‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ Fame Minmini Treats Patients to Soul Awakening Music

KOCHI:
Playback singer Minmini who shot to international fame with the Chinna Chinna Aasai hit number in Mani Ratnam’s film Roja, almost a quarter century ago, today regaled patients with her melodious voice at the Government General Hospital, Ernakulam here.
The singer who has delivered evergreen hits such as Souparnikamritha from KizhakkunarumPakshi, and Pathiravaayi from Vietnam Colony among others gave a captivating performance, which was part of Kochi Biennale’s weekly ‘Arts and Medicine’ show.
Her felicitous mellow rendering of each song evoked smiles and loud applause from a captive audience who seemed to enjoy the performance.
“I am overwhelmed to see such an audience of patients, bystanders and hospital staff…. It is an honour to sing amidst a crowd in an open space … As a child I had immense support from my folks , they stood by me through thick and thin”, Minmini said.
“Acts of charity like the one Biennale has resorted to is a noble gesture. Being able to bring smiles on the faces of people in pain is indeed a blessing”, she added.
Minmini and her co-singers Junior Mehboob and Yahiya Azeez belted out close to a dozen songs which included ‘LokamMuzhuvanSukamPakaraan’, ‘Mizhiyoram’, ‘Badi Door Se Aaye Hein’, ‘ChinnaChinnaAasai’, and ‘Maanasa Mani Venuvil’ to name a few. Her husband Joy Mathew shared the stage for the Tamil number ,‘Kannekalaimane’.
Beginning her career at the age of five with the Kalabhavan orchestra, Minmini graduated to a professional singer at 10. Her musical family background spurred her to become a singer and till date she has sung around 2,000 film songs in seven different languages – Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Oriya and Badaga.
A Malayali hailing from Aluva, most of Minmini’s memorable musical pieces are in Tamil, composed by Ilayaraaja and A R Rahman. Her hit Malayalam songs include ‘Souparnikamritha’ from KizhakkunarumPakshi, ‘OonjalUrangi’, and ‘Neelaraavi” from Kudumbasametham.
After a break from singing, Minmini made a comeback last year with the song Kanmaniye from Mili.
She has been honoured with many awards, including the Singapore State Government Award, Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Playback, Filmfare Award, Cinema Express Awa
rd, Film Fans Association Award (Telugu), Kerala Film Chamber Award and SUMU Award, to name a few.
The all Wednesday series is an initiative organised by the Kochi Biennale Foundation in association with Mehboob Memorial Orchestra and Lakeshore Hospital and Research Centre Limited aiming to provide solace to the patients. This week’s programme marked the 140th episode.