Kerala’s YouTube star sings song meant for Shreya Ghosal

The lifelong wish of poor Kerala housewife Chandralekha, who rose to YouTube fame last week after years of captivity to deprivation and household burden, was fulfilled on Thursday when she sang for an upcoming feature film of a leading production house in the state. That this song had been set aside for Shreya Ghosal, but the composer chose to give it to her after watching her now famous video-song, makes Chandralekha’s fairy-tale dream truly remarkable. [caption id=“attachment_1179483” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A screen grab of the video.[/caption] The film, titled “Love Story”, is produced by industry veteran Milan Jaleel. The composer is a newcomer, David Shon. In her debut, Chandralekha has one more reason to be thrilled: in the final version, the song will be a duet and her voice will be paired with that of Hariharan. Although five composers had announced that they would give Chandralekha a chance to sing in films, Shon was the first to make it happen - that too within days of her YouTube and Facebook stardom. In a few days, she will sing for a devotional album in Thiruvananthapuram for a leading local music company. Her maiden recording was in Kochi, a few hours away from her village near Adoor. The gifted singer, a poor housewife in southern Kerala, had to forgo her dream of pursuing music because of poverty and the responsibility of running her household. However, she kept singing at home and, one day a relative asked her to sing on his mobile phone camera. He uploaded the video on YouTube, where it remained rather unseen for a year. Last week, the video suddenly went viral moving the entire Kerala and its diaspora into tears of joy. She became a sensation overnight and was widely featured by the state’s print and TV media. The diaspora flooded her with affection through long-distance calls while frontline music composers said they would give her a chance to sing in films. The singer is still stunned with the sudden transformation of her life. Although music was a never-ending passion, she had resigned to her life of domesticity until suddenly recognition and fame reached home. Her singing at home ensured that her skills are well-honed by repeated practice. Can there be a better closure to a remarkable story on the success of pure talent in a cut-throat world - all thanks to the Internet and social media? Watch the video here:

And an interview with Chandralekha here: