CHENNAI: Performing for a national audience in the presence of music legend AR Rahman is a golden opportunity for any aspiring singer, and Pavithra Balajee is not an exception. The 22-year-old made it to the top 30 in India’s first YouTube originals reality show called ARRived — AR Rahman’s digital musical reality show. The series has 13 episodes and the first aired on November 7. It is co-judged by singer Shaan, Vidya Vox and Clinton Cerejo. City-based Pavithra is the only contestant from Tamil Nadu. She works as a registered behaviour technician for autistic children and has been pursuing Carnatic music for 10 years.
“I chanced upon the invite for auditions on Rahman sir’s Facebook and Twitter pages. As mentioned, I sang Tere Bina song and uploaded it on YouTube, two months back. Within two days, I got a message asking me to perform two songs from a list given by them. I cleared that round and made it to top 100. The auditions were in Mumbai and 45 of us were shortlisted. The video of our performances were brought to the mecca of studios — AM Studio in Chennai and played to him. After which, the top 30 were selected by Rahman sir. I received a video call from the judges and was asked to come to Mumbai in October for the top 30 auditions. Rahman sir’s facial expressions are hard to predict. After a point, you lose nervousness and enjoy singing,” says Pavithra, a resident of Mylapore.
She was born in a family with a legacy of musicians. Her great grandfather Krishnaswamy Iyengar was a drama artist. Her grandfather DB Ramachandran, a film music director, composed the devotional song Vinayakane Vinaitheerpavane and her grandmother used to sing for Hema Malini’s dance performances. “My father was a percussionist. I’m proud to be the fourth generation musician. My parents are very supportive. No matter how the big the stage was, my father would encourage me to use every chance to perform. My mother would accompany me for classes. If not for them, I wouldn’t have pursued Carnatic music,” she says. The budding artiste has been a part of college bands, done freelance performances and YouTube cover videos. Her film debut was for a song titled Sillaki Dum from Senjittale En Kadhala in 2017. She has rendered her voice for the lead for Vanam kuzhudachu song from a film called Aruvadai which is yet to release.
“My Mumbai days were some of the best days of my life. We were mentored by voice experts. Every day was filled with practice sessions. I was the only Tamil-speaking person and it would be more like Carnatic versus Hindustani. Adapting to the style was challenging and the pronunciation was also difficult. My fellow participants admired my skills of picking up genres and complimented my voice for the depth,” says Pavithra, who has decided to continue learning guitar, western vocals, focus on producing more cover videos and create her own compositions.‘ARRived’ airs on AR Rahman’s YouTube channel. One episode is released every Thursday.