Dubai April 21, 2008: Most people believe that talent, hard work and support gives rise to success. This seems to be very true in the case of Sumitra Iyer, who is already a popular name on the Indian music scene, after being chosen as a finalist in the 'Amul Star Voice of India' show on television.
Sumitra was recently here, in Dubai and took some time out to speak to Team Mangalorean. Sumitra Iyer was born on 26th June, 1987 to Mr. Mani Iyer and Mrs. Vijayalaxmi. Her family which hails originally from Tamil Nadu is now settled in Mumbai. Sumitra's early education was completed at the Holy Family High School, Pestom Sagar, Chembur, Mumbai. She did her graduation in S.I.E.S. College, Mumbai and completed her post graduation (MCA) from Somayaji Institute of Management Studies.
Sumitra says, in their tradition they have to choose either singing or dancing. But her mother advised her to choose singing. Recognizing her daughter's early talent, her mother's only wish was for her to make a name for herself in the singing field. Sumitra began singing when she was 3 years old, picking tunes at a rapid pace and adapting her voice to the songs. She also started to learn more about singing and began to compete in various singing competitions and won several prizes.
In 1994, she had won the "Hradayanath Mangeshkars young talents award". One day she was told by her friend that "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa" was going to be hosted by Sonu Nigam and the auditions were going on. But her parents at that time, did not allow her to take part in that show. In one singing competition during her college days, Sumitra won the first place and the famous singer Hariharan spotted her and asked her to sing along with him. After that there was no looking back. She began to give live shows along with Hariharan and won the hearts of music lovers who listened to her melodious voice.
Sumitra, who is also a post graduate in computer applications, had joined an IT company in Mumbai. Her superiors who were impressed with her performance, selected her to work for their company in USA at their Virginia and Detroit (General Electric and General Motors) offices. After reaching USA, she started to feel homesick and requested the company to give her a job transfer back to India. Though the company, being very much impressed by her work, was not ready to send her back, within a year, she succeeded in coming back to India.
After coming back from USA, she along with Ajay Nayak formed her own music group called "Dhwani" in 2004. Once, she got an opportunity to sing with Sonu Nigam too. In the year 2007, when she learnt about the "Amul Star Voice of India" contest from one of her friends, she thought of taking part in this reality show. There were more than 30,000 candidates who were waiting for the audition from all over India. She went for the audition and made it to the final. "All the judges were pleased with my voice on the first round itself, when I sang a song with double voice" says Sumitra. She had passed all the rounds and entered the top 12. Then she made it to the top 5. Genuinely, she came for the final by public voting.
When we asked Sumitra about her feelings when she reached the top 12, she said, "I was speechless and thrilled, because it's a very big reality show, and every week in every contest new songs are to be sung and it was being telecast live on TV." People like Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kanna, Shankar, Eshaan have tremendously appreciated her performance while they judged her on the show. Her Mentors Adhesh Shrivastav and Lalit Pandit (Jatin-Lalit) also made her their favorite.
After Amul Star Voice of India, opportunities started to flow at her doorstep. Once, Sony TV invited her to be the guest for "K for Kishore" show. The reality show called "Ustaado Ka Ustaad" is her most favourite show. Sajid Khan is hosting this show wherein Javed Aktar, Saroj Khan and Shekar Suman are the judges and Sumitra is one of the contestants in this reality show. She is also singing in "Jo Jitha Wahi Superstar", which is telecast every Friday and Saturday.
Sumitra is a very shy girl in reality especially when she has to face the camera. Her hobbies are photography and keeping in touch with and meeting old friends. She says she is also a hopeless a day dreamer and loves to watch movies, her favorite stars being Jackie Chan and Amitabh Bachchan.
She has many dreams and future plans, and one of her dreams is to meet Sachin Tendulkar , McGrath and Brett Lee. Her future plan is to sing in the Hindi film Industry. "I am trying to gain more and more in the field of singing and win the hearts of the people around the world" she says.
Her message to www.mangalorean.com readers is to spread love and spread music, because both are very important in everyone's life. Where there is love, there is success. Where there is music, there is life. If both come together in life, then life will be melodious. For one so young, she seems to be very wise and realistic.
Mangalorean.com wishes Sumitra all the very best in her future endeavours and hopes that she will reach the skies in the field of singing and music.
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