Recording a song for a film involves a certain drill that cannot be done without. The director briefs the singer about the situation of the song — the actor might be grieving the loss of a loved one, or revelling in the joy of finding new love. This is followed by a description of the actors — well-built, delicate, sexy and so on. “So what we, as singers, do is emote through our voice. We make it soft or bold depending upon the character in the video,” says singer and RJ Suchitra. But what if the music, video, lyrics and production are your own? “The whole process is diametrically opposite to film music recording,” she says.
Suchitra and singer Ranjith recently released their first single together. Titled ‘No Time for Love’ (‘Kadhalika Neram Illaiya’), the song is a conversation between a couple — the woman complaining about the man having no time for her, and the man pacifying her, asking her to relax, reminding her that the world will not end the next day. The music video is already up in channels like MTV Indies, Sun TV and Surya, besides Youtube. “We did everything from composing, writing the lyrics, envisioning the video, recording, and sending it to Sydney for mastering, on our own. Every bit of it is original,” she says, jubilantly. Even the props in the video, including the cushion and tea cup, are Suchitra’s!
The video shows the two singers in separate places but connected through a thread of light conversations. “What if you had a friend whom you have been close to for years but had no time to love? The lyrics take off from there, with the two people though busy in their own lives, talking about love. At some point, they realise that they are just talking and not listening to each other, and cut it out to simply relax and sip tea,” says Suchitra.
Being friends for over a decade, the duo shares a chemistry that helped the song take form organically. Suchitra had been jamming with Ranjith at his home studio for quite a while, much before they started work on the new song eight months ago. “We have been putting together lots of tunes, but somehow the tune for this particular song fell into place quite rapidly,” she says. “One day, Ranjith was playing some random music on the keys, and inside my head, the lyrics just came to life. And the first draft was ready in just two days!” Post that, the song matured, with changes and improvisations from both.
All this, when both of them had their calendars full with other offers. “No time for love, but lots of time for music,” she laughs. “We have already started work on our next song. We plan to release one every six months,” adds the ‘Excuse Me Mr Kandasamy’ singer.
