KOCHI: Most people in Aluva know Jishnu Vijayan. Not because he is the son of well-known carnatic music teacher Udyogmandal Vijaykumar but because he himself is a celebrity of a sort. Jishnu bagged third prize in Surya TV’s ‘Voice of Kerala’ contest and is all set to bring home his prize, a Santro Xing, which will be presented to him at a function in Kozhikode on January 19.
Jishnu who topped the show right till the last days somehow missed first prize. “I was expecting to come first because I had the highest points in the show. But the final winners were selected not on total points but on the marks given by judges on that particular day,” says Jishnu, adding that the judges Alex Paul and Chitra Iyer were very happy with his performance. But Jishnu has no second thoughts about his talent because he has won first prize in youth festivals for both classical and light music for the last couple of years.
And giving credit to his voice, Alex Paul has roped him in to sing in his new movie `Black and White Kudumbham’. Jishnu earlier sang `Muttathe Mulle Chollu’ in the Mammootty starrer `Mayavi’. “There have been invitations to sing the inaugural song and sometimes a full kacheri. During the festive season he is very busy,” says Vijayakumar. But ask Jishnu what he likes more, classical or light music, and he smiles. Light songs come easy to him as his base in classical music is strong. “He used to listen when I taught students at home. So I started teaching him classical music,” says the proud father.
The young lad gave his first stage performance at The Alwaye Sangeetha Sabha (TASS) and the Lalitha Kala Kendram. Now Jishnu has a music concert CD in his name in which he has sung six krithis. This Class VIII student of St Ann’s Higher Secondary School, Aluva, is so involved with music that he learnt to play the keyboard on his own. These days he doesn’t have time to pursue other interests because he has to catch up with his studies and he happens to be among the class toppers.
Four-time winner of classical and light music competitions at the sub-district level, Jishnu has now started learning tabla and mridangam at school. Jishnu’s mother Jayanthi is a science teacher at Vidhyadhiraja school and his sister Arya is a class XII student. Vijayakumar, a music teacher at Government School, Aluva was a familiar face on Surya TV as he used to teach music in ‘Ragasudha' as part of the morning show.
sudhanambudiri@epmltd.com