Arunaja on her first gig in her home state

‘The Stage’-fame Arunaja is excited about her debut gig in Kerala with her band

Arunaja with her band members Roop Thomas Philip, Vigneshkumar Venkatraman and Mayank Sharma

When Arunaja takes the stage, she owns it. That’s exactly what she did in the second season of The Stage , a music-based reality show for Western music on Colors Infinity in 2016. The petite girl from Kochi wowed judges with her powerful voice and signature style, which eventually placed her among the top three finalists. Although she didn’t win the show, the contest put her career on an upswing. Now settled in Mumbai, she is on song, performing with her band, Arunaja.

Today, when she is set to take the stage in the capital city, as part of The Muse Room series, Arunaja is ecstatic, for it is her first gig in Kerala. “I have been waiting for this opportunity. I am also excited that my mother, Sarayu, will be watching me live for the first time. Also, I will be performing a few of my original scores…,” she smiles.

Turning point

A trained Carnatic singer, Arunaja was pursuing her postgraduation, when she got to know about the auditions for

The Stage in Mumbai. She was then part of Kochi-based choir Rock of Ages. “My exams were on and auditions in all other centres were over. The only way to reach Mumbai on time was to take a flight and so I took one for the first time in my life, all alone. I never thought I had a chance to go ahead in the show. But I ended up in the top three!” she says. She can’t thank enough Branko Stark, artistic director of the choir and her mentor who trained her.

Once the band was formed, in addition to Mumbai, she performed in Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. “Earlier I used to shuttle between Mumbai and Kochi, where my mother is working in a school. Now I am settled in Mumbai,” she says.

A two-time winner in western vocal solo at the MG University youth festival and national winner at the inter-university youth festival conducted by Association of Indian Universities (AIM), Arunaja believes that her versatility has helped her go this far. Essentially a pop and R&B singer, she sings Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam songs along with Carnatic compositions, blending it with English numbers at her gigs. She will be bringing out her single soon.

Arunaja with her band members Roop Thomas Philip, Vigneshkumar Venkatraman and Mayank Sharma

Members of her band are Roop Thomas Philip (bass guitar), Vigneshkumar Venkatraman (guitars) and Mayank Sharma (drums).