Mancherial: Teen with mellifluous voice can croon in 17 languages
Mancherial: She can mellifluously render Annamayya Keerthanas in Telugu, sing Urdu qawwalis and even Marathi bhajans. She can effortlessly croon in 17 languages, besides enacting monologues and mimicking popular actors of Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam films.
Meet Kattoju Jahnavi, a 16-year old versatile girl from Mancherial district who has been impressing one and all with her impeccable singing, acting and mimicry skills. Jahnavi can sing in 17 languages namely Telugu, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Lambada or Banjara, Kannada, Tamil, Gujarati, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Bengali, Malayalam, Odia, Arabic, English, Nepali and IsiZulu, the most spoken language in South Africa.
“She began singing since childhood and could easily render a tough devotional song when she was barely four. I encouraged her with the help of music teachers,” said Murali, father of Jahnavi.
This Intermediate II year student of a private college from Gadderagadi in Kyathanalli town said she could easily remember nuances, accent, intrinsic and minute details of a language. Jahnavi’s parents claim she has exceptional memory and singing ability and are planning to enrol her in a music school to hone her skills.
The prodigy wants to become an IAS officer and also do well in music. Incidentally, she scored cent per cent marks in a competitive exam held for junior aspirants of civil services. The talented teen also acted in four feature films and also spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone during the ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ programme and narrated challenges faced by the poor during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jahnavi has won three State-level awards for her outstanding singing and acting skills apart from a host of prizes from various cultural organisations for her mimicry. Her name also figures in the International Wonder Book Records. She also received a certificate of recognition from Forest Minister A Indrakaran Reddy recently.
