Anil Srinivasan’s friends and acquaintances find him “ridiculously funny”. “That’s news to me,” he says, laughing. Nevertheless, with their encouragement, the popular pianist has launched his own web series, ‘Anil Talkies’. The first episode of the music-centred talk show will be released today on his YouTube channel of the same name.
“This has been on my mind for a couple of years now. Many people kept telling me I should do something of this sort, as I am able to mix comedy and music, while having an engaging conversation. Three people really egged me on to do this: (director) Gautham Vasudev Menon, Shakthi Girish of Galatta magazine and (lyricist) Madhan Karky,” says Anil.
The teaser, which was released earlier this week, showcased a lot of laughs, and a plethora of guests. This includes Andrea Jeremiah, Chinmayi, Siddharth, RJ Balaji, Karthik Kumar and S. Aravind. The show is packaged for the “hashtag generation”, as Anil refers to millennials, and so, will be quite short — six to eight minutes at the most.
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While the show itself is self-produced, one of the major collaborations that ‘Anil Talkies’ will feature is with Madhan Karky’s website DooPaaDoo (an online portal to promote non-film music). “While discussing the show, Madhan said that any conversation can be part of the show, and the original music that we create can be hosted on DooPaaDoo. The idea is that we get the lyrics as we shoot, set it to music and perform on the spot. The segment is called ThreePaaDoo, because there are three elements to it: lyrics, voice and piano,” he explains.
Another segment will have guests speak about the decades of music that influenced them the most. The setting is quite informal, and has Anil at a piano, while his guests are on a couch or chair facing him.
“That’s pretty much how most of my interactions in real life go; it’s almost always centred around the piano and music. We’ve just added a camera to record these conversations. It is possible to have humorous discussions without being offensive or laughing at others’ expense.”
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Anil’s already planning for the next season, and hopes to get the likes of Kamal Haasan and Vairamuthu. But that’s for September. For now, tune in every Tuesday and Friday for new episodes, and watch out for teasers and promos as well.