It has been more or less an established norm that if the film’s director is KV Anand, the music director must be Harris Jayaraj. “But now, I have been given an opportunity as well,” says Adhithya Venakatapathy, part of the Hiphop Tamizha duo and the music composer for Anand’s upcoming film, Kavan .
The veteran director had earlier cleared the air regarding rumours of a fallout between him and Harris. “In fact, ‘Happy New Year-u’ (a single from Kavan ) was released by Harris sir,” says Adhi. “It is very touching when giants step aside for newbies (like us) who want to make it big in the industry.”
With Kavan , Adhi has paired up with Anand for the first time and with AGS Entertainment for the second time (after Thani Oruvan). “When AGS announced their next film, I had no idea who the director would be but I kept hoping I would be part of it. I never thought it would be such a big film… involving people like KV Anand.”
Adhi has composed five songs for Kavan , but has chosen not to pen any lyrics this time around. “But there’s one song from my idol, Mahakavi Bharati’s poems. I have always wanted to include his work in the first five films I’m part of. Now that has finally come true.” What makes this song, titled ‘Theeratha Vilayattu Pillai’ special, Adhi says, is that its lyrics will not be made up of just one of Bharati’s poems, but several of them. “At a time when people’s attention span is around two to three minutes for a film song, we have taken a risk by making this one over six minutes long.”
Working with lyricist Kabilan Vairamuthu has also been a pleasurable experience for Adhi. “It was almost like being back in final year of college. He has become one of my favourite lyricists.”
The overall re-recording for the film was a big challenge because of the film’s quick pace. “Some scenes start and end before we can even pick up an instrument,” he says with a laugh. “Anthony, the editor, has done a tremendous job here.”
But the real kicker was T Rajhendherr, who stars in and has also sung for the film. “After completing the first recording for the ‘Happy New Year-u’ song, he came over and asked me if it had come out well. The director had earlier asked me to avoid pointing out his errors, if he had made any. And he was a respected, senior artiste. So I said everything was fine. But he (Rajhendherr) noticed his pitch was not right at three places and insisted he’d sing all over again! I said I could digitally correct them. ‘Why should you do that?’ he asked. ‘I’m going to sing once more!’ I’ve never seen so much dedication from one person.”
