4-year-old girl’s rendition of ‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’ has a new fan: PM Modi

Esther Hnamte, a four-year-old preschooler from Mizoram's Lunglei district, is receiving praise from across India for her rendition of the song.

A four-year-old girl’s cover of AR Rahman’s famous song ‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’ has been getting her a lot of praise on social media from many across the country and now has caught the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well.

Esther Hnamte, the four-year-old preschooler from Mizoram’s Lunglei district, hits the high notes in the song almost perfectly and many have been tagging Rahman to bring her performance to his notice.

Sharing a video posted by Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga, PM Modi tweeted, “Adorable and admirable! Proud of Esther Hnamte for this rendition.”

Adorable and admirable! Proud of Esther Hnamte for this rendition. https://t.co/wQjiK3NOY0

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 31, 2020

The video features the child holding the national flag in her hand and singing amid picturesque images from the state.

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“Esther started singing as soon as she started talking,” said Lalrinfeli Hauhnar, a close friend of the family. “When she was barely two years old, her elder siblings would make her sing. She has a knack of picking up lyrics — in any language.”

Hnamte, who turned 4 in June, only talks in Mizo, her mother tongue. “She doesn’t know Hindi at all, and not much English either,” said Hauhnar. Yet, she has sung in both the languages. Hnamte on her YouTube channel posts songs in Mizo, English and Hindi. Since setting up the channel earlier this year, the child already has over 57,000 subscribers.

The Maa Tujhe Salaam video was shot last week by a local production company. “But her earlier songs have already made her famous not just in Lunglei, but entire Mizoram,” she added. “Sometimes when she goes around town with her mom, people recognise her as the famous child singer. She doesn’t even understand the attention.”

As the video went viral, singer-composer of the song, AR Rahman too shared it on Twitter.