A fter debuting on the Mollywood charts with the youthful Malarvady Arts Club more than two years ago, and a rather quiet spell later, music director Shaan Rahman scores again with the “thoroughly romantic” and even more youthful Thattathin Marayathu. The film, directed by Shaan’s “best buddy” Vineeth Sreenivasan narrates the “sweet” tale of young lovers, Vinod and Aisha (played by Nivin Pauly and Isha Talwar), who belong to different religions. Shaan’s songs have already caught the imagination of the audience prior to the film’s release this Friday. The young music director, who is based in Kozhikode, talks to MetroPlus about charting another success. Excerpts…
Nine melodies for a two-and-half hour movie…
(Laughs). Actually, it’s a two-hour and seven minute movie. And I was so enamoured with Vinod’s and Aisha’s love story that I actually composed 25 melodies for it! Of the nine tracks featured in the film, though, only ‘Anuragathin Velayil’, ‘Muthuchippi’, and ‘Shayamambaram’ are full-fledged, choreographed numbers. All the other songs are relatively short and more or less play lightly in the background.
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That was a deliberate choice. Right from the beginning, Vineeth and I were clear that there shouldn’t be even a peep of religion in the songs. I get it that the audience would expect something of the sort, especially considering the subject. But what is the fun in giving the audience what they want? Instead, we wanted to concentrate on pure melody. The song ‘Anuragathin’, for instance, is a simple blend of the tabla, the violin and the guitar. The film is set in Thalassery, my native place. It’s a small town so, obviously, we can’t have upbeat metro tunes. I’ve tried to do maximum justice to the place with earthy, laidback, soulful tunes. Vineeth and I also wanted more of a female perspective to the songs and thus got newcomer Anu Elizabeth Jose, a friend of singer Sachin Warrier and assistant director Ganesh Raj, to write some of the lyrics.
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We met each other fairly recently – at Nedumbassey airport some six years ago – but its like we’ve known each other for years and years. We share a great working relationship and it’s as if we can read each other’s minds! I can only work with people I am comfortable with and Vineeth is a music director’s director. He has given me a lot of leeway whenever I needed it, besides giving me precise details about what he wants from me.
Finally, we’ve not seen too much from you after Malarvady …
I’ve been keeping myself busy with composing, eventhough my only other film was The Metro (2011). I have also sung a few Western-influenced numbers for Deepak Dev, who strangely seems to like my voice. I’ve not done too many films because I still feel that I’m not suited for the industry! I need lots of time and space to work and need a good vibe with a director to get things rolling.