Category: Entertainment

Kerala’s YouTube Stars!

Sound Box - August 2011

[This feature was first appeared on Sound Box, music industry magazine, in it’s special anniversary issue in August 2011]

To Hindi movie buffs, the word ‘Silsila’ would bring back memories of a popular Hindi film that featured Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha and Jaya in the lead roles. But for youth and netizens of the southern state of Kerala, “Silsila” currently refers to an album song that has become a YouTube sensation. The song video, shared by several users on the social networking website, supposedly has had more than twenty lakh hits thus far.

Nearly everyone and his uncle in Kerala is aware of this song, and in all probability, has it tucked away in his phone’s memory as well.

The song is an unlikely winner, however. A search in YouTube with ‘Silsila Hai Silsila‘ as the keywords will reap you results with the video, boasting taglines like “the worst album song ever” or “the worst song in Malayalam“. If you try one of those pages and decide to check out the comments section, you would realise that the song has probably set a record by receiving the most number of abusive comments. The song video has a set of people including two foreigners dancing as they please, without having to worry about choreography of any sort while the singer-cum-lyricist-cum–composer-cum-director Harishankar’s face keeps popping up in between. Needless to say, there isn’t much sense to either the music or the vocals.

All publicity is good publicity

Silsila HarishankarBut that exactly is the selling point of the song. Even though the creator of the song was serious about his song, the audience has taken to it as an object of ridicule, something to laugh over with your friends.

The video has been shared through emails, social media and mobile phones. The song, that the producer-director-lyricist-singer-composer Harishankar had taken off YouTube when he received negative comments for his video when he first posted it, became an instant hit through the Net and the cell phone. Harishankar and the song went on to become the biggest YouTube sensation in Kerala.

The influence of Silsila in Malayali pop-culture is only growing. The song was featured in a Malayalam movie called “Seniors“, in a scene where students poke fun at their college principal. An upcoming Malayalam movie called “Three Kings” has its remake of the song sung by actor Jayasurya under the supervision of original singer Harishankar. In a recent stage show of AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists), Malayali superstars Mammootty, Mohan Lal and Jayaram sang this song. Avial, the rock band, featured the song in one of their live shows, and that too is now becoming a hit on YouTube.

Though he continues being ridiculed, Harishankar is a winner at the end of the day. Now every Malayali youngster and techie knows about him and his song. He has appeared on television channels and given interviews to newspapers. Many articles are being written about him in mainstream and online news channels and blogs. And Harishankar is aware that it is the negative publicity that brought him the attention. In an interview, he said, “When people called it ‘the worst Malayalam album’, Keralites were curious to see it. Malayalis are more interested in negative things.” He has also admitted in a television interview that his song has its own drawbacks and that he is just a beginner.

Spawning a trend

Santhosh PanditThe negative publicity that Harishankar and his song ‘Silsila’ received has prompted several wannabes to post their own album songs to YouTube. Aspiring and small-budget album producers now know how to publicise their songs, thanks to Harishankar and his popularity. They do not wait for approval from TV channels; instead they post their songs straight to YouTube. Sometimes this PR work is taken care of by people who stumble upon these music videos accidentally and share it through their online spaces.

After Harishankar’s “Silsila”, another song is doing the rounds on YouTube, again for all the wrong reasons. “Raathri Shubharaathri” is a song that was written, composed and sung by Santhosh Pandit. Like “Silsila”, this music video too was posted under the ‘worst Malayalam album’ title. The video of the hero singing and dancing around a teenage girl attracted much criticism when it was posted with people linking it to the news of sex rackets that use the casting couch for flesh trade. But eventually, the focus shifted to Santhosh Pandit, the hero of the music video. Pandit has so far released eight music videos on YouTube and says these songs are from his upcoming movie project, “Krishnanum Radhayum”, which he claims to be a ‘violent love story’. Now there are several websites and blogs dedicated to Pandit and his movie that has the movie stills and songs. The ‘fans’, ironically, comprise people who make fun of him, call him the Alien Star (a spoof of Super Star or Mega Star).

Unlike Harishankar, Pandit does not admit that his work may have any drawbacks but claims that his movie and the songs will bring in a sea change in Malayalam movies and music. He lashes out at big budget mainstream Malayalam movies. The audio of the phone calls that his ‘fans’ made with him are now running on YouTube and those too have become the laughing stock of Malayali netizens. But one has to admit that the compositions of Santhosh Pandit are as good as any Malayalam film song that is being churned out these days. Two people did a cover version of Pandit’s song “Raathri Subharaathri” with just guitar chords in the background and it is being appreciated online.

All in the game

So, what do we learn from Harishankar and Santhosh Pandit? Sometimes negative publicity could help you become famous (or infamous, depending on how you view it) and to sell your product which otherwise would not have seen the light of the day. Also, perhaps both these adventurers show where they draw inspiration from. If you compare Pandit’s song with the song “Entadukkal Vannadukkum” (movie: Merikkundoru Kunjaadu, singer: Shankar Mahadevan, music: Berny-Ignatius), or “Othorumichoru Gaanam Paadaan” (movie: Makante Achan, singer: Vineeth Srinivasan, music: M Jayachandran), or “Moham Kondaal” (movie: Christian Brothers, music: Deepak Dev), it will make you think that Pandit’s song is anytime better than these movie songs in terms of lyrics and music and perhaps the only thing that it lacks is a good vocalist and an industry-standard orchestrator.

