Anirudh’s studio is hidden on the terrace of a peaceful residential locality in Alwarpet. There is no elevator; you have to climb the stairs and pass three floors of office space where people are typing away furiously. Once you reach the terrace, the setting changes. A huge poster of the young composer’s photos and of his recent albums welcomes you. The terrace has a pretty porch used mainly for meeting guests. And when the door opens, you enter the place where most of the latest Tamil film superhits were born.
Inside, the young composer is busy peering into his monitor and humming a tune that he’s just finished recording. Two keyboards — for the computer and for music — are placed next to each other, and his hands deftly move from one to the other. Right above him is a skylight that stands out between all the red and black in the studio.
The composer doesn’t need to look too far for inspiration; a clear night sky would give him a view of the stars and the moon right above him.
This is Anirudh’s world when he’s in Chennai.
He has just finished recording a track for the upcoming Tamil film Remo , starring Sivakarthikeyan. It’s five in the evening and he’s halfway through his workday, which will wrap up a few hours past midnight.
Tunes, for him, are essentially ideas that he gets over the course of a day. “The mood of the day inspires me… or it can be a random, crazy idea,” he tells me. “Yesterday, I had a cold and was thinking about what kind of a song to make. So, I sat down and made one about a guy who has a cold. So, like that, what I go through at that point of time translates into music. These days, I have a 70 to 80 per cent strike rate with this work pattern.”
It’s a method quite different from the normal composing sessions you imagine — that of a filmmaker explaining the situation to the music director to “get out a tune”. Anirudh says that except for two themes ( Kaththi and Vedalam ), he has never made a particular song for any film. “Every day, I get some ideas and make a song. If I’m working on a film, I give the director whatever songs I compose in that period of time. Obviously, it’ll convey a mood and if it matches a film situation, we keep it. Sometimes, the directors even change the script to accommodate my tunes. For example, ‘Udhungada Sangu’, in VIP , was not even in the scheme of things. Naanum Rowdy Dhaan was supposed to have just two songs but since Vicky {director Vignesh Shivan} liked some tunes, we got them in. The true feeling of what I want to bring out in my music doesn’t work when I have a script or a boundary.”
He has about 700 such songs stored in his computer. “In my old system, I have even more… I used to work harder back then,” he chuckles.
Last year was a busy one for the composer — he had films with Dhanush ( Maari and Thanga Magan ), Vijay Sethupathi ( Naanum Rowdy Dhaan ) and Ajith ( Vedalam ) — but 2016 has been relatively quiet. That’s because he has been diverting his energy into diversifying as a performer. His show in Canada and the recent one in Malaysia were hits, with crowds giving him a rousing reception. “That was the plan from day one. The high you get on stage, performing in front of a crowd, is unmatched. I love the energy, and when you see people jump and scream, you know exactly what elements in the song have worked.”
There’s more lined up — a concert in Chennai, followed by one in Dubai and London — and for all that, he’s more than ready. Those who saw Anirudh a few years ago might have been tempted to brand him an introvert but all that has changed now. “With time, I have matured. The introvert in me doesn’t exist anymore; he’s probably there, but not in the open. I feel that’s a good thing; you have to be like that if you want to be a performer,” he says.
Music was always part of his career, but then, he was good at academics too. That he hailed from a culturally-inclined family with some film connections made the mix interesting. “I was three when I started playing the piano and my family encouraged me. After Class XII, I got admission into NUS, Singapore, but I wanted to be here and make music for movies. Obviously, there were little wars at home then. Luckily, things fell in place; 3 came and there was no looking back. Had ‘Kolaveri’ not happened, I’d still be waging those wars, I guess.”
But it did happen and once it broke out, Anirudh and Dhanush were going around the world singing it for audiences. “This was a normal song that we thought would work, but the response was overwhelming.” And then, there was pressure on the composer, then just 19. “I knew whatever I did after that would be scrutinised. So, I took some time and did Ethir Neechal , a smaller film, and that worked. Ethir Neechal was the turning point actually. And then, Vanakkam Chennai happened and things just fell into place.”
Even as hit after hit came his way, Anirudh was evolving as a singer and other composers were calling him to record. Today, he’s as busy a singer as he is as composer. “It’s funny because even when I tune into any radio channel, I end up hearing a song I’ve sung or composed,” he laughs.
He’s referring to recent chartbusters like ‘Shoot the Kuruvi’ ( Jil Jung Juk ) or ‘Hey Mama’ ( Sethupathi ). So, how does singing for another composer work? “When I listen to the song, I always think of it as my song. I think about what kind of vocals I’d do. If the composer likes it, he retains it… else I take their inputs. Singing is not something I set out to do — so, I don’t take money. I enjoy singing and I’m happy that composers are calling me,” he adds. He plans to do more of that this year.
Anirudh has other plans lined up as well, and no, they don’t include acting (he was supposed to play the lead in Naanum Rowdy Dhaan , which eventually went to Vijay Sethupathi). “Acting is totally not my cup of tea. The most I wanted to do is to become a performer, and I’m there,” he says. Apart from the three films lined up ( Remo, Aako and Rum ), he’s doing three singles. The recent success of the ‘Avalukena’ Valentine’s Day single — it has clocked a million views within a fortnight of release — buoys him further. “It shows that you don’t need a hero or a film for a song to get popular. I’m planning some musical collaboration this year.”
VOTE: Which of these albums do you think is >@anirudhofficial 's best one? Full interview — >https://t.co/pVgSO5sTvP
— The Hindu MetroPlus (@THMetroPlus) >March 4, 2016
The first of those will be one in which he teams up with Skrillex and Diplo, who won the Grammy for their work in Justin Bieber's album. “I really liked their work and when I met them, by chance, they told me how they loved ‘Aaluma Doluma’ from Ajith’s Vedalam . So, we’re planning something soon.”
The Beep song controversy
Anirudh was on a flight to Canada in December when the >controversy broke out . “I actually remember telling my friend on the plane that 2015 was smooth sailing, sans any controversies. I land in Canada and log on and ‘boom’ — my phone is flooded with messages,” he recalls.
He adds, “It was a small matter that has blown out of proportion. I went to Coimbatore and gave a statement that I had nothing to do with the song.” So, will he work with Simbu in the future? “Why not; actually if we team up, people will be eager to see what we come up with.”
