The younger generation is the future, so it’s important to provide them with the knowledge and inspiration to do good for themselves and society. The upcoming Itch Summit in Bengaluru is aimed at amplifying the same idea, where they bring in people from all walks of life, such as entrepreneurs, entertainers, social activists, sports, corporates, bloggers and travellers — who have made a name for themselves against all odds. This upcoming fourth edition of the Itch Summit in collaboration with Agency M and Miles SoBA will again feature many prominent names who continue to inspire people with their work. Some of them include Shekhar Naik — the former captain of the Indian blind cricket team, Kalpana Saroj — a prominent Indian businesswoman and social activist; and JordIndian — a popular comedy and music duo comprising Naser Al Azzeh and Vineeth Kumar; among others. But one name that probably stands out from the group of speakers is renowned folk singer Nanjiyamma. A member of the Irula community in Kerala, she was given the national award for the best female playback singer from Kerala recently. She came to the limelight after singing a song in the Malayalam film Ayyappanum Koshiyum in 2020. It attained popularity after its release on YouTube, with the song receiving more than 10 million views in a month. The song, titled Kalakkatha, was written by the singer herself in the Irula language and was composed by Jakes Bejoy. Before she takes to the stage in Bengaluru, we get chatty with Nanjiyamma and Prateesh Nair, founder of Agency M and Miles SoBA, to find out everything you need to know about the summit…
“The idea of the Itch Summit started six years ago. This is the fourth edition. The last three were held in Mumbai and this is the first time in Bengaluru. The summit is a platform to tell stories of unconventional people from unconventional scenarios. We want to showcase people who have dreamt and made their dreams come true. People have stopped believing in their dreams, but they should not, because the world, what it is today, is because some dreamt and dared to follow their dreams,” begins Prateesh.
Talking about how the list of speakers was decided, Prateesh says, “We keep our eyes and ears open. We go to various events, we read and we travel, so we get to know about a lot of people. When it comes to the speakers, we take 80 percent of people who have never been part of any of other summits and the remaining 20 percent would be from our industry, from advertising, branding, cinema or theatre. We see if a person has a strong story to tell. Has the person contributed to the country? Can they be good idols?”
“I am looking forward to seeing all the students and the people attending the summit. Hopefully, I can inspire them to do great in life,” begins Nanjiyamma, who made her accidental breakthrough through the Malayalam film Ayyappanum Koshiyum, which was directed by KR Sachidanandan, professionally known as Sachy. “That film gave me a platform to showcase my work. Never had I thought that I would be making it this far. It was him who found me and gave me an opportunity to work in films. I used to perform in our village festivals for a long time. That’s when we found out that he (Sachidanandan) was coming to Attappady to shoot for a film. His team asked if there were singers in our village and that’s when I went ahead and sang a couple of lines, which the whole world has now accepted with open arms,” she adds.
Nanjiyamma is currently part of a couple of Tamil movies, one of which stars Tamil actor Jiiva.
Entry free. March 2. At Miles Education, Koramangala. +916366948314.
Email: alwin@newindianexpress.com
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