Award: Music to her ears

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  “I have struggled a lot to reach here and this award makes me so happy,” said a beaming Rajalakshmy, the State award winner for the best female playback singer. She was speaking at a meet-the-press programme held at  Thiruvanathapuram Press Club on Thursday.  She sang the award-winning song ‘Olichirunne onnicholichirunne...’ from the film ‘Janakan’, composed by M Jayachandran and thanked the composer for giving her the song. “It was Jayachandran sir who gave me a break with the song ‘Nalla mambookalam’ (‘Orkkukavallappozhum’). I am really grateful to him,” said Rajalakshmy. “It was one of the last songs of Gireeshetan (late Gireesh Puthenchery) and I’m happy that I could sing that song” she added.  Rajalakshmy, 26, is better known as a child prodigy who was catapulted to fame with her incredible performance in ‘Hamsadhwani’, the first-of-its-kind music contest on the mini screen, aired by Doordarshan. She was just 12 then. Years later, in 2006, Jassie Gift gave Rajalakshmy her first film song, in ‘Aswaroodan’. She has also sung in movies like ‘Kutty Srank’, ‘Katha Samvidhanam Kunchacko’, ‘China Town’ and ‘Manikyakallu’, besides a Kannada movie. It is to be noted that her songs in ‘Kutty Srank’ had got her national award nomination. “I knew it from newspapers that my name was in the final list.”A recipient of the Sangeetha Nataka Akademi award (drama), she has been in the industry for 15 years. “I am pretty new in playback singing and has been around giving stage performances all these years.”   Talking about reality shows, she was of the opinion that, “Even though I can dance well, I don’t like dancing while singing.” She added, “Reality shows give immediate popularity to the youngsters, but nothing much to the singer in that person.” An ardent devotee of Lord Guruvayoorappan, Rajalakshmy expressed her gratitude to her mother Parvathy and husband Abhiram Krishnan who have stood by her always. Her new projects include ‘Female Unnikrishnan’ starring Suraj Venjarammoodu. “A couple of offers have come my way after the award,” she said with elan.