Hemu and Karunya

Ramesh Kandula meets two young singing sensations from the South

Vocalist Karunya has already been roped in by Bollywood; Hemachandra (below) made a mark in Saregamapa

Talented singers Karunya and Hemachandra are from the South, but have captured the hearts of the Hindi audience in the recent singing competitions on TV.

Karunya narrowly missed the recently concluded Indian Idol 2 (Sony TV) throne, but he has made a mark as a singer with strong foundation and great talent. The judges, including Sonu Nigam and Anu Malik, rooted for him from day one, and even the viewers were bowled over by his sonorous voice and impeccable rendition of songs.

He floored everybody with a Punjabi song in the very first Piano round. His Laayi vi na gayi and Kavah kavah elicited a standing ovation from the judges and thunderous applause from viewers.

"I wanted to present something that is not a regular on such shows. And I have been practising singing in several languages, including Punjabi," remarked the singing sensation.

"I may have lost in the voting arithmetic, but the kind of support and recognition I got was unbelievable," he smilingly said.

Opportunities have already started pouring in for the talented young singer. "I have got a dream debut in Bollywood with the film Munnabhai 2^nd Innings. I have already recorded a solo for Vidhu Vinod Chopra's prestigious banner," he revealed.

Apparently, Vidhu Vinod's sister in the US followed Sony's popular programme and became a big fan of Karunya and recommended him to her brother. The Abhishek look-alike is already getting a lot of offers from the South Indian film industry. "I have already given my voice for five Telugu songs, and one each in Tamil and Kannada," he said.

The other singer from Hyderabad, who made a splash in a popular contest on Zee TV Saregamapa, is Hemachandra. The lanky boy, incidentally, is Karunya's cousin. "Music runs in our family," says the shy 17-year-old, who was the second runner-up in the show. Hemachandra's soulful rendition of Nahin samne tu from the film Taal literally swept director Subhash Ghai and hero Akshaye Khanna off the floor. Ghai even publicly offered him a chance in his banner, before announcing the talented singer's ouster from the competition.

"Aadesh Shrivastava who was my mentor in the show stood by me and encouraged me. It was unbelievable that he spent so much time on me," said a grateful Hemachandra.

Interestingly, Hemachandra, unlike Karunya, was not familiar with any other language except Telugu. I had learnt my first Hindi song a month before I was to participate in the Saregamapa competition, he said.

The dark, tall and handsome teenager has already moved to Mumbai to pursue his dream of playback singing. He has already sung for Abhishek Bachchan in the film Alag, and is waiting to record for Subhash Ghai's Good Boys, Bad Boys. He has already performed at several stage shows, and is scheduled to go on a world tour in October with music director Aadesh Shrivastava.

Both singers believe that they did not make it to the top because of the limited viewership for Hindi TV channels in the South. "But we have made a mark and that can be an inspiration for others," they say with conviction.

I can't believe Hemu learned Hindi a month before the show. That's shocking. No wonder he had a diction problem. That's extremely impressive!

Good Boy Bad Boy is a HR film. So I guess he is giving a chance to Hemu also. That's great!

These two were my fav singers. They both voted out due to the pattern of the voting SYSTEM but we all know that they are talented singers and such people wouldn't look back once they prove themselves.... They have already proved.

I'm happy for both of them and wish ALL THE BEST :).

thanks for the article..
I am sure that the south indian talent will surely shine..
and many more south indians realise this too and give support to them

Originally posted by: ranig

I can't believe Hemu learned Hindi a month before the show. That's shocking. No wonder he had a diction problem. That's extremely impressive!

Good Boy Bad Boy is a HR film. So I guess he is giving a chance to Hemu also. That's great!

I can't believe that either - that's surely an exxageration. His cousin Karunya was fluent with his Hindi - he even listened to old songs and idolized Manna De. Hema too, had to know some Hindi. There is no way you can learn it in a month. 😕

thanks for the article 😊

Originally posted by: shadyhtown

I can't believe that either - that's surely an exxageration. His cousin Karunya was fluent with his Hindi - he even listened to old songs and idolized Manna De. Hema too, had to know some Hindi. There is no way you can learn it in a month. 😕

where there is a will there is a way and what is he going to prove by telling lies not everyone are liars learn to trust mate

Originally posted by: shadyhtown

I can't believe that either - that's surely an exxageration. His cousin Karunya was fluent with his Hindi - he even listened to old songs and idolized Manna De. Hema too, had to know some Hindi. There is no way you can learn it in a month. 😕

I just want to make one point....Might be Karu had one benefit and this might have worked for him....he could learn so much from Hemu's experience and he had time to prepare himself by looking at the things Hemu had to go thru while he was in challenge'05... 😉

Nice Article...thanks for sharing 👏 👏 👏
I hope hemu also get the offers like karu..

Originally posted by: shadyhtown

I can't believe that either - that's surely an exxageration. His cousin Karunya was fluent with his Hindi - he even listened to old songs and idolized Manna DeBollywood . Hema too, had to know some Hindi. There is no way you can learn it in a month. 😕

What does Karunya's fluency in Hindi got to do with Hemu's. If somebody's cousin is good in a language do all the other cousins impliictly get it from him. Karunya's singing idols are kishore kumar and Manna De. Whereas Hemu idolizes SPB and Hariharan. So you can see why Karunya is more fluent in Hindi.

Knowing/Understanding Hindi doesn't necessarily mean you can speak it without diction issues (if it's not your mother tongue). Only if you have had exposure and opportunity to talk that language can you improve the accent.

Karunya has probably had more experience singing Hindi songs than Hema. In one article, Hema mentioned that 2 months before the contest, he worked with his cousin to improve his diction (I am assuming that was Karunya)