A young girl comes from a small town to a city to earn a living. She falls in love with her colleague, who belongs to a different caste and community than her. The girl’s family wants to marry her off to her maternal uncle, so the girl decides to elope with her lover. Is the couple successful in their attempt? The song leaves you marvelling at the genius of the artistes who have both written and sung the song ‘Naan Yen Hellali?/What Can I Say?’ which is part of a Kannada pop album called Marathahalli Rani , a project and collaboration of passion and love for Bengaluru by Konarak Reddy, MD Pallavi and Kirtana Kumar.
Konarak wrote the lyrics in English and composed the songs, Pallavi translated them into Kannada and has sung all eight songs, while Kirtana is the producer of the album. The songs of Marathahalli Rani, from ‘Nai Barite’ (the dogs are coming) which depicts that women, irrespective of their attire, are routinely gawked at by men, to ‘Jump ‘, a tragic story about a woman being severely judged by society, represents the multiple perspectives of women in the city.
The songs bring out subtle emotions and thoughts that urban Bangalorean women, from different backgrounds, experience on a daily basis. This achievement can be attributed to Konarak’s creativity. “I was a songwriter in the 1970s. At the time, there was a huge community of musicians and music lovers. But now Bangalore has exploded and there isn’t that large a community,” says Konarak, when we meet him at his home with dramaturge Kirtana Kumar, “I wanted to connect with the youth and see what’s happening in their lives. I wanted to connect, in particular, with the Kannada youth.” MD Pallavi came on board as she too wanted to work with Konarak on the songs. Kirtana says: “Pallavi and Konarak worked together in a German production Boy with a Suitcase; that’s how they met.”
“I observed,” Konarak continues, “that the youth are becoming quite aggressive, and that there was a callousness towards women. I also noticed there was a disconnect among the youth. They want to exert their individual space and also feel lost or hollow.” There are some songs, though, that are fun and zany. Take for instance ‘Surya’, a delightful song in which a young girl is infatuated with a flamboyant Surya, the dimple-cheeked geek, but her parents try to lure her to marry a doctor. “The song has South Indian percussion but not in its traditional style. The count goes as takita, takita, takita, boom, boom!” Then there is ‘Marathahalli Rani’ in which a young girl on the streets becomes a Marathahalli rowdy.
Pallavi says the process of translating the songs from English to Kannada was a rewarding experience. “Konarak set the songs to a certain rhythm and I had to ensure that the I don’t change the lyrics so much that it becomes another song.”
The songs can be viewed on YouTube .
