ALAPPUZHA: Following the footsteps of Jayalakshmi, another voice from Alappuzha is earning rave reviews with a melodious song uploaded on social media. Rakesh, a timber worker from Nooranad, has been receiving accolades aplenty after having uploaded the song a week ago.
Actor Kamal Haasan wished to meet him after hearing Rakesh’s sweet rendering of ‘Unnai Kaanadhu Naan’ - a song from Kamal Haasan’s Tamil hit ‘Vishwaroopam’.
Rakesh said Shameer, a lorry driver, had recorded the song during leisure and uploaded it on social media.
“The song has received a huge response from music lovers, and musicians like Shankar Mahadevan, Gopi Sundar, and Balabhaskar have expressed their wish to meet me. They shared the video of the song on their Facebook pages. That’s how they identified me,” he said.
The 30-year old Rakesh dropped his education after Class X due to financial constraints and started working in the timber industry.
He has no basic training in music. His tryst with ‘online’ fame began thus:
“While we were resting after lunch 10 days ago, truck driver Shameer asked me to sing. I am a fan of Kamal Haasan and his song in ‘Vishwaroopam’ is my favourite.
So I sang and Shameer recorded and posted it on social media. His sister shared it on FB. Later, musician Pandalam Balan too shared it on FB and it went viral,’’ Rakesh said.
A personal staff of Kamal Haasan called and said the actor is interested to meet him.
Jayalakshmi, a girl from Pallippuram in Cherthala, had become an overnight sensation on YouTube in 2014 after uploading a Latha Mangeshkar song.
She is now a busy singer in Bollywood. Rakesh too could be destined to take a similar path.