You are all aware about the song ‘Why This Kolaveri Di’ that went viral on the internet through youtube. With very simple words, funny rendition and catchy tune the song has become not only the youth anthem in India but also created sensation worldwide by breaking international barriers. This Tanglish (mix of Tamil and English) song was written and sung by Dhanush (Rajnikanth’s son-in-law) and composed by 21 year old Anirudh Ravichander for the upcoming Tamil film ‘3’ starring Dhanush and Shruti Haasan (Kamal Haasan’s elder daughter) which is being directed by Aishwarya R Dhanush (Dhanush’s wife and Rajnikanth’s elder daughter). ‘3’ is Anirudh’s debut film as music director, however the ‘Kolaveri’ fever that spread worldwide has earned him enormous offers in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi as well. Well, the media caught up with this young and aspiring music director gave a flying visit to Hyderabad to attend the MAA Music Awards function on Thursday in Hyderabad. Here are few excerpts:
About himself :“This movie ‘3’ which has ‘Kolaveri Di’ song is my first movie. I just celebrated my 21st birthday. This song has taken me places and you all know about it (smiles) and that’s I’m here today. I’m really happy to be in Hyderabad because I’m a big fan of Telugu songs and Telugu movies right from my childhood.”
About the Film ‘3’: “Dhanush sir, Aishwarya mam and I have been working on lot of short films for the last three years. I used to compose tunes and we would do lot of home work before entering into feature film. Now that she is directing a feature film and he is starring in that, it’s a wonderful opportunity for me.”
About Kolaveri song: “We never expected this song to be such a big hit. We did this ‘Kolaveri’ song aiming to make it a hit among the youth of Tamil Nadu. But I’m really blessed for this kind of international rage. I’m very thankful to all the viewers and listeners for making this song such a big hit. This is my first song, my first album and first film which is getting widespread and receiving appreciation from everywhere. I’m really very happy about that.”
About offers in Telugu films: “I got very good exciting offers in Telugu and Bollywood films after this album ‘3’ has released. We are in talks and I would be sealing a deal very soon. I’m very excited to deliver songs in Telugu because apart from Tamil Nadu, on my facebook and twitter I get lot of messages from people of Andhra Pradesh requesting me to score music for Telugu films. I’m very happy because the offers that I’m getting here are from very big banners. I’m very excited to work in Telugu but before that I wanted to finish the background score in ‘3’. Ideally I want to work in all three industries (Kollywood, Tollywood and Bollywood) because I’ve got an opportunity to work so I want to utilize that. I’ll be disclosing the details of the Telugu films that I would be working within a short period of time.”
About his reaction on the hit of Kolaveri song: “Any musician will compose music in the direction of making it a hit. But I never even dreamt that it would be in such a huge rage." He said, “Kolaveri song is for the situation in the movie ‘3’ where a girl dumps a guy. One can make out from the lyrics of the song that it’s a love failure song. In general such songs are very sad but we wanted to experiment something new. So we decided to do a light-hearted song in a funny way and that’s how it worked out well I think. I’m not a professional singer but just a bathroom singer. However, I sang another song called ‘Come on Girls’ in ‘3’ which is also a big hit."
About different versions of Kolaveri Di: “There are 100 versions for Kolaveri song. For the first two weeks I used to check out all the versions on the internet because for any musician it’s a proud feeling when someone takes their tune and does it in a different version. I liked two versions very much. The first is which was done by an UK artist, it’s R & B version which is really good and the second one is the Pakistan version (laughs) which is also vey good. The kid's version is also very cute and adorable because he has changed the scotch into milk (laughs). I think he’s going to be the big talents to be watched out in the near future. Infact right now I like other versions more than my own version.”
About the album ‘3’: “There are altogether 10 songs in the album, 7 songs and 3 theme songs. For the movie we have made about 40 tracks. We have used 10 for the songs and the remaining will be for the background score. I’m very proud to say that I’ve used the sympony orchestra for the background score like in olden days where 100 people will be playing together. I’m going to record this background score at overseas only to create a new flavour just like how we tried to create a new sound and flavour for every song in the film.”
About how the ‘Kolaveri’ song happened: “We never planned anything for ‘Kolaveri’ song. It just happened. While I was composing the tune, Dhanush sir just came in, took the mike and just started singing for fun. So then I thought if he sings this song he will be able to bring out the fun with the sadness as per the situation since he is also an actor. He has also got the raw voice which suited the song perfectly. And it has become a major plus for the song now. Infact it’s a very simple tune and anybody can sing that song. That’s why the song has worked out so well.”
About highlights of the film ‘3’: The movie itself is a highlight because nobody would expect a movie like that from a new director. The songs have taken an outstanding opening. The visualization of songs has come out really well. More than visualization of songs, the movie ‘3’ itself belongs to a new genre. It’s going to be a pan India release, so everybody can watch the film and give us your feedback.”
About the release of '3' film: “Rasool Pookutty is doing the sound designing. He wanted some time to bring out the Hollywood sound effect on the movie. The background score is presently going on. So the film will be released by end of March or April.”
About his previous music experience: “I was a pianist right from my age of 4. I’ve completed my grades from Trinity College of London. I was part of two bands in Chennai. One is Carnatic Fusion Band and the second was the Rock Band in College. I just completed my under graduation in Chennai. For the last three years I’ve not assisted any music director. I used to compose music for Dhanush sir and Aishwarya mam’s short films comprising of 30-40 minutes long. Every short film had one or two songs and the background score. That’s my only previous experience.”
About the Best Compliments he got: “Starting from Amitabh Bachchan to people all over the world including Pakistan, Scottland, UK have given me compliments. I’m really grateful and lucky that I’ve received all that in my very first film. The best compliment that touched my heart was from a 70 year old English man from Scottland. He sent me a mail after one week of the album’s release saying, ‘I don’t understand any words in this album, but whenever I listen to this album I feel very happy.” I’m very proud and privileged to touch someone living in UK and doesn’t know the language. I don’t think it’s my talent or Dhanush sir’s talent, but it’s the force of God. Even Rahman sir said, ‘such things happen only once or twice in a decade or two. You are very lucky to part of this phenomenon’.”
About his role model: “Rahman sir is my idol and inspiration since I’ve grown up listening to his songs. He is one of the reasons why I ever wanted to become a music director. I’m very proud and privileged because I never expected that I would get so much appreciations and response from such big people for my very first album.”
About Telugu music: “I recently heard the song ‘Saar Vastara’ from ‘Businessman’ which I really liked it. I’ve been following Telugu music right from Chiranjeevi garu’s old films. I even like Devisri Prasad’s music.”
About his hobbies: “Music is my only hobby. After my 12th my parents wanted me to pursue my further studies at overseas but I was very adamant that I wanted to become a musician. So I never used to attend college regularly for which my parents used to be really very angry within. But after this album has happened they are really proud.”
