Singer-composer Sooraj Santhosh wanted an ode to Malayalam to be his first song in his multi-lingual solo début album, ‘The Gypsy Sun’. Going ahead, he turned it into an audio-visual project that has melded literature, music, rhythm and captivating frames of some of the cultural greats of contemporary Kerala, a kind of gift for Malayalis celebrating Onam.
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“I think, speak, read and express myself best in Malayalam. So I wanted to eulogise the language and all that it represents through my music. I think every language has that strong connect with the region it is spoken in and every mother tongue has that umbilical connection with its speakers. So it is not an attempt to glorify any language at the expense of another. The next song is one in Hindi,” says Sooraj speaking over phone from Thiruvananthapuram.
To give words for his concept, Sooraj turned to lyricist and filmmaker Shruthi Namboodiri who chipped, honed and polished each word and gave the lyrics to Sooraj by June 2019.
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“Each line begins with the vowels and consonants of the letters of the Malayalam alphabet. I have left out only ‘tta’. I made it a point to use only Malayalam words instead of those that were Sanskritised. Working with Sooraj is a pleasure because of the effort he puts in each song of his. I was also able to connect his team to artistes like Kathakali artiste Peesapilly Rajeevan and danseuse Methil Devika,” says Shruthi. She has composed two more songs for the album.
‘Thani Malayalam’, released a few days ago on Dulquer Salmaan’s Facebook page, is a treat, with the Sleeplessly Yours co-director Goutham Soorya and cinematographer Syamaprakash MS capturing the soul of the music and the lyrics in some unforgettable black-and-white frames of cultural ambassadors of Kerala. Music production is by Varkey.
“Although we had shot another visual for the film, it somehow did not sit well with the music or the lyrics. So we scrapped it and began anew with a tentative idea of bringing in the titans of our arts and letters in our video,” says Sooraj.
It was an adventure for the film team to meet some of the icons of modern Kerala and interact with them. “We were not able to convince all the people in our list to participate in our album. But their grace and generosity remain in my mind. We were a bunch of newcomers requesting them to be a part of our video and meeting these greats in their homes. Sooraj ettan , Syam and I first took a car and went to (writer) Benyamin sir’s house in Kottayam, finished the shot and the next day we were in Ernakulam. Our next destination was Thrissur where we filmed (writer) Sara Joseph madam and Peesapilly Rajeevan sir. He listened to the song, enacted a few verses, listened to it again, acted out a few other lines and so it went on…. ,” recalls Goutham.
He remembers how unsure they were when they met littérateur MT Vasudevan Nair and how elated and taken aback they were when he agreed to be filmed without a second thought. “We requested him to act like he was reading a book and he obliged. It was almost surreal to be shooting with him,” says Goutham.
So there is MT Vasudevan Nair, Artist Bhattathiri, Peruvanam Kuttan Marar, Ramachandra Pulavar, Nedumudi Venu, Sara Joseph, Benyamin, danseuse Methil Devika and Nadaswaram artiste Rajkumar K.
Goutham recalls how much in awe his friends were when they saw the titans in the video. “They were so down to earth. Rajeevan sir spent time with us and gave us steamed kappa and tea,” adds the director.
The video opens with a teacher of Malayalam in a classroom. “That is Madavoor Sasidharan, my Malayalam teacher in Government Model School Boys Higher Secondary School (in Thiruvananthapuram). He instilled in me a love for the language and encouraged me a lot in school. Sasidharan sir told me that he enjoyed the song and the video and that he felt that all the stalwarts were passing through his classroom,” says Sooraj.
Sooraj agrees that the video has also been appreciated for introducing practitioners of certain disciplines like Melam, Kathakali and Tholpavakoothu, who may not be familiar names to all those tuning in to his music.