Sooraj Santhosh: I love that Vivek Sagar stays away from clichés

Having recently performed in Hyderabad, Sooraj Santhosh talks about his admiration for Telugu film musicians, as well as his in-progress debut solo album

Sooraj Santhosh

Sooraj Santhosh claims that juggling the demands of being a playback singer as well as a travelling musician is “not a superhuman activity!” He is also one who packs only the utilitarian items for his sets, and does not believe in carrying gizmos which connote good luck.

Kerala-born Sooraj was in Hyderabad, and ahead of his gig last night, he implies his live sets are pretty standard. “The line-up has a couple of folk songs, some popular film songs as well as nine film songs in various languages, including Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. There won’t be much original stuff from my side,” he admits. But he reveals, “Yes, I am working on my first album!”

The yet-to-be-named album is multilingual, of course, and narrates a lot of the 32-year-old’s personal experiences in the form of six original songs. “I’ll release the title by the end of this month or early next month, hopefully,” he starts, “Working on the album has been a wonderful journey and I have learned so much about working from scratch — from early conversations to jamming sessions to recording in multiple studios. We also shot across India to shoot this album. I’m looking forward to the release!”

Through hard work, Sooraj has placed himself as one of the National film industry’s most versatile playback singers. The past decade-plus has taught him that “one artiste won’t get every audience.” When one becomes part of a movie as a playback singer, they expect the song would reach a minimum crowd, but the audience gradually grows.

That said, live concerts are a great offline way for people to connect with artistes and languages they otherwise would not have known.

Culture tap

Coming to Hyderabad is always special for Sooraj as it brings back memories of working on Telugu films such as Pellichoopulu (2016) and last year’s Brochevarevarura . “I actually started my playback singing career in 2010 with the Telugu film industry,” he responds, “and it was a song [‘Inka Edho’ from Darling ] I sang for GV Prakash. I happened to first work with Vivek Sagar about four years ago for Pellichoopulu . I love his music and his work ethic; he naturally stays away from clichés and always comes up with new sounds and concepts. His sound is interesting and alternative. Whenever I get a call from him, I know it’s going to be for something interesting. It’s fun and good to work with such people.” Sooraj has also worked with Vivek on Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi (2019).

“Working in the different regional industries has also taught me about diversity of the world, I guess,” he comments, “and I don’t find any discrimination in music. I love listening to fresh music, and am not hooked onto any particular genre or dialect. And these different influences reflect in new music I create. To sum it up, music is the language here. Language is not a hurdle if you love music enough.”

He also encourages people to step out of their comfort zones and to listen to as much diverse music as possible to further emotional connections with this immersive medium. “But I would love to tap into alternate pop or even jazz, in the near future,” he tacks on.

Clearly, there is no end to how much Sooraj wants to diversify. He has also started a series called ‘The Other Side’ on his YouTube channel. “I will be releasing poetry, some interview sessions and my own spoken thoughts — so a mixed bag.”