The raining grey cloud of music

Lovely, lovely music I am hearing as I blog right now. Now playing - Summertime by Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald. Love the way the violins flow behind the melody, splattering a canvas containing sparkling stars shining over the white, shiny horse, galloping its way through the night. Aah.. What music can do to me! When I listen to these songs, especially jazz, makes me want to go back to the golden era... where knights in shining armour were clearly visible amongst the dark shades of night and long hours of wait. Love the way people loved in olden times. Just one love for a lifetime. Ain't that really hard in today's time considering the pressure to flaunt your success, fame, achievements, papa-kehte-hain-bada-kaam-karega and what not...

I guess the song just took me to a different world altogether. What I started this post was actually for few interesting notions that came up before me in the recent past. Quite diligently I have noticed the increasing rate of songs that seem to be copied from here and there. This has been happening since many years, but has come to my notice, a lot, in the past couple of months. It is a surprise when you begin to love, accept and spread some amazing taste of music only to learn that it is apparently copied, or rather 'inspired' in the composer's language. No problem. Good music is good music at the end of the day, but don't you think one needs to give at least minuscule share of credits to the original source? I have been noticing the trend in movies too. But let me stick to the topic.

Few months back I had a nice, healthy discussion about the same with a very popular playback singer of south who also very vehemently happened to say that all this doesn't matter at all. He said if it is matter of respect then obviously the inspired ones lose on that hold, but how many of them really want to make music from the soul and all? Everyone apparently wants chart toppers. I don't think that is true. It would be very unfair to generalize them considering the entry of few very talented musicians who concentrate on quality. During school I remember telling my friends about how Pritam's 'Ya Ali' was copied from Guitara as the Arabic track 'Yagali' was the only Arabic song I knew at that time :) But coming to think of it, despite all the controversies and rumours of Guitara suing Pritam had emerged as a cloud of problems, none of it seemed to matter to the public. Well, at least all the school kids would sing that for competitions, functions and every possible place where they could prove their musical talents. Coming to the present there are several composers who have lifted songs from World music genre and have very cleanly put this across to the audience as their own production. As much as I have loved most of these alleged numbers, it pains to see how the credibility from the true composers are just plainly denied, or in other words, ignored. An absolute disappointment! 1. Because composer claimed it to be an original, 2. Because they think we don't have good enough ears to be exposed to such world music classics! With the growing age of the Internet and YouTube, it is a huge treasure palace of wonderful music... and one has to think twice before lifting it. But I wish the composers could mention the inspirational source in their album to at least give a sense of not being totally fooled as a public 

These are all just my personal insights... what about the general public? The ones who slog at work and listen to music in their free time, i.e. probably during gymming, in their iPods... are they concerned? My sister, very buoyantly, happened to be undeterred from listening to such 'inspired' tunes. She says that she likes listening to them while in the car, or while watching TV and it doesn't make a difference as far as it sounds good and belongs to her favourite genre. Would love to know your thoughts and views on this too... not that it is going to change anything... but am quite curious as the more worried I get about carbon copies, the more I'm told not to worry about them at all.. Because it is a passing phase and the world beckons a fleet of soulful music ahead.


P.S. I remember having asked M. Jayachandran, a popular composer down south of what he thinks when his contemporaries indulge themselves into such practices. He gave me an interesting perception - every song made for films from the 40's or before have been linked to some raga or 'route' which lead to ragas that were created for our knowledge by none other than the Trimurthis and the likes. So what the Trimurthis invented can be called original and everything that came after that was evolved from that. Hmmm.. music for thought hah?

When I had a small chat with one of my friends from the media, having read my blog, felt that I'm critical about a lot of things. I agreed during the conversation but, partly, inside myself I disagreed because I always claimed to be a positive human being. But that is sort of contradictory to majority of my blog posts :) Soon after the chat I happened to scan through the archives and did realize how critical I have become of so many things !I was watching news channels today and realized that every half hour there would be some bad news reported. Martyrs being carted in garbage trucks, J Dey murder case, Mayawati's undignified silence on growing rape happenings , SFI clash at Kerala and what not... Invariably I end up blogging about some issue that boils my blood as this is my only platform to pelt my anger on.

