(Rithisha Padmanabh, was the second runner up of Voice of India, a musical reality show that used to come in a private entertainment channel few months ago, has her roots in Putter. Once facilitated by former President of India A.P.J.Abul Kalam in 2005 and has earned so many prestigious awards. She has sung in more than 25 Kannada films and has given voice to some Kannada serials. She is currently pursuing her engineering studies from Bangalore; she shares her experiences of the show.)
(Published in City Herald, a Saturday supplement of Deccan Herald, Bangalore)
What changes ‘Voice of India’ has brought to your life?
Well, after Voice of India, there are more people who know me and of course it has increased the opportunities I was getting in the field of film music/light music. Also I met so many celebrities and musically super talented people during my times with the voice of India team and hence I got to learn more musically. However Hindustani classical music is what I truly will pursue with full efforts along with all this.
How was your experience performing in front of the judges that included Sukhwinder Singh, Ismail Darbar and Monty Sharma who are well known figures of Bollywood.
It was really a great experience. I guess I became a smarter person too after this experience; I got a small idea of how things work.
Have you ever expected this kind of fame and position in your life?
Well not only dreamt of this, I even expected to be in the position I am now. Because I always wanted to compete on a national basis I did that during my national Balshree award stint too and here too and this involved the support of the audience and I feel proud to say that through this I gained many well-wishers who supported me a lot.
Have you taken any professional training in singing?
I started learning light music from Smt. Malati Sharma at the age of four and even I started getting training in Carnatic music at the same age under Smt Nagalakshmi till eight. When I was seven I started learning Hindustani classical music from Smt. Geetha G Hedge and still pursue under her since ten years.
How much support you got from your family and friends?
Well they supported me throughout the journey and immense support from family and few friends especially Vinitra. I am so grateful to them.
What is ‘music’ for you?
It’s my passion and once I am done with my studies may be just a computer engineering degree or maybe I might want to study further four years down the lane. Music will be what it wants to truly pursue. I simply can’t live without music.
What are your future plans?
Firstly I want to complete my engineering with good marks. And I might want to study further but definitely music being the most important part of my life I will definitely consider it as a fulltime career option or part time. But I am open to any musical offers I will work on music simultaneously with my studies as I have always been doing and will manage both well. Well I have got some offers and I am working on a few projects but since nothing is completely done or confirmed I don’t think I should disclose.
What advice you would like to give for the aspirants of such musical reality shows?
They are really good opportunities to project you talent and learn a lot musically one advice is don’t have a really serious dream of wanting to go on a reality show and make it big or something like that because one the reality shows might come down on frequency now and the advantage of the reality show would be that you are a known face and talent is known but the struggle is no easies even for the winner and if you want to make a mark you have to work really hard by yourself.
Now you are doing engineering, how do you keep balance between your studies and singing?
Well I don’t know how I balance exactly. But I have been doing it all these years so it’s nothing new to me. But I have to be a little patient as I have more on my plate than others but it’s not too difficult. I don’t have any fixed time table or anything as such. I just follow my heart and sing when I want to and study when I feel like that. By God's grace I have balanced both together very well till now and I hope to do so in the future.
What changes ‘Voice of India’ has brought to your life?
Well, after Voice of India, there are more people who know me and of course it has increased the opportunities I was getting in the field of film music/light music. Also I met so many celebrities and musically super talented people during my times with the voice of India team and hence I got to learn more musically. However Hindustani classical music is what I truly will pursue with full efforts along with all this.
How was your experience performing in front of the judges that included Sukhwinder Singh, Ismail Darbar and Monty Sharma who are well known figures of Bollywood.
It was really a great experience. I guess I became a smarter person too after this experience; I got a small idea of how things work.
Have you ever expected this kind of fame and position in your life?
Well not only dreamt of this, I even expected to be in the position I am now. Because I always wanted to compete on a national basis I did that during my national Balshree award stint too and here too and this involved the support of the audience and I feel proud to say that through this I gained many well-wishers who supported me a lot.
Have you taken any professional training in singing?
I started learning light music from Smt. Malati Sharma at the age of four and even I started getting training in Carnatic music at the same age under Smt Nagalakshmi till eight. When I was seven I started learning Hindustani classical music from Smt. Geetha G Hedge and still pursue under her since ten years.
How much support you got from your family and friends?
Well they supported me throughout the journey and immense support from family and few friends especially Vinitra. I am so grateful to them.
What is ‘music’ for you?
It’s my passion and once I am done with my studies may be just a computer engineering degree or maybe I might want to study further four years down the lane. Music will be what it wants to truly pursue. I simply can’t live without music.
What are your future plans?
Firstly I want to complete my engineering with good marks. And I might want to study further but definitely music being the most important part of my life I will definitely consider it as a fulltime career option or part time. But I am open to any musical offers I will work on music simultaneously with my studies as I have always been doing and will manage both well. Well I have got some offers and I am working on a few projects but since nothing is completely done or confirmed I don’t think I should disclose.
What advice you would like to give for the aspirants of such musical reality shows?
They are really good opportunities to project you talent and learn a lot musically one advice is don’t have a really serious dream of wanting to go on a reality show and make it big or something like that because one the reality shows might come down on frequency now and the advantage of the reality show would be that you are a known face and talent is known but the struggle is no easies even for the winner and if you want to make a mark you have to work really hard by yourself.
Now you are doing engineering, how do you keep balance between your studies and singing?
Well I don’t know how I balance exactly. But I have been doing it all these years so it’s nothing new to me. But I have to be a little patient as I have more on my plate than others but it’s not too difficult. I don’t have any fixed time table or anything as such. I just follow my heart and sing when I want to and study when I feel like that. By God's grace I have balanced both together very well till now and I hope to do so in the future.
Woah. I never knew you had a blog. Nice job yo!! You are very enterprising. How did you end up interviewing her? And the election post is sooo true. Check out my blog as well. Join it if you like it! Tc
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