Two of a kind

Young composer duo Mervin Solomon and Vivek Siva talk about taking over the reins from Yuvan Shankar Raja for Vadacurry

Music composer Vivek Siva

When composer Yuvan Shankar Raja informed the producers of Vadacurry , which stars Jai and Swati, that he will no longer be able to work on the film, they approached a number of big names.

But the search ended when they found young composers Mervin Solomon and Vivek Siva to take over the reins from Yuvan Shankar Raja.

“The offer came to Anirudh and he recommended our names to the director and the producer,’’ says Vivek Siva, who has worked with Anirudh Ravichander right from his first film

3 up until

Velai Illaa Pattadhari .

It soon dawned on them that they would be stepping into the shoes of Yuvan whose songs they grew up with. Did they have second thoughts about taking up this film? “No. It’s an honour to be called in to replace Yuvan whose songs I used to sing in my school cultural events,” says Mervin. The task before them was pretty simple: Yuvan had already composed one song, and they were expected to deliver four songs and also take care of the background score. Vivek is thankful for the creative freedom they have received. “The director, Saravana Rajan, didn’t want us to follow Yuvan’s style. We have been given a freehand,” he says.

Vivek Siva had met Anirudh Ravichander in school and they were part of a band called Zinx, a fusion band. “Once Anirudh became busy with films, Mervin replaced him as a keyboard player,” says Vivek.

Can he see them still composing music together far into the future? “When they first asked me, I wanted to work with Mervin. We have different strengths — he learnt Western Classical whereas my strength is Indian Classical. As long as we manage to remain friends, I don’t see why we can’t continue to work together,” says Vivek.