When Jithin Raj received a call from AR Rahman’s Panchathan Studios, he assumed it was to lend his voice as backing vocals or sing a scratch version of a song. He has crooned for the composer before... the Malayalam versions of ‘Azhagiye’ from Kaatru Veliyidai and ‘Oh Sona’ from Mom .
Little did he know that he would be asked to pen down Malayalam lyrics for a Tamil song. He was pleasantly surprised to find Rahman, director Ajay Gnanamuthu and lyricist Vivek at the studio, brainstorming over the lyrics of a song for the upcoming movie Cobra , starring Vikram, Srinidhi Shetty and Irrfan Pathan.
An hour and several combinations later, ‘Thumbi Thullal’ was born. Jithin helped write some of the chorus bits in Malayalam. “They explained that the song had a festive theme and has to be a mix of Tamil and Malayalam,” he says, “I have no experience in writing lyrics. But I am a Malayali, so I could contribute some of the words that went along with the overall theme of the song and fit in with the music. It was really out of the blue, but a fun experience,” he says.
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What was even more exciting was finding his name credited in the lyrical video of the song on YouTube. “It was surprising, because it was only a few lines. But AR Rahman follows a a basic principle: whoever has worked should be credited.”
Soon, Jithin got another call from Panchathan. This time, it was to sing the very lines he had written, including the catchy konjam chindhura chingaara kinaara poonthennalai vannu ! The song, which has come as lockdown-relief to Rahmaniacs and general Tamil cinemagoers alike, is reminiscent of ‘Jiya Jale/Nenjinile’ and ‘Omana Penne’, both popular songs with a chorus in Malayalam.
Jithin was born and brought up in Kerala’s Malapurram, but after doing his engineering in Tamil Nadu, he made Chennai home to pursue his musical interests. To playback singing, he is no greenhorn, with hits like D Imman’s ‘Un Mela Oru Kannu’ in Rajini Murugan (2016), ‘Virru Virru’ in ‘Rekka’ (2016) and ‘Karuvakattu Karuvaaya’ from Marudhu (2016). Jithin has also sung in Malayalam for Vidyasagar, Sharreth and M Jayachandran.
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