Scaling a musical peak
K. PRADEEP
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Nikhil Mathew from Kottayam is the Star-Vijay Tamil Super Singer.
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SHINING BRIGHT: Nikhil Mathew thrives on competition.
Nikhil Mathew thrives on competition. He has been through some tough ones before but this was something he had not bargained for. The Star-Vijay Tamil Super Singer contest was a strain, one that drained Nikhil, "physically and mentally." But all that vanished the moment S. P. Balasubramaniam opened the envelope and read out his name. Being crowned `Super Singer' was reward for all the sweat, for all those painfully anxious hours, he says.
End of suspense
"It was like the end of a long suspense and I could not believe what I heard. Lasting 20 rounds, spanning over five months, was really tough," says Nikhil, who is doing his post-graduation in business administration at Satyabhama Deemed University, Chennai.
More than one lakh singers, participated in this year's contest.
In the first stage, 25,000 were short-listed. Finally, they zeroed in on the five final contestants.
"There were different rounds we had to go through. Each round has a focus - semi-classical, fast, mood, group items ... Since, all these songs were in Tamil, it called for careful preparation."
Nikhil, an avid fan of Tamil film songs, has a repertoire of 500 songs.
"Illayaraja and A.R. Rahman have always been my favourites. Learning Tamil songs, old and new, was a habit. So when the judges picked out a song and asked me to sing that number, I was prepared ."
For the final Nikhil sang SPB's `Ennadi Meenakshi' and then at the request of Sreenivasan, one of the judges, P. Unnikrishnan's melodious `Thendrale... ' from the film `Kadhal Desam.'
A strong classical backing, cultured voice and controlled singing were Nikhil's forte.
Nikhil shifted base from his hometown, Kottayam, to Chennai to pursue his dream of becoming a playback singer. The victory in the competition has brought instant recognition and a bonanza of prizes.
"For me, it was the opportunity to meet and talk to great musicians like SPB, K. S. Chitra, Malaysia Vasudevan, P. Unnikrishnan, Aruna Sairam, Sreenivasan and others that made my day. Then, of course, the offer to sing in Harris Jayaraj's next film," says Nikhil.
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