When composer Ranjin Raj debuted in the Malayalam film industry in 2018, he had two releases on the same day, Nithyaharitha Nayakan and Joseph . Although Nithyaharitha... didn’t do well at the box office, the songs were appreciated. Joseph , meanwhile, had a splendid run at the theatres and Ranjin’s tunes became chartbusters, especially ‘Poomuthole’, which recently won Vijay Yesudas the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Male Singer. ‘Kannethadooram’, another track from the movie, was among the two songs that won BK Harinarayanan the award for the best lyricist.
Joseph has been one of the most-loved music albums of 2018, with five songs. “But, initially I didn’t think that it had the scope for so many songs because it’s an investigative thriller. However, Pappettan [the film’s director M Padmakumar] and Joju chettan [Joju George, who played the lead and produced the film] included five songs in the film,” says Ranjin.
Although ‘Poomuthole’ was not in the list, Joju suggested that a song would be apt for the sequences on which the song has been picturised. “Thus, I composed the track after watching the scenes! ‘Poomuthole’ was the first word that Ajeesh Dasan, our lyricist, came up with. Although we weren’t sure about whether it would click with the listeners, once he completed the lyrics, we were convinced that there would not be a word so endearing as to replace ‘Poomuthole’,” Ranjin adds.
Niranj Suresh sang the track for the lyrical video and Vijay for the film. “We had thought of bringing in P Jayachandran for ‘Kannethadooram’ and ‘Poomuthole’. Das ettan ’s [KJ Yesudas] name also came up for discussion. But since Vijay’s voice blended with the character, we went ahead with him for the songs,” he says.
On song
Nithyaharitha Nayakan , his other work, brought together MG Sreekumar-Sujatha duo after a long time, for the track, ‘Neelaravil’. Actors Dharmajan Bolgatty and Vishnu Unnikrishnan too turned singers for the album. Ranjin has also done the background score of that film.
A native of Melarcode near Nemmara in Palakkad district, Ranjin started learning music at a very young age. He makes special note of his mother, Supriya Rajendran. “She loved dance and music. Her demise happened around the same time I was composing ‘Poomuthole’. So I have bitter-sweet memories of the song,” he says.
One of the contestants of Asianet’s music reality show, Star Singer (2007), Ranjin has sung in Kannada movies. He has also done stage shows and has hosted music programmes on radio and television before he decided to change his track in 2013. “I wanted to do something creative. Composing has always been a passion. I used to write lyrics and make new tunes even as a young boy. But I didn’t know how to go about it. So I focused on vocal music and learnt Carnatic and Hindustani,” says Ranjin.
He picked up nuances of music production and composing on his own. He has done over 600 jingles, besides composing for television programmes, corporate videos and the like. He has also scored the title tracks of many programmes on Flowers TV, which eventually led him to Nithyaharitha Nayakan . He scored music for the teaser video of Odiyan , which acquainted him with Padmakumar, director of Joseph . His upcoming release is Ormayil Oru Sishiram , starring Deepak Parambol in the lead.
So, how competitive is he in an industry flooded with talents? “I am not here to compete with anyone. I am only concerned about whether people will like my work or not. I want to make evergreen songs without compromising on sounding,” he says.