Is life all about this ? I mean .. if there is so much of negativity in the world how is one able to heave a sigh of relief? Or are we all just sensitive for a certain period of time ? Blood boils, anger aggravates, angst is poured onto social networking sites which sell like hot cakes! Once the cake is eaten with the cherry topping .. one big fat burp and there.. time to download.

Even news to an extent is like that. There is news hype that ignites debates. Then comes the part where the public retaliates in all possible ways. The witty/intellectual/well-worded tweets make headlines and it's a new day .. a new issue.. a new my-big-fat-media-headlines .

As I type this, I'm simultaneously having an arguement with another gentleman who thinks public perception of actors are that they are talented but without brains. Quite concerned.. your views would be appreciated ..

Interview for Sound Box

Being an interviewer myself.. have found it challenging to always come up with different, creative questions during the sessions. But, for a change, I was on the other side :) Jo had requested for an interview of mine to which I obliged acknowledging the fact that I have very little to share about my career till now.. His questions were out-of-the-box that totally motivated me to ,*rosebowl-style* ,open my mind ;) ..Here goes few excerpts from the interview :

How did film music, Avial and VJ-ing come through? How was the experience?

As I had done my schooling in Muscat, coming to India for music was because of my dreams of becoming a playback singer. I was so influenced by 80′s and early 90′s qualitative productions that all I ever wanted to do was sing for films. But when I joined for BA music and started to learn and take music a lot more seriously I realized that music is a lot more than just recordings. I was never a Rock music fan but became one when I was exposed towards it and were given opportunities to do something creative. All the credits go to Sumesh Lal sir, the creative head of a Malayalam TV channel called ‘Rosebowl’ . He discovered the artist in me and gave me an empty space to paint in with vibrant colors of music. He gave me a chance when I was new, inexperienced, totally believing in my intuitions and ideas. I got to work with Rex and Binny of Avial for a production by Rosebowl through which they invited me to perform with the band at the India Fashion Week, Delhi and ever since have been regular with the band. I have done very few films but recording in the silent space of the sound booth is immensely toxic!

Also, I came at a time when reality shows were on a boom. So to venture into playback, Rock and pure classical was a huge learning experience for me. Mass audience would still prefer commercial music anyday as it is more easier to comprehend than understanding the complexities of quality music by bands, etc. Coming to films, I have to thank Rahul Raj sir was trusting in me blindly by making me sing for Shyam sir’s Ritu. It was a fab experience. He is extremely positive and had been my mentor at that time. Also, working for Phani Kalyan for Telugu film ‘Pappu’ was another fun filled experience. Kalyan has always been a friend so it’s very informal when I work with him.

You blog about many issues in your personal blog, which is a rare thing among people in the music industry. How important it is for a musician (or an artist) to respond to socio-political issues? Do you think expressing yourself in a public space like blog would effect your career in music?

If I wasn’t a singer I would have been a journalist because I feel that is the best medium to project our views. So I decided to blog about whatever I felt about what’s happening around the world. I think it’s every human being’s duty to remain informed about what’s happening and to contribute to it in whatever small possible way. I wish I could do a lot more that is action oriented than just removing my frustration through the blog, inshallah! I hope to make an impact through my views someday. My western sir has always said that we can become a good artist only if we are a good, well informed human. There are people who have expressed their dislike towards my career just because I am open about my views but it doesn’t matter because it’s better to be honest than being a hypocrite. Nothing can effect your career if you are ethical towards the society and work. One should not live in the fear of losing work but in the adverse effects of being ignorant.

You sing for Avial, a rock band. There was a time when Rock music was considered evil or indecent among many in our society. Do you think it has changed?

