You would’ve been forgiven for not knowing who Arunraja Kamaraj is a few months ago. Not anymore.
He’s the voice behind the energetic hit number ‘Neruppu Da’ in Rajinikanth’s Kabali . And, he’s never trained as a singer.
With voices that have an instant connect with the young, and with technology backing them to the hilt, untrained and semi-trained singers are making waves in Tamil cinema music, with their fresh new voices.
Arunraja has no qualms in admitting that he’s like a ‘trained parrot’. “Being untrained is a challenge and a blessing, depending on who you’re working with,” says the rapper, “When a composer gives me an input, I reciprocate. Like in mathematics, here too, you need a formula. When someone is teaching you and you can recreate that formula, you can survive as a singer.”
A huge fan of Kamal Haasan for his all-round abilities, he’s confident that he can survive in this listen-once-and-forget age. “I am a singer-rapper and I write lyrics too, so that’s a good place to be in,” he states.
The script of the film sometimes drives the kind of voices used in the songs; the album of upcoming movie Joker , for instance, uses many new voices. “I did not want to use factory voices, the ones you usually hear in albums,” says Sean Roldan, matter-of-factly. The film, touted to be a social satire, lent itself to quirky, off-beat numbers like ‘Ennanga Sir Unga Sattam’, which takes a dig at politics. “We ‘auditioned’ in rural areas and found many singing talents there,” he reveals, and goes on to name Arandhai Bava, K. Perumal, Murugavel and Sundarayyar as his ‘singers’.
Young music composer Justin Prabhakaran, whose ‘Adiyae Azhagae’ ( Oru Naal Koothu ) is the flavour of the season, feels that certain tunes demand raw voices. “ Especially ones that have a heard-before feel that you think a neighbour can sing,” he reasons, “Those connect with the audiences when we use raw voices.” For one of his latest songs, which features in the recently-released Raja Manthiri , Justin went in for one such voice. “When I was composing one particular song, somebody (ACS Ravichandran) in my studio was randomly humming that song. That was exactly the feel I wanted to convey it and so we taught him to deliver it.”
That song was ‘Ethitha Veetu Kaliflowerae’. Like tunes and the situation, the lyrics too play an important role in zeroing in on the choice of the singer.
While songs dripping with poetry continue to mesmerise listeners, it is numbers with relatable words that strike a chord, especially with younger audiences. “These days, it is the trend for hit songs to be conversational in nature rather than sound like a kavithai ,” says singer Harini, who has been singing for top composers since 1995. “The stress is no longer on technical things like shruti , but on how catchy a tune is. This has opened up the singing field… to not just youngsters, but to all age groups.”
So, does this mean that anyone can become a singer in films? The criterion is fundamentally talent, opines Ananth Vaidyanathan, leading voice trainer. “In classical music, you create it on stage, based on your learning. But in films, when you capture and deliver an idea created by a music director, you require a different set of skills. There might be simple, evocative songs that do not require vocal pyrotechnics — a film song is, after all, contextual entertainment that falls under the totality of the effect of a scene and a film.”
The relatability of a voice — to choose someone who would either sound like the character on screen or like the target audience himself — is of prime importance in film music. “A new possibility has emerged,” he adds, “In the music industry, something that has worked in the market usually means that production and creativity starts gravitating in that direction. However, there are still songs that you find in which vocal skills are high.”
Sound bytes
A.R. Rahman made his son, Ameen, croon the first few lines of the ‘NaNa’ track in the 2009 Hollywood film Couples Retreat because “he was fooling around in the room at that time”. Subsequently, Ameen went on to deliver the ‘Maula Wa Sallim’ song in Mani Ratnam’s O Kadhal Kanmani and has recently ventured into Telugu, singing for a film titled Nirmala Convent.
Harris Jayaraj is said to have roped in an old lady from North Madras to deliver a few lines in the ‘Mutta Bajji’ song in Gethu because the composer thought she would get the slang right.
Anirudh is not just a popular composer, but also a much sought-after singer. He says he doesn’t charge for singing because “it is not something he set out to do”. If you tune into any local radio channel, chances are that you’d hear a tune he has composed or a song he has sung for other composers.
Star value
Almost every leading actor in Tamil cinema has tried his hand at singing. While Kamal Haasan, Vijay, Dhanush and Simbu are regular ‘singers’ in their albums, others have experimented at the studio a few times to provide a certain ‘star value’ to the song.