"For eight years I sang track for A.R. Rahman; my voice is there in many of his hit songs, though I never got to sing a full song for him"
[Guess she didn't know about 'Water'].... With great expectations Ganga became a playback singer the hard way. When she wanted to sing for cinema, inspired by K.S. Chitra and encouraged by her friends at Zamorin's Guruvayurappan College in Kozhikode, she had to travel to Chennai in 1992 to try her luck. She paid regular visits to music directors, who made her sing in chorus and then the tracks for leading singers. Before long, Ganga became one of the busiest track singers in Chennai. She also began doing stage shows. Then, out of the blue, she got an opportunity to record a duet with K.J. Yesudas. It was a big break for a young aspiring singer. "I got that song by chance," recalls the Chennai-settled singer who had come to visit her parents in Kozhikode recently. "I was, at that time, a neighbour of director Mohan Anupama, his wife, made me sing the song `Kudajadriyil kudi kollum... ' (`Neelakadambu'), which she wanted to choreograph for her dance show. Mohan liked the way I sang the song and said that he would give me an opportunity in `Pakshe' if music director Johnson liked my voice." Thus Ganga made her debut in playback singing. "But unfortunately, my name wasn't there in the cassette and I didn't get the credit for the song (`Sooryamshuvetho... '), though it became a hit," she rues. Sujatha's kind gesture So her struggle to make it as a playback singer continued. Then an exceptionally kind gesture from Sujatha gave her a break in Tamil. Ganga had sung the tracks for debutant director Ravishankar's film `Varushamellam Vasantham' starring Manoj. The music director was Sirpi and he had made Ganga sing the tracks of two songs that he wanted to record in Sujatha's voice. When Sujatha heard the track of the melodious `Adi anarkali... ,' she requested Sirpi to retain Ganga's voice. This song helped her get noticed. Ganga had already made her debut in Telugu. "I had sung four songs in `Akasa Veedhilo' for M.M. Keeravani," says Ganga who has established herself as a playback singer in Telugu. "I have sung about 100 songs in Telugu so far. But I was disappointed when I was not given the opportunity to sing a couple of my hit songs that were dubbed into Malayalam. Both the songs I had sung in the Telugu film `Lakshmi,' which has recently been released in Malayalam, were hits. " Ganga wants to sing more in her mother tongue. "I am hopeful about the song I sang with Sankaran Namboodiri in the film `Kanaka Simhasanam' - Azhakarnna... ,' which is composed by M. Jayachandran." Ganga's hit in Malayalam remains `Chiri chiriyo... ,' from `Chronic Bachelor.' But her best song, so far, is `Etho kaliyarangin... ' a melodious solo from `Vismayathumabathu.' Ganga has been around for 14 years. "People say I have survived because of my will power. Many girls who had reached Chennai like me gave up long ago. For eight years I sang track for A.R. Rahman; my voice is there in many of his hit songs, though I never got to sing a full song for him. But I have no complaints; I feel I have done well enough for a girl whose only window to learn a song was `Chithrageetham' on Doordarashan and who bought her first audio cassette when she was doing her graduation." http://hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2006/12/22/stories/2006122200170300.htm