I don’t know if Rock was considered evil, but was definitely not so popular as it is now. People have learnt to open their minds and we can see an increase in the Rock culture nowadays especially among youngsters. But there are many who live under the wrong impression of rock being all about head banging and walking around like a crazy person who parties and swears all the time. It’s an absolute cliche!! Rock can be just as subtle as eastern music and can at the same time give you an adrenalin pump. If you hang around with Avial band itself you will realize how less they talk and how more they speak through their music. The cliche about Rock musicians being high on drugs and having a rugged lifestyle is totally untrue. True (rock) musicians are very much ethical, who don’t believe in using inappropriate language on the stage and who work very hard in sounding extravagant every time.

Popular concepts of music still revolves around film music. Do you see any changes there? What hope do the independent music and musicians have in Kerala?

Popular music has always been filmi music but it hardly stays around for a long time. Sound programming is at it’s peak now and melody has been given less importance now. I don’t even know if the songs made today will be remembered in the next few years. But it’s more easy to understand, glamorous and more fast paced in terms of it’s release and promotions. Where as, bands take almost 2-3 years to come up with an album and another 2 years to popularize through live gigs. But the scene is changing. We have Amit Trivedi in Bollywood who has elevated bollywood music to another level through Dev D, NOKJ and Prashanth Pillai in Malayalam who has broken of the typical commercial line up with City Of God. At the same time, Motherjane did an OST for Malayalam movie “Anwar” and Avial has also done an OST for another Malayalam movie “Salt N’ Pepper”. So film music industry has also begun to ape towards greater heights in terms of qualitative music. Independent musicians don’t anyways work for commercial hype. They just want to be part of good music that will be etched in our hearts for a long long time. So whether they being commercially acclaimed or not doesn’t really matter to them.

If you have found this interesting enough.. then you can CLICK HERE to read the whole interview.

Pappu - My Telugu Launch

The first time I ever attempted singing in Telugu was for Shyamaprasad sir's Ritu's Telugu version aka 'New'. Had a little tough time singing that as the language was new and was only my second playback. Surprisingly , destiny had other plans! At the time when Ritu had released a young composer, Phani Kalyan from Chennai had liked my demos and wanted to feature my voice in his debut album . But somehow that never materialized and all was forgotten about that project. Months later, he asked me if I would be comfortable recording a Telugu number for his debut film , I was not only surprised but taken aback by his nervousness as a composer. I was all game for it though the language barrier never occurred to me.

Recording in A.M.Studios is any singer's dream! Sitting in the office and underlining certain words and writing few alphabets in Malayalam was how the afternoon was spent. After taking little rest we began recording at around 6. It was a splendid experience for me to be experimenting with another language so soon! I never ever thought of doing a Telugu number so soon in my career. The song being a duet had made me curious to see who would be singing the male portions. Initially there was a plan of featuring a popular young singer..but nothing took off. Finally as luck has it, A.R.Rahman had introduced a Grospel singer, Alphonse through Aaromale! I was again blessed to have Alphonse sir as my duet partner in this film. A big thanks to Phani for making this happen and wishing him all the success for a bright musical career.

To listen to the track CLICK HERE.

P.S. The film's name is Pappu! You can check out it's poster here.

Chetan Bhagat should be given the credits

Feeling really bad for Chetan Bhagat cos of the whole '3 idiots' issue. Definitely the makers should be given credits for original 'screenplay/ script' and not for original 'story'.Infact I find the story modified and not recreated. Like Chetan highlighted at a live News talk , how can a film be given the credits of original story when it has been based on a hit seller book? Irrespective of Chetan being given his dues as per agreement it certainly is not ethical to be forward enough to take up the credits themself. Clearly 3 idiots is a lot different from Five.someone but the basic things like Raju moving over to Chatur's room, they splitting up, they stealing the papers, Raju trying to commit suicide, Raju's family conditions are interpreted in the movie just like in the book. This is the soul of the movie . I totally agree with Bhagat to fight for his moral rights and also he's being reasonable by asking for genuine compromise in terms of giving him the 3rd place in credits for the adaptation and not in terms of money. Sad is the state of writers who spend years for making a book like five.someone. Whether the credits are given or not I am still going to remain a big fan of his books and hope that the humour nevers dies out from his future works.


