Vishnu Varma is on song. The techie-turned- singer and songwriter’s debut ballad ‘Kahi Na Kahi,’ has been picked up by MTV Indies, the country’s premiere indie music channel. The video song will begin airing on the channel from today (July 1) onwards.
“It’s such an amazing feeling to see your music , something which you actually make out of thin air, shape up, spread its wings, travel around the world, and connect with people by itself. It’s a dream come true moment for me as well as my whole team…,” an excited Vishnu had posted on his Facebook page, while announcing the news, a couple of days ago. That said, the soulful duet, sung by Vishnu and Chithu Susan, an interior designer and VJ, was released online a few weeks ago. It’s already a hit on YouTube, raking up the views with each passing day (25, 223 on the last count).
‘Kahi Na Kahi’, which is about 5.45 minutes-long, is “a tender celebration of love” that captures the story of two soul mates, who find each other, only for life to get in the way, before it all works out in the end. “People ask me why I composed a Hindi song, when I am not all that familiar with the language. I ask them, why not? The song is based on a poem by my friend and fellow IT professional Ruchi Chaurasia and I thought it deserved to be presented as it is. As for getting Hindi diction right, I simply asked my friends who are North Indians and they helped me to pronounce each word,” says Vishnu.
The song is complemented by visuals shot across Kerala’s breathtakingly beautiful landscapes. “It took us four months to shoot,” he adds.
Almost all the collaborators who worked on ‘Kahi Na Kahi,’ from the director -cameraman (Abhijit Marathakam) and the actors (Ashwin Thomas and Samyuktha Rao) to the costume designer (Reshma Sebastian), are all IT professionals and former colleagues. “They hail from different states and that’s why we call the video an example of national integration,” says Vishnu, who is now based in Kochi.
The self-taught musician and guitarist used to work at UST-Global in Technopark. There he was one of the founder members of Music Café, an open platform where employees get together to perform, listen to as well as appreciate all kinds of music.
In that capacity, he has sung and performed for former IPL team Chennai Super Kings and on Kappa TV’s Moodtapes , among others. “I started composing and singing when I was in school and have performed a few of my own compositions on stage since then; the song we sung for CSK, for instance. Most of my compositions till date have been for my own listening pleasure. Knowing my passion for music, my father, Radhakrishnan Unni, had been urging me to follow my dreams for a while now and that’s why I decided to quit and take it up as a profession,” says the 26-year-old.
“Initially, I was apprehensive about taking the plunge into the unknown but thankfully the journey has been more exciting than scary!” adds Vishnu. He has since then interned with music directors like Gopi Sundar and Vishal Chandrashekar “to get a feel of how things work in the music industry.”
The team now hope to make the video in Tamil and Kannada, “with a slight alteration in music to reflect the beauty of each language,” explains Vishnu.
