Two years ago, during the royal Dasara celebrations in Mysore, all eyes were on the stage. The singer, Malavika Anand, a 15-year-old teenager from Hyderabad sang in a mix of four languages.
She sang Rama nama payasakke in Kannada, Hare Krishna Hare Ram in Hindi, Kurai Ondrum Illai in Tamil and Chaalada Hari namamu and Nagavulu nijamani in Telugu. The crowd was so mesmerised with her voice that the programme extended beyond the scheduled time.
At their modest house in Barkatpura in Hyderabad, Malavika shares with pride, “I never expected such an opportunity at a young age. It is believed that the Mysore Maharaja was 13 when he played a violin on the stage. After him, I was the teenager to perform on stage. Also singers like Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Shankar Mahadevan, Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghosal have performed for the Dasara celebrations. I feel lucky that I got a chance.”
Malavika’s musical journey had begun when she was just three. “I would sing the jingles and advertisements I saw on television. My parents realised my talent in singing and took me to a guru,” she reminisces. Initially she learnt from many gurus because “there would be a break and eventually would start from the basics from the new guru. I went to Revati Ratnaswamy garu at the age of 8 and my actual music journey started with her. The changing factor was her guidance.”
A student of NASR, music became an important part of her schedule. “I didn’t miss anything. I was so pre-occupied with music that I never felt that I missed playing or going out with friends,” she states and adds, “I would concentrate only on music the whole year and study just before exams. Yet I got 75 per cent in my Class X exams,” she says with smile.
Malavika’s first concert was at seven and since then she has been progressing slowly and steadily since then. She has performed in more than 100 shows, which include concerts at the World Telugu Conference (2012) and TTD’s Brahmotsavams (2014).
Now, she learns music from Haripriya (of the Hyderabad sisters) and light music from Nithya Santoshini. The intermediate second year student (from Badruka College) shares how she walks the middle path. “I don’t miss out anything because I try to balance. If I have a concert or a party to attend the next day, I put in extra hours in practice. Also, I have no restrictions. My parents support me, so I am able to enjoy and also sing.” During the last Fresher’s Day competition in college, she was Miss Fresher runner-up. “It was exciting because I had never done anything like that,” she smiles.
Malavika is also a world record holder for singing in four languages for an album at the age of nine! “Under my guru Revathi garu , I did the first album ‘Shri Hari Sankeertanam.’ Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna garu had also done it when he was young but not in four languages,” she states.
With accomplishments at a young age, the parents ensure that she is grounded. Malavika who also launched her website recently, has M.S. Subbulakshmi as her role model. Malavika hopes to study company secretary even as she makes a mark in the field of classical music.
