Between the tense moments of a nail-biting IPL cricket match the strains of the fast-paced Tamil track ‘Vaa Thala’ plays out.
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Often heard between overs during the Star Sports telecast, it features kuthu beats. It is not only a musical representation of the IPL but also a tribute to MS Dhoni, fondly called Thala, for whom IPL 2024 might just be a final outing on the big cricketing stage.
The man behind the track is composer Achu Rajamani, well known among Tamil cinema music fans for his melodies like ‘En Uyire’ (Maalai Pozhudin Mayakathile) and ‘Siru Nadai’ (Urumeen).
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“The last mass song I attempted was in 2014, and since then, I have deliberately not taken up any commercial films,” says Achu, “ So, ‘Vaa Thala’ was like an explosion for me. The person for whom I’m making music should inspire me, and who better than MS Dhoni? Despite all the pressure on him, he remains calm and yet, there’s a fire inside him. ‘Vaa Thala’ is an ode to that fire.”
Changing tracks
Achu is the son of late renowned Malayalam music composer Rajamani, and arrived on the music scene in the early 2000s. From 2003 to 2009, Achu was busy as a keyboard player, working on multiple projects, before he landed a film of his own: the Malayalam film Kurukshetra.
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He followed that up with Ennai Theriyuma and Polladhavan’s Telugu remake. “After that, I went blank. I didn’t know what to do. I desperately needed a break.” And so, he took a break from movies and music, and travelled down another track, quite literally. Achu pursued a career in car racing, winning many championships, but music never let him go. “Whenever I travelled for racing, I made music demos. I wanted a fresh start.”
That arrived in 2012 when director Narayanan Nagendra Rao came to him, armed with the script of Maalai Pozhudin Mayakathile. “I realised it had scope for all departments, including music. We conceptualised the soundtrack based on how the script progressed.”
Achu Rajamani
This 2012 film is best known for its standout melody, ‘En Uyire’, which has three versions, sung by Karthik, Chitra and Bombay Jayashri, and the high-on-energy hit ‘Oh Baby Girl’. “We had a track titled ‘Kadalora Karaiyila Kadala Potaan’ for that place, but as an afterthought, we conceptualised ‘Oh Baby Girl’ that I thought would do well.” It did. “It was an album that we worked on stress free,” he recalls fondly about the Aari-starrer, after which he worked on multiple movie projects in many languages.
His most recent outing was the ‘Pondattee’ music video that dropped a few months ago, which he not only composed but also starred in. This marks a drastic change in Achu’s personality who is known to be a reticent musician. “My songs have been bumper hits, but no one knew me. I’m a private person who doesn’t like attention. But my mother, friends and many well-wishers kept chiding me for that.”
Achu sees the re-creation of the hit ‘Pondattee’ track, which featured earlier in Goli Soda 2, as some sort of course correction. “I’m attempting new things and trying to be more in the public space,” he says. His 50th project is now lined up, a biggie about which details are under wraps now, apart from fantasy-thriller Gajaana and action-thriller Mazhai Pudikkadha Manidhan.