Sweet song of life

Geeta Madhuri is one singer who every Telugu movie seems to have seen and heard. That the beautiful and talented playback singer is on a happy wave with her life is obvious from the way her sentences are dotted with positive words like ‘haayiga, chakkaga, bhalega, anandamga’. With over 175 songs to her credit, the promising singer is all set to make it big, both in her personal and professional life. Over to Geeta:

Three years ago when I realised that I had a fan page in Facebook with 50,000 followers. Some of my fans put up my updates regularly. It also felt great when many newspapers reported about my relationship with actor Anand Krishna. Well, on such occasions I feel that perhaps I have arrived.

Nandu and I used to bump into each other at Prasad’s Lab in Hyderabad a few years ago. He does dubbing and I had to go there for my recordings. Initially, it was pretty casual with a ‘hey, how have you been’. I guess it was ‘fun at first sight’. Then we soon exchanged numbers and kept in touch. After the first few meetings we started chatting a lot. During one of those meetings when he was cracking some jokes and pulling my leg, it suddenly dawned upon me – Itanu mana typeae. Both of us clicked well. We used to have a blast hanging out with each other. In fact, I went to the US for a trip recently and he was there for work too. When I came back, everyone said they are able to see a new Geeta in me – someone who is more bindaas, cool and enjoying life. I give the credit to Nandu. Also we have similar family backgrounds, sentiments etc. So it was not tough for our parents to say yes either.

He told me that acting was his passion and he wanted to be in this field. Unlike most others around him, I told him that he should never leave his passion. I told him that he should follow his dream until he makes it big. It is stupid to tell someone in the creative field that he/she has three years and if they don’t make it, they should take up another job. He loved that attitude of mine. I totally fell for him head over heels all over again when on my birthday he gave me a cake with the words – restrictions, complications and problems – on it and made me cut it, symbolically telling me that nothing can stop me from my dream of becoming a great singer. The gifts he gave also were legendary. One was a mike shaped pendant and a musical note bracelet.

The key is to keep using every opportunity that comes your way, in a very positive way. One needs to keep learning from every experience. As a matter of policy, I never say no to work - be it singing for chorus, a full-fledged song for a big banner, a song for a new composer, live concert in a college day. If I am free and some offer comes up, I don’t analyse too much whether it is worth it. I learn and enjoy every performance. I think that this attitude has fetched me many chances to sing.

SP Balu garu is a Telugu and he sung so many songs in Kannada, Tamil and Hindi. We are all proud of him. The country would have lost out on a brilliant singer if there were language barriers. If Shreya Goshal is made to sing, it is because she brings in her unique flavour. No composer would waste money flying in artistes from Mumbai and pay huge money unless they are talented. Tomorrow, I could be singing for Tamil and Bengali. So I suppose there is no point in fretting about it.

I once heard singer Malathi in an interview. When asked how she feels being slotted as a item number singer, she simply and coolly said, “Nakenta praptam vundo ante vastundi”. Basically that means ‘I get what I deserve’ attitude. I follow the same policy.

Success is being busy doing something constructive and making a living doing something you enjoy. On getting the ‘drunk’ feel bang on in

I really got appreciation for that song. It was a fun song that mocks men’s mentality about love. My friends often mock at me for being a nidra moham (sleepy face). They know how much I love to sleep. Since I anyway sound sleepy most of the time, the song seemed to be just made for me.

Success is being busy doing something constructive and make a living doing something you enjoy.

‘Varsham Munduga’ from ‘Sega’ and ‘Manohara‘ from ‘Cheli’. Luckily, I get to sing all my favourites songs during concerts and reality shows.