Krishna Prabha's singer avatar

Till yesterday, Krishna Prabha was known as belonging to the new generation of funny women in the Malayalam film industry. Since she posted a video of her rendering the cover of hit song Njanum Neeyum, Malayalis have had just one reaction: She can sing too? Krishna Prabha laughs and says, “Yes, I can. People close to me are aware of it.” The song Njanum Neeyum from yet to be released movie Theeram was originally sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Quincy Chettupally. The song was a huge hit from the minute it was launched on Youtube.

Shedding light on her tryst with singing, Krishna Prabha says “I was part of a team of singers and a ganamela troupe while studying at Sacred Heart's College, Thevara. I had worked with Hari Sri's team when I was in 11th standard.” “All my really close friends, my besties are singers. Sometimes we post songs or covers of songs on our social media pages. And that is what led to the cover version of Njanum Neeyum. Apart from that, I am also part of Theeram. I've played a main character in it,” she adds. Did composer Afzal Yusuff know she was rendering a cover version of his hit song? “Oh yes, I had called him when we came up with this plan and took his permission as well.”

One would be surprised to learn that she had a very short term formal training in singing “I went for music class, studied music for less than a year under RLV Divakaran. This was back when I was in school. But later on i developed an interest in dancing and pursued it,” says Krishna Prabha who is now a professional on-stage performer. “But music was always part of life. Even while I was pursuing diploma in Bharatanatyam, music was the second subject. So I learnt music for examinations sake. I am still not very sure of the technical aspect such as swarasthanangal and raagam,” she laughs. She jokes “The reason why people find it so hard to believe that I sing is because of my voice when I talk. People always tell me how different my singing voice is when compared to talking.”