Three years ago, Nakul Abhyankar wanted to give “something special” for his mother’s birthday. His usual gifts — silk saris or jewellery — were mostly materialistic. “I am a big believer in expressing love. I think it touches the other person’s soul,” says Abhyankar, “I am not good with words though.” He was, however, good with music. So, he composed a song with the help of bassist Keith Peters and guitarist Josh Mark Raj. Kannada composer V Manohar, who gave Nakul his first singing chance in films, wrote the lyrics.
When he played the song for his mother, she cried.
The song, titled ‘Saavira Pranama’ (which means ‘A Thousand Salutations’ in Kannada) has been on Abhyankar's computer ever since. “I thought I could embellish it and put it out for this mother’s day.” A birthday gift to his mother, hence, became a mother’s day song.
His friend Ishaan Chhabra, who scored the music for Imitiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal (2020), helped with the programming.
Abhyankar has sung for some of the country’s leading music directors, including AR Rahman. But ‘Saavira Pranama’ is the first release of his composition. It is available on YouTube, and will soon be on other streaming platforms too.
Embed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAvxQOjHbKY&feature=youtu.be
The song has minimal instrumentation — just guitar and bass. “It doesn’t matter if the song is simple or complex; what is important to me is the effect it has on the listener. It impacted my mother. So, I thought it would strike a similar chord with others.”
Among those who congratulated him for the song were singer Vijay Prakash, composers Raghu Dixit, Manikanth Kadri and Arjun Janya.
Abhyankar talks about three of his favourite songs about mothers. “The first one is ‘Lukka Chuppi’ from Rang De Basanti . It occurs in an emotional situation, when the son dies. The song is about the son talking to his mother, saying how much he misses her.”
“The next one, ‘Meri Maa’ from Taare Zameen Par , is again about a son, who says how much he’s dependent on his mother.”
“The third one, ‘Thaaye Ninna Madilalli’, is a non-film Kannada song. It imagines the country as one’s mother. It evokes motherly feelings as well as patriotism.”
Other works
Apart from ‘Saavira Pranama’, Abhyankar’s been busy with several projects during the lockdown. For 10 days until last fortnight, he was working on his mentor’s (Rahman) song for the COVID-19 scenario, ‘Hum Haar Nahi Maanenge’. He was one of the song’s project coordinators and chipped in with additional vocals and choral arrangement.
Abhyankar is also producing the music for a Netflix series, which is likely to be released next month. When he isn’t working, he’s rewatching all the Marvel movies, chronologically.
