Mahalakshmi Iyer is not tired of receiving the congratulatory phone calls. In fact, the 'Jai ho' singer is more than thrilled these days to talk about Slumdog… and the Oscars.

In the city on Wednesday to perform at Dainik Bhaskar's event Jalsa 2009, she is more than happy to hold forth on the wonder of it all. But she accepts very modestly that she has sung only a few lines and the credit mostly goes to Sukhvinder. “You see, the song is about the victory of the boy hero Jamaal,” she says.

Having made her debut with AR Rahman in Mani Ratnam's Dil Se in 1998, Mahalakshmi has since then sung over a thousand songs in films, jingles and original albums.

Speaking about the struggle of her initial days in the industry, she says, “For every success, one has to go through pain. It has happened with me as well. Many a times songs have been recorded in my voice but later dubbed over by a bigger name. It does hurt but it's possible that I could not do justice. It is only a learning curve professionally and personally and we accept it over the years. I guess this is a part and parcel of the game.”

At the moment, she is working on an album, which, she says, is a mix of whatever she has learnt over the years and will be an exciting experience. “It may force people to raise their eyebrows,” she is confident.

And how about working with AR Rahman? “I have run out of adjectives for this person,” she answers. “What more can one say? He is truly a genius and an excellent human being. I started with him and am looking forward to continuing to work with him,” she smiles earnestly.