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The South Indian film industry, one of the most popular and fairly the biggest in the world of entertainment has made no mistake
in elavating human mortals to the level of god, clearly evident in cases like MGR and Rajinikanth. Just as one too many's
milestone closely interlinked with stardom, my amatuerish musical exploration ignited itself right at a 'thalaivar'AKA 'Leader'
Rajini's movie premiere.
Good ol' Madras in the late 1970's with traffic bustling near the ever busy Sathyam Theatre. Thalaivar Padam BILLA, doing
one of its many 100 days marathon!
A group of 10 from a family had gone to the movie, the youngest tot of the lot suddenly shot up on the seat, and started
singing- "My name ish Biyaaa.. Vaakkaiyellaaaa!(-;
The tot was me, aged about 2 or so then. I have heard one too many times about shyness being alien to me. That seems to
have followed suit until this day. Well, is stage freight the same as shyness? NOOOOO! I am blessed with tons of the former,
afflicting 'yours truly' at the most crucial of times!!
I started singing rather early, although formal initiation into world of classical music happened when I was about 10
years old. Unfortunately, my concentration span (worse than a butterfly then)didn't do much to help my learning curve! Came
high school ushering in renewed interest, and the curve gradually went up. Whether this has improved my singing is still a
largely debatable question.
I had a wonderful opportunity to take a peek into Dr.S.Ramanathan's singing style from his daughter, Mrs.Vidya Hariharan.
I was her student for about 7 years. I also learnt from Mrs. Saroja Natrajan (a disciple of Ariyakudi) for about 2 years.
In the bay area (2000-2002, 2004-current) I have been taking classes with Mrs. Preetha Seshadhri, a student of Radha Warrier
& Balamani(Mumbai).
I have been with Thillana right from its inception in 2000. I have sung in a couple of plays staged here in the bay area,
Kaasu Mela kaasu and Ragasiya Snehithiye (Music: Mukund; a co-thillanaite). I have also sung in "Green Card Fever",
a sequel to American Desi.
Mux
Thillana
Ragavan Manian
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