Kerala daily wager singing Shankar Mahadevan’s song has gone viral on social media and netizens are hooked to it. And it is not only them, but music composer and singer Shankar Mahadevan and other stalwarts are going gaga over his soulful singing and are on a mission to find him and record a song with him. A video shows a man, identified as a daily wager sitting on a field and singing Tamil hit ‘Unnai Kaanadhu Naan’ from Kamal Hassan’s film Vishwaroopam. The original song has been sung by Mahadevan himself and has been composed by the renowned trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

The labourer’s name is Rakesh Nooranadu from Alu Penadu in Kerala’s Alappuzha district. The song was recorded by his truck driver friend Shameer. His sister Shameela put it online and the video spread like wildfire on social media. The video has been watched by millions and has garnered a lot of praise.

Video of Kerala Labourer’s Soulful Singing

The internet sensation said he had no idea his video would go viral he told IE Malayalam. Shankar Mahadevan managed to get hold of Rakesh’s number and called him. Rakesh said, “I consider it my biggest blessing. He told me I have a good voice, a good future. I said I just want to see him once. He said we will not just see, we will sing together.” Life is already changing for Rakesh. Not only Shankar but a list of people called Rakesh including singer Pandalam Balan, violinist Balabhaskar and music composer Gopi Sundar.

Upon asked how he sang without ever learning music, he said that his family is full of talented people and he learnt singing after listening to them. But he has been learning classical music for the past two months. Although he did not get a call from Sundar yet, the music composer confirmed to IE Malayalam that he would contact the singer soon. “Will try to get him to sing in my next song. Singing after learning is different from singing after listening to a song. Rakesh is a talented guy,” Sundar told IE Malayalam. Real and natural talent is always appreciated and can be spotted anywhere and anytime and Rakesh’s soulful singing, did just that. New opportunities will change the course of his life.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 02, 2018 10:51 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).