BHUBANESWAR: After two days of intense intellectual debate on a gamut of subjects - from renaissance to food writing, the fourth edition of Odisha Literary Festival (OLF) came to an end with a soul-soothing concert by teen-sensation Ananya Sritam Nanda, who crooned her way to glory, closing the literary extravaganza with a power packed performance here on Sunday evening.
It was Ananya’s maiden stage event after she clinched the Indian Idol Junior title last month and the 14-year-old chose to dedicate the performance to Lord Jagannath with the bhajan - ‘Mana mandira mun tolichi, asa asa Jagannath’.
It was a full house at OLF 2015, with guests who arrived minutes after Ananya started, jostled for space but they were glued to the teenaged Odia heartthrob till the end.
“The song is very close to my heart. I performed it with playback singer Niti Mohan at the contest,” Ananya said and started with ‘Har kisi ko nahin milta, yahan pyaar zindagi mein’.
The chartbuster from ‘Boss’ inspired from Feroze Khan’s ‘Janbaaz’, mesmerised the audience. Ananya’s lilting voice, absolute control over critical notes and pleasant manners had everybody glued to their seat.
“It was ‘Hai Rama yeh kya hua’ from Rangeela, which booked my slot in the top 13 at the Indian Idol Junior contest,” Ananya said and delivered a performance which was almost flawless.
She followed it up with ‘Sunta hai mera khuda’ from ‘Pukar,’ which she had performed before Anil Kapoor during the contest, ‘Ruth aa gayee re’ from the film Earth and ‘Mere naina saawan bhaado’ from Mehbooba.
Ananya showed her mettle in Odia classics too as she recreated magic with ‘Shesha shrabana, puraba pabana’ from the movie ‘Sesha Srabana.’ Her rendition of an ageless Odia song, which was originally sung by the maestro, Pranab Patnaik, was so beautiful that its melody literally melted into the air.
Then came Pritam’s composition ‘Ohh meri jaan’ from ‘Life in A Metro’ and ‘Mere maula karam O karam’ from ‘Khakee,’ to which the soothing vocals of Ananya lend a different meaning.
Exponents from literature and film at OLF 2015, were witness to Ananya’s talent. She thanked ‘The New Indian Express Group’ for offering her a fitting platform to perform at her home. Ananya closed the performance with ‘Morni bagha maa Bole’ from Lamhe.