P.S.Got to watch 3 idiots 2 days back and one great work I say. Truly enjoyable though they included a lot of cliches.

Stagnant growth

Fatwa against Vande Mataram? As if India is such a peaceful country that we need to actually sit down and think of giving birth to issues long forgotten to ruin the peace! I wish it were so...How many ever preachings and even practices and campaigns and wotnot cannot change the mindset of the religious thinker. The thing we can cry about and boast about is unfortunately the same thing : our culture. I think what I loved the most about Chak De apart from the script, direction and SRK is the dialogue which was enacted with so much of depth. The face that we need to start thinking from the point of few of India as a Nation and not as a Country of many States. Competition is healthy only when we compete with ourselves and not with other castes.


I don't want to get into politics yakking about how different politicians favour their States or religion. It's much beyond all that if you are looking for upgrading from a 3rd world country tag. Vande being unislamic or not is far away from the fact that we all belong to one Nation. How many wake calls can we give? Or perhaps it's the ignorance of a jobless man. There are a hundred million issues to be sorted out and assessed and we again end up wasting ample time upon issues which have no scope to extinguish. There should be an awareness among the men to educate their women and to give provide equality. Instead, decades after we have the anthem we have communities who find this way more important than sorting out the real issues. If this is a call for a bigger Pak then they are foolish enough to try it at this stage. Open your eyes and look around at all the injustice being done from Bribery to serial rapes and superstitions and we'll be surprised to see that what we are trying to debate on is absolutely worthless. We hardly recall the Anthem on a regular basis so it's high time we put a stop and start progressing in ascending manner .

A Peck on the cheek to Mr. Tharoor for telling all young Keralites when he had been to the Inaugural function of the gurukulam named for Ezhuthachan - " to know the world u must know English, to know Delhi u must know Hindi, & to know yourselves u must know Malayalam"

Bollywood strip club

To see actors being really passionate about their acting is a good sign but not to an extent where people feel embarrassed to watch them even if the 'role demands it'. John, Neil, etc are some of the brightest actors of the future of our Filmdom. Though I am very supportive of most of the things they come up with nudity is something I do not support. Their justification is pretty convincing but even if the role demands, to watch it on screen with your parents... or even friends it's embarrassing. Maybe it's my mindset. Reality is not necessarily required to be copied on screen. Something’s are understood or they could cover it up in a way that it is understood. It's moving in a too-fast pace. The growth from flowers kissing each other has now brought us in a situation where we get to see love making even before wedlock. Even if we say that people have moved on and have started to support pre mature sex and old traditions have died, onscreen it's a different picture altogether. I don't support premature sex but I am sure that those who support also will not be comfortable watching it with their parents .There is a line drawn to mark a certain saturation point and when that is crossed it's a feeling of being a stranger. Almost all have a goof body to flaunt but when used in the right time at the right situation it doesn't feel awkward. One of the finest examples is Chandni Bar. Be it a two piece or no pieces I wish I soon become comfortable watching all this or soon I will be ditching the movie theatres near my place.

It pissed me off when so much hype is created about a movie with just a big star cast and no script. I never go to watch them and I am glad that public is giving thumbs down for such a heap of waste. I admire Bebo's wardrobe in Kambakht Ishq but I am glad that it was not declared a hit just cos of Stallone and Richards. I guess people have developed a sense of understanding the criteria for a hit movie. It's not about making a serious cinema like Black or something jazzy like CC2C..It’s about providing a story out of it. In some movie of the recent times I just love the acting of some of the superstars but it's such a disappointment to call a friend after the movie and tell him/her that I didn't get the story!

