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400, not out
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Singer Shalini gives a first person account of her career in music
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Photo: R. Ashok
Versatile Shalini has sung in several languages
I got my first break when I was 11 years old. I chose and recorded the songs “Kuch naa kaho” and “Pyar hua chup ke se” from the film 1942 - A Love Story for a music competition in Mumbai with help from sound
engineer Balaji. But, unfortunately we couldn’t send the CD across because the deadline was over. Since Balaji liked my style of singing, he played the CD to Madhav Das of Magnasound when he was on the look out for young talents to launch a Tamil pop album. And, I signed my first contract with Magnasound for my first pop album Shalini.
How it felt
It was instant popularity. I was on Prannoy Roy’s show, on MTV and was featured in a number of magazines. I got recognition at the State level and at the national level too. And, of course earned a lot of fans. Soon, entry into films happened with ‘Deewana deewana’ in K. Balachander’s Thulli Thirinda Kaalam. But it was “Vai raja vai”, composed by Deva, in K.S. Ravikumar’s Panchathanthiram that kick-started my career in films. And in the last seven years, I have got opportunities to sing hit numbers such as “Icchu tha icchu tha” (Run), “Kundu ponnae” (Dhool), “Ennai konjam maatri” (Kaakha Kaakha), “Fanaa” in Aayudha Ezhuthu, “Maramkothiye” in Anbe Aaruyire and the most recent “Mudhal naal indru” from Unnalae
Unnalae.
How life changed after that
I have recorded 400 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi and have worked with great music directors. I have also done a solo song for music maestro Ilaiyaraja. And, 2008 looks good. I have sung a couple of songs for Himesh Reshammiya in Bommalatam and Dasavataram.
Now, I am totally into film songs and am also participating in a lot of shows here and abroad. I want to make sure that I live up to people’s expectations.
K. JESHI
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
