arindam ganguly, op
Bhubaneswar, July 27: YouTube has established itself as a democratic platform for talent, and many from Orissa have used it to find a devoted audience. Subhechha Mohanty from Cuttack is one such Net sensation.
A student at Orissa Engineering College, her channel on YouTube has more than 46,000 subscribers and her videos have clocked more than four million views. Her latest video, ‘Baarish thodi der’, a mashup of five Hindi film songs that she uploaded July 24 , had 13,000 views when last accessed.
Another song ‘Phir Bhi tumko Chahunga’ had more than 1 million views. She has used songs originally sung by Shreya Ghosal, Arijit Singh, Armaan Malik in her videos.
Subhechha started learning classical music at the age of six but left singing for a while to pursue studies. After finishing plus II from Shailabala Women’s College, she returned to music and in 2013 uploaded her first song on YouTube. The song ‘Chahun Main Ya Na’ from ‘Aashiqui 2’ was well received.
She went on to upload more videos that year but the biggest success of the lot was ‘Bol Do Na Zara’ with more than 5 lakh views. Her song ‘Main Phir Bhi Tumko Chahunga’, which got a milion views, was uploaded two months back.
Subhechha’s knowledge of the workings of the internet has helped her promote her talent. When she found her videos not getting adequate views, she began making them more interactive and modifying content based on viewer feedback. She also worked on thumbnails of her videos and made them more attractive.
And hits, likes and subscriptions followed. She has learnt video editing and uses a DSLR camera for shoots.
Subhechha’s videos have been liked by eminent artistes such as lyricist Manoj Muntashir and singer Toshi Sabri, and she was recently offered songs in films ‘Rahasya’ and ‘Akha Baya’.
A regular now in the music shows circuit, she says she loves to perform before live audiences. But studies still are her priority. After graduation she plans to work in Chennai and continue singing on YouTube.
She believes her voice will pave her way to success as a singer.