SHE’S JUST 20. And raring to make her voice heard in the heady world of Bollywood. Born in Chennai and brought up in Africa before her parents shifted to Muscat and from there to Dubai, Vanita Subramanian, a final year B. com student of ...
Mahatma Gandhi University in Knowledge Village hails from a family of musicians.
“I started singing from the age of three under my mother, Sudha Subramanian, who is a classical music teacher herself. I am told I could hold a tune even when I was just a year old,” enthuses Vanita.
And it’s not just from her mother that she gets her musical talent. Her maternal uncle, Palghat S Krishnarajan, also based in Dubai, plays the mridangam and accompanies local as well as visiting classical musicians in the city.
Her mother’s parents too were classical musicians who used to perform on AIR. And as if all this musical gene pool is not enough, her father also sings and plays the violin. Talk about “to the music born.”
Nature versus nature
“When I perform onstage I think my musical background gives me an edge over the others,” says Vanita.
Having started performing at a really young age, today Vanita boasts of nearly 200 trophies. A student of Our Own English High School, Sharjah, she credits her teachers there for supporting and encouraging her talent. Besides singing at local competitions, Vanita has another prestigious event to her name. This is the Indian Idol show where she was one among the lucky two selected from hundreds of hopefuls from Dubai to take part in the contest in India. Though she didn’t make it to the top, she came away with accolade from the judges including, Alisha Chinai, Anu Malik, Udit Narayan and Javed Akhtar.
Post the Indian Idol appearance Vanita is being offered several shows in Mumbai. But this is one girl who has her head firmly on her shoulders. Vanita is quite clear that studies are her first priorities.
Blessed with a husky voice, quite unsurprisingly, Vanita counts Sunidhi Chauhan among her all time favourites. “I have always admired her versatility. If I can come up to her level, I would consider myself a success."
Vanita has in fact sung all of Sunidhi’s songs at various concerts over the years.
Who knows, one day this singer who dreams of cutting an album might just go further than her idol Sunidhi Chauhan.