Malli Raava composer Shravan Bharadwaj insists in a chat that he came to films only by chance. He had a prolific career going in basketball and swimming, looked destined to become a sportsman once. Growing up in a musically inclined family and friend circle, he took to music-making after a pal had talked of the easiness to compose with the digital access we boast today. The desire to learn and discover the oceanic depths of the craft prompted him to get back at it; he didn’t look at it as a career. Incidentally, his first indepedent cover Malli Raava seven years ago earned him recognition, he’d felt life had come full circle when director Gowtham Tinnanuri narrated Malli Raava ‘s script to him. The film also gave him an opportunity to reunite with the team that began its career with him. “It’s a nice coincidence,” he remarks.
“What Gowtham gave was only a brief summary of the film, he’d explained a particular sequence that inspired me to make music. I loved the script, our thoughts resonated with each other and helped me improvise the score,” he says. The film’s audio opened to stores and streaming portals to great applause for its sheer simplicity. This can also be attributed to his strengths with instrumentals.
Point out that the melody quotient in Telugu films has drastically reduced, he doesn’t subscribe to that thought and says probably we don’t make such films anymore. “It’s a clean urban entertainer that we set out to make, surprisingly many producers weren’t willing to back it. Telugu cinema is waking up to new talent, that the likes of Vivek Sagar, Prashant R Vihari are finding their space is proof of it.”
His independent attempts had got him this far-he also had a band focused to do metal covers. The limited acceptance of the form didn’t help in the longer run. “ Anukokunda naa paata, oka short film ‘Anukokunda’ lo vaadaru .” Alias Janaki marked Shravan’s feature film debut, Run Raja Run filmmaker Sujeeth unearthed him through the various independent music albums (one of them titled Kalayo Nijamo ) he’d produced. Pavan Sadineni reflected at Shravan’s work and roped him for Prema Ishq Kaadhal . “I didn’t have to look back later,” he says.
He used to read up and understand various influences pertaining to western music. “Initially, it was a trial-and-error pattern. A R Rahman remains my biggest inspiration, but I call myself an ekalavya sishya to Devi Sri Prasad and Mani Sharma. Whenever I’m confused or stuck at a certain point in the background score, I get back to them, their films and see how they tackled it.” Shravan looks back at his work time and again to see if he’s grown as a composer. “Only four of my films have made it to theatres, working for over eight to nine films that didn’t see daylight had also nurtured my music.” Like how he’s a product of social media, he advises youngsters to reach out to digital platforms and says that filmmakers have set their eyes on it.
