Six years ago, in the month of November, a song called ‘Kolaveri’ released, and a young boy with a sheepish grin — Anirudh — debuted as music composer.
Today, he’s one of the most sought after music directors in Kollywood — having composed for some big stars, including Ajith and Vijay — and is soon looking to make a foray into the Telugu and Hindi film industries as well. “It’s like a dream still,” he says over the phone from Mumbai, where he’s promoting ‘Bewajah’, his latest independent track.
‘Bewajah’ is significant for a couple of reasons; it is being billed as India’s first vertical pop music video. “Once I signed with Sony Music last year for my independent songs, we decided to do a love ballet. For the video, they came up with the vertical idea. At first, I didn’t understand it,” he recalls, “But once they showed a storyboard, I understood how it works. So many people watch videos on their mobile phones these days and ‘Bewajah’ will appeal to all of them.”
Apart from the novelty, the song will be Anirudh’s way of introducing Bollywood to his “sound”. “Before the movies, I wanted to put my music out there,” says the composer, who will be working on a big Bollywood project in 2018.
With more than 4 million followers on Twitter currently, Anirudh was one of the earliest from the film industry to get on the social media bus. “I’ve always been open to change. When we did ‘Kolaveri’, I didn’t even know what a viral video was. But I kept learning. Even for my second film, Ethir Neechal , we worked on a funny making video for the Internet. So many songs release every day, so it is imperative to be quirky and stand out.”
He’s trying to do so with not just experimenting with film music, but also with his independent stuff. The Internet presence and the availability of many music applications help. “Thanks to that, the number of consumers have increased, and the reach is wider. It also helps curb piracy; in the CD era, there was a lot of piracy.”
He’s getting into the Telugu industry with a film with Pawan Kalyan and is looking forward to Hindi films in 2018. Closer home, he has Sivakarthikeyan’s Velaikkaran and Suriya’s Thaana Serntha Kootam up his sleeve . Does he still go back to listening to ‘Kolaveri’ at times? “Never. Even now, it’s only till a release that we enjoy the process. After that, we move to the next.”
Over the years, he’s also started performing in many shows. “I used to love performing when I was in school. When I first got into films, I was a little shy, but slowly things changed. I’d say that my first solo concert in Malaysia four years ago changed it all. The crowds were massive, and from that day on, I’ve always had a ball when I get on stage.”
