that I got an opportunity to work with the likes of A. R. Rahman, Vishal-Shekhar among others.

The next time you watch a villain or an actor whom you know to be a non-native speaker of the language, watch the lip-sync. You'll know the amount of work that dubbing artistes have been putting in to elevate the performance of the actors.

Apart from using it to spread the word about my translation company Blue Elephant and to talk to fans, I find social media an extremely powerful forum for charity.

I definitely hope women know that abuse/harassment/blackmail on social media is also a crime, and the police definitely help.