Singer Abhijith Vijayan was unlucky to miss out on an honour at the Kerala state film awards, which was announced on Thursday.
Though the award eventually went to Shahabaz Aman, Abhijith's voice had evoked disbelief among the jury members who were judging the top singers of 2017. The reason why he failed to snatch the award is said to be the mind-blowing similarity of his voice to that of legendary singer Yesudas'.
Jerry Amaldev, one of the jury members, said Abhijith was in contention for the best singer award and that his voice in a song in Bhayanakam was mistaken for that of Yesudas'.
“He lost the race after it was found that he was imitating the voice of singer Yesudas. I have no grouse about Yesudas, but a singer should be singing in his own voice,” the veteran music director said.
Asked what if a singer's voice resembled that of another's, Amaldev said that Abhijith was even imitating the natural vibrato in Yesudas'.
The song, 'Kuttanadan Kaattu Chodikkunnu...' has been composed by veteran music director MK Arjunan master, who bagged the state award for the best music director for the songs in Bhayanakam directed by ace film-maker Jayaraj.
Though the singer is said to have been the top contender for the award, it was the similarity of his voice with that of Yesudas' voice that had robbed him of the coveted prize.
The movie, set in Kerala in the backdrop of second world war, stars Renji Panicker and Asha Sharath.
Jerry Amaldev who was known to have a long-standing tiff with Yesudas in the early years, had last teamed up with the singer for the film Action Hero Biju directed by Abrid Shine.