Karthik's career began in the background, but his star power proved too bright to allow him to linger there for long. The former backing vocalist was soon racking up credits as a playback singer in multiple languages, including Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali and Hindi. When big names like A. R. Rahman, Ilaiyaraaja and Vidyasagar noticed what he could do, the multitalented and ambitious artist saw his career shooting to the next level. Karthik has since spread his wings, composing the soundtracks to films such as Aravaan and Okkadine.