Waking up to cover versions, dance videos and congratulatory messages on social media, singer Niranjana Ramanan is having her first taste of fame after crooning Oothukadu Venkata Subbaiyer’s composition Swagatham Krishna for Trivikram Srinivas-Pawan Kalyan’s Agnyathavasi . The neo-Carnatic twist to the song reminds one of M S Subbulakshmi’s rendition of Annamayya’s Deva Devam Bhaje, utilised in another Trivikram-Pawan Kalayan starrer, Attarintiki Daaredi . Niranjana has been into Carnatic music for over a decade and a half, but it was the reality show Super Singer that gave her music career a direction.
Freedom to experiment
“I hadn’t even owned cassettes or CDs of film songs when I entered the reality show. Everything was new for me on television. I had all the freedom to explore; the boundaries to learn were endless. A new horizon was right before me when the show ended. It exposed me to different kinds of music, helped me understand the independent music scene. I wanted to create my own path and do work that has a lot of ‘me’ in it, so that the interest never wanes,” she says.
Given that Carnatic is her base, she considered adding a different spin to it. Her online series with the video ‘Maathey’’, an ode to womanhood was off to a great start, registering over 7 lakh hits on streaming portals and gaining visibility in music circles.
Yet she didn’t know how to approach music directors for work in films. She says her film debut with D Imman’s Marudhu ( Rayudu in Telugu) too happened by chance. “I was supposed to sing a rough cut for the film’s shoot for the next day. I later got a call that the film team decided to retain my voice in the final list too. I realised the male singer for the song was Anirudh Ravichander.”
Sometime later, when she received a call from the young composer and recorded Swagatham Krishna , she didn’t know it was for a film. “We finished recording in 90 minutes. It is not often that a Carnatic composition is used in a mainstream film. I was in for a shock to know this was for a Pawan Kalyan film and that the makers had planned to cut an entire teaser out of it. Performing for the audio launch in front of a huge crowd was one of the most memorable experiences in my life; it was new and magical.”
She finds the use of traditional compositions in Telugu films to enhance the mood of a song very interesting. “Like Deva Devam Bhaje , I even loved how Sumanasavandita in its pristinity suited the mood so much in Arjun Reddy . The arrangement of Swagatham... too is new age, the guitar is used with good effect without moving away from the grammar of the original.” Incidentally, that’s something even she’s trying to attain with her music. “It’s important to keep the roots and retain the elements of its grounded nature. The sangathis (in Agnyathavasi ) are slightly different, K J Yesudas sir’s rendition was my reference point.”
Niranjana has been a keen follower of Telugu film music all along, she says it’s all about vibrancy. “There is so much inherent energy in the songs and not any DJ night or a party in Chennai goes by without Telugu music.”
Commenting on aspects that would retain the validity and longevity of a musician at a time where many are bound to be written off as one-time wonders, she adds, “It’s important to understand what you want. This is not an era where a singer can expect a 500 song tally in your career. Survival of this change means associating yourself with what you consider as your root music. What next is a question that scares me, but as I believe in my art more, I wouldn’t want to think that way.”
Her next is a video where she rings in a contemporary twist to Thyagaraja’s Nee Daya Rada .