With Harishankar and Pandit both having become household names in Kerala, more such ‘internet sensations’ could very well be launched in the near future. For an audience that thrives on such entertainment, the fun is just beginning.

Kudos to you, Gayatri!

My respect to playback singer Gayatri just went up for speaking openly against the malpractices of Malayalam film music industry. Gayatri, in a response to music director M Jayachandran, has lashed out at his unwarranted comments. Read the full interview here (in Malayalam).

To those who cannot read Malayalam, here is a loose translation of the core of what she said:

M Jayachandran doesn’t need to tell me that I should listen to Shreya Ghoshal. I don’t need his advise. I don’t need to hear his opinion to understand that Shreya is the best singer in India. I’m not stupid enough to criticize Shreya’s singing.

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I’ve never asked for a chance to any music director. I am very happy in my space. These people should understand this.

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Bollywood singers are paid good money here, but what is the situation of our singers up north? I know about this. I have heard people blaming Hariharan’s pronunciation. They are very strict on this matter. They never would excuse even a small mistake. But what about us? The song “Chaanchaadi aadi” sung by Adnan Sami is rated very low in the charts. It’s not my personal opinion. People say this on media. The problem is not the choice of the audience, but the attitude of [Malayalam film music] industry.

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The industry doesn’t consider the local singers. I stand by that opinion. Singers from other states are VIPs for us. But do we get the same treatment from them? We are still asked “do you want the travel allowance” after we sing and this happens to singers like us who have been in this field for years. We are asked such questions when the north Indian singers are paid upto Rs. 75,000 per song. But the industry doesn’t have at least Rs. 2000 for singers like us.

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Why this discrimination? If it’s Adnan Sami, they are ready to pay upto 1 lakh rupees. We do not ask even half of this amount. All singers face this but nobody dare to tell the truth. But it must be told.

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Up to an extent, it is the singers themselves to be blamed. Some singers who come from reality shows tell the MDs, “sir, I will give Rs. 50000, please give me a chance”. Singers as a whole suffer due to this kind of people.

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There are organizations like MACTA and FEFKA. We go to their programmes and sing for free. They need our co-operation for their programmes but our needs are not considered.

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There is no gender difference in the case of singers not being paid for their work. In Bollywood and Tamil Nadu, they would send us call sheets even for small jingles. It is because they respect the work we do. Is there anything like it here?

Also you can listen to my Malayalam podcast with Gayatri and Pradip Somasundaran (in two parts) for M-Pod below.

Part I

Part II

Group Activity

[This feature was first appeared in the July issue of Soundbox, India’s premier music trade magazine. Checkout the website here.]

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Group Activity

It was late in the evening when a group of three techies walked into one of the residential colonies in Bengaluru. They were going to attend what their host called a musical get-together and they did not have the slightest idea of what to expect. They heard people singing when they entered the host’s house, some people even dancing to the music, all of which was followed by thunderous applause and appreciation. It felt weird to them that a group of people came together, many of them not even amateur singers, just to sing their hearts out. But as they sat through the event and heard the songs being belted out one after the other, they were totally moved. Here was a group of people encouraging and applauding each other to sing just for the love of music and not to scale their ability to sing as in a reality show. Here, it is music that rules.

People from several walks of life in the metro cities and small towns in the southern part of India are forming music appreciation groups where they also get to shape their raw talents. And they are not shy to sing their heart out before the others in their group meetings, because these groups are not primarily about showing off but appreciating a certain song, composer, lyricist or singer.

Inspired by Antakshari

Ant-Tak (meaning ‘till the end‘ ) is one such group based in Bengaluru. They begin the music sessions in the early evening and the music goes on until the wee hours of the morning. According to Rama Iyer, a lawyer and partner at Legal Solutions Bangalore, who is also one of the hosts and organising members of Ant-Tak, the idea of this group came about after a corporate antakshari contest in 2004. An Ant-Tak member’s company had planned to send teams to the contest after internally picking out people who were interested in music. It was then that they realised there were many people within the company who were passionate about music. The rehearsal sessions were filled with the participants’ family members who helped them with song information for the contest. And music being the bonding factor, they became friends in a short span of time. This made way for further get-togethers to sing with karaoke tracks and some music instruments (played by the members themselves) and many other friends joined them. Ant-Tak has held 31 music sessions and the event mostly takes place at members’ homes. If the number of people coming over to the meeting is larger than can be accommodated at home, the host family rents a hall for the purpose, even though it is not obligatory for each family to host an event.

Theme song

Priya and Venkat, a couple from Bengaluru were instrumental in bringing together like minded people and hosted many such music meets in the city. The last event they organised was this April, named Ek sham Bhoole Bisre Geet ke naam. The meet was firmed up through Bhoole Bisre Geet, a music group on Facebook. The success of the event has encouraged the group and they are now planning to arrange such meets in Mumbai and Delhi.

Bangalore groupThese musical meets sometimes have a central theme. If Ek sham Bhoole Bisre Geet ke naam was about celebrating retro Hindi film songs, they had two musical meets dedicated to the legendary composer M S Viswanathan. They talked about MSV’s music, exchanged tit-bits of his compositions, played his original tracks and their own instrumental versions and sang his songs together. And not just that – the group had M S Viswanathan, the man himself, for two days when the group interacted with him about his music. Priya notes that it was the happiest moment of her life. Another event of Ant-Tak was named Bollywood Hungama where the members came dressed as Bollywood characters and movie posters were plastered on the walls.

There are people from several walks of life who participate in these shows and what bring them together is their love and appreciation of music, irrespective of