The monsoon may have passed, but those in the mini hall of the Ravindra Bharathi on Saturday evening were completely drenched in soulful classical music of the immortal M.S. Subbulakshmi.
All the five contestants at the regional round of the M.S. Subbulakshmi Awards — hosted by The Hindu and Sa Re Ga Ma, the music company — kept the audience in rapt attention. But, only one could win, and that was 26-year-old Tejas Mallela, a full-time music teacher and performer.
The M.S. Subbulakshmi Awards have been crafted as a tribute to the iconic singer, and coming as it does with the power of brand The Hindu and the music company that has most of the copyrights for M.S. Subbulakshmi’s renditions, people scurried for a seat in the auditorium. The evening was co-powered by RmKV, a prominent retailer of silk sarees, while the LIC of India sponsored the regional round. Sa Re Ga Ma was represented by its chief manager-content T. Anand.
The four other contestants were Mula Srilatha, Karthika Anagha, Ramya Kiranmayi Chaganti, and Boddupally Shankar Aditya. Budding artists they may be, but all of them have already carved their own niche, said the judges, father and son duo Malladi Suri Babu and Malladi Ravi, and K. Krishna Kumar. Speaking after the regional finals, a beaming Mr. Mallela expressed his gratefulness at being a part of the The Hindu ’s initiative and winning the regional round. The set of three renditions he was asked to perform were two compositions by Thyagarajaswamy — Entha Ninne in Mukkari ragam and Yenduku Dayaradura in Thodi ragam, and the third one being Sarvam Brahmamayam in Madhuvanthi ragam, a composition by Sadashiva Brahmendra.
