These aren’t the best of times for music in Malayalam cinema. A film without songs is common. So, when VA Shrikumar Menon told M Jayachandran that he needed five songs for his new film, the composer was happy. There was one catch, though.
The director said all the five songs should capture the listener’s imagination right away and that all of them should sound distinctly different.
Jayachandran took up that challenge and is delighted that the songs from Odiyan have exploded on YouTube. ‘Kondoram’...has so far been viewed by 4.3 million and ‘Maanam thudakkanu’... by 2.7 million.
“I am glad that the songs have become hits in such a short span of time. What really surprised me was that we had released the song ‘Kondoram’...without any video and it still garnered so many views. The song had only lyrics and no visuals. And I don’t think any Malayalam song has ever made this kind of an impact on YouTube without visuals,” he says.
Jayachandran has worked on Odiyan for a year and a half. “I took extreme care even in the kind of instruments I used. I went back to the music several times and made changes. Though the songs were meant to be from older times, I wanted the music to sound fresh, so that it would appeal to today’s listeners.”
He says working with Shrikumar was an enjoyable experience, because the director was musically inclined. “He had told me that the songs should have a folk touch, as Odiyan was a fairy tale, basically. I am familiar with the odiyan legend, as my mother used to tell me that her grandmother would narrate the odiyan tales while she grew up in Palakkad.”
“The other day, MG Sreekumar told me that ‘Muthappante’...was the best song he sang for a long time. As for Shreya Ghoshal (‘Maanam thudakkanu’...) and Shankar Mahadevan (’Nenjile’...), they were the director’s choices. ‘Nenjile’..., in fact, was the most challenging composition.”
Jayachandran knew that the songs would top the charts when people associated with the film first heard them. “Both Mohanlal and producer Antony Perumbavoor liked the songs when they listened to them for the first time itself. I also knew that Odiyan’s music would certainly be noticed, as it was going to one of the biggest films in Malayalam ever.”
He says the popularity of Odiyan proved that there were takers for melodies still. “It is true that there are fewer melodies in our cinema compared to earlier times, but you would find that the recent hits are all melodies. Songs like ‘Neeyum ninakkulla’... ( Velipadinte Pustahakam ) and ‘Jeevamshamayi’...( Theevandi ) are melodies. But, the songs would be noticed only if the film that features them are hits. That was why my songs in Ente Mezhukuthi Athazhangal didn’t make much of an impact.”
Jayachandran, who has given us some lovely melodies like ‘Hrudayathin madhupathram’...( Karayilekku Oru kadal Dooram ), ‘Amma mazhakkarinu’... ( Madampi ), ‘Mayangippoyi’...( Nottam ) and ‘Kathirunnu’... ( Ennu Ninte Moideen ), is currently working on another big film— Mamankam . “I am quite excited about its songs .It offers me some fresh challenges, as the film is placed in a different era.”