And another thing people should avoid is comparing movies Khamoshi should not be compared to Hum dil de chuke sanam and nor should Ore Kadal be compared to Ritu. They are fresh in their aspects and just show the various interpretations of the director's ideas on that subject. Being one of the singers of Ritu, people shoot questions like why was Asif shown as a gay in the movie. Apparently it was irrelevant. But my take on that subject is that it is relevant. Depends on one's perception. His gay shade was not portrayed cos of the recent hype created about the laws regarding gay rights. Sharath is a friend who believes he knows his friends better than himself and that no one knows him the way he has learnt them. At the point when he is told by some fellow worker that Sunny is a secretly a gay ,it's a moment where Sharath feels that the value created of his friendship is all gone. It' a moment when he self realizes that he never knew Sunny. It actually indicates that what we always see on the outside is not true. So he being a gay attributes a lot to Sharath's evaluation on the understanding he had about his friendship. It took him that long to realize it and that is the importance of Asif being a gay. To each his own.. This is just what I understood from the movie.

Nine @ Night will have some special interviews this whole week cos of Onam. I am not sure about which one will be telecast when. But tonight at 9 PM in Rosebowl channel we have Naresh Iyer opening his heart out. And on the 2nd of September we have 'The Big Onam Splash' on Rosebowl itself from 8 30 AM to 9 30 PM... catch it if possible.. Will be uploading most of it online anyways... till then advance Onam wishes...Ciao!

Ritu- A Shyam Prasad- Rahul Raj combo..

April 21st: I wished Mom on her birthday and I thought of taking her out for dinner.. so I asked dad to chill out cos he wouldn't be asked for his credit card.. so we made plans for a movie and then thought of going for dinner. As planned we got the tickets and sat inside the theatre I got a call from Rosebowl regarding a show..so I asked my parents to continue watching the movie. Once done with the meeting my dad gave me a call saying someone called to his number asking for me and said it was urgent! So I went back to the theatre and gave a call to that anonymous number and the person on the other line was casually asking me where I was.. I asked him to intro himself and he said he was Rahul Raj! He asked me to come for the recording two days later and said it was for Shyam Prasad's next.

Two days later I started off to Cochin and reached there by around 2 in the afternoon. We were signalled to wait outside the recording room and I was so tired that I unknowingly took a quick nap. After half an hour of napping and waiting a man with average height stepped outside the room.. and the moment I saw him I knew who it was! He shook hands with dad and introduced himself as Shyam Prasad (as if the intro was required). After a little while Suchith, Jeetu and Job came out along with Rahul sir and they requested me to wait for 15 more minutes as they wanted to do some pet-pooja.

Finally they were done with the lunch and I was given the lyrics. I was made to sing every line twice or thrice with the music and so was Job asked to. After a little bit of rehearsing I was asked to go first and record :).. being my first proper playback experience in Malayalam I was a daaaaaaam nervous.. but Rahul ji always makes you feel comfortable with his lame jokes of course! Back in the recording room all I wanted to do was focus.. but with all the joking and pulling the leg.. all I could do was laugh and laugh :D ... But the most tension-ing part of the recording was that Shyam Prasad was there throughout! But the person is awesome infact I had such a nice time talking to him after I recorded the initial portions. Shyam sir had said it's a club song and said that we shoudln't record it thinking it's another semi-art movie ..hehe..great fun with such awesome people to work with..Job was awesome.. the feel he emotes so naturally is something we should have in us naturally...For dinner we all had chapathi and chicken and it was around 11 that I started from there for Trivandrum !!

Cindrella.mp3

I hope you guys had a wonderful time listening to this smashing number!! Do give me honest feedback :D



The Video




For the trailor click HERE.

Check out few posters of RITU Here.

To check out Shyam Prasad sir speaking about Ritu go here