Meet Baby John's Nain Matakka Singer Dhee, Australian-Tamil Artist Ruling Playlists Since Age 16

Varun Dhawan’s upcoming film Baby John is all set to shine on the big screen, this Christmas. As the release date comes close, the first track of the film Nain Matakka went out and fans can’t stop grooving at it. The track is a perfect dance number with sizzling chemistry between Varun and Keerthy Suresh and a magnetic collaboration of Diljit with South sensation Dhee. After Pushpa 2’s item song Kissik, another young voice from the south got the limelight nationwide for an energetic performance.

Who is Dheekshitha Venkadeshan aka Dhee? The voice behind Nain Matakka

Dheekshitha Venkadeshan aka Dhee was born on June 26, 1998, in Sri Lanka to a Sri Lankan Tamil father, Venkadesan, and an Indian Tamil mother, Meenakshi Iyer. She grew up and studied in Sydney, Australia, where her mother lived. Dhee has an elder brother, Sudheekshanan, and is the stepdaughter of Indian composer Santhosh Narayanan. She started her playback singing career in 2013 with songs in Narayanan's albums Pizza II: Villa and Cuckoo sung in 2014, while she was in school.

After moving to Chennai, Dhee gained recognition with the song Naan Nee from Narayanan's album for Pa. Ranjith's Madras (2014). She performed the track alongside Shakthisree Gopalan, and their duet earned nominations for Best Female Singer at both the Filmfare Awards and the Vijay Awards.

In 2017, Dhee entered Telugu cinema by contributing songs to Sudha Kongara’s Guru, a remake of the director's Tamil film Irudhi Suttru.

From Dhanush to A.R Rahman, the 27-year-old singer ruling the industry with her voice

Dhee continued working with Narayanan on soundtracks for films like Kaala (2018) and Vada Chennai (2018) before teaming up with Yuvan Shankar Raja for the song Rowdy Baby in Maari 2 (2018). Performing alongside actor Dhanush, the track quickly became a viral sensation. With over 1.5 billion views on YouTube, it is the most-watched Tamil music video and ranks among the most-viewed Indian videos. In 2020, Dhee won her first Filmfare Award for Best Female Singer for the song Kaattu Payale in Soorarai Pottru (2020), composed by G.V. Prakash Kumar.

On 7 March 2021, Dhee ventured into independent Tamil pop with her debut track Enjoy Enjaami, featuring Arivu from The Casteless Collective, under A.R. Rahman's Maajja label.

In the following years, she returned to Tamil cinema, collaborating again with Narayanan and G.V. Prakash Kumar. She worked with composer Anirudh Ravichander for the first time on Jujubee, featured in the 2023 blockbuster Jailer, directed by Nelson and starring Rajinikanth. Dhee also made her debut in Malayalam cinema in 2024 with the song Viduthal in Darwin Kuriakose's Anweshippin Kandethum, with music by Narayanan.

In the most recent, Dhee joined forces with Punjabi pop icon Diljit Dosanjh for a track by Baby John. Before this, the item song Kissik from the upcoming film Pushpa 2: The Rule became a massive hit, though singer Sublahshini received high praise for her rendition. Pushpa 2 is set to release on 5 December, just ahead of Baby John's track debut.