Kamal Haasan, Gopi Sundar call viral singer who works at a timber mill

Social media has always opened a vista of opportunities for talents who could never appear in the mainstream owing to constraints, including financial, social or even cultural impediments. Instances of such talents making it there through this platform and then carving a niche for themselves are sundry and varied.

The yet-to-be-evolved story of this prodigious singing talent named Rakesh, who is a native of Nooranad in Alappuzha, is another example. A video of Rakesh's song has been doing the rounds extensively on social media for the past couple of days.

Rakesh rendered the super hit song 'Unnai Kaanadhu Naan' from Kamal Haasan-starrer 'Vishwaroopam' so stunningly that popular music composer Gopi Sundar shared the video on his Facebook page with a note, "I want this voice to sing my song, my dear friends Pls help me…"

The social media star is still in awe of the stardom he achieved in two days. “Actor Kamal Haasan has called me and so has singer Sankar Mahadevan,” Rakesh said in an interview to Manorama Online. Gopi Sundar too had called him. They all had offered him a chance to sing in film.

Rakesh is a worker at a timber mill and has never got any formal training in music. He used to sing for his friends and the song 'Unnai Kaandadhu...' was one such number he rendered for his friends when they were taking recess amid work during rain. It was posted on Facebook by one of his friend's sister. “We never thought it would go viral,” Rakesh said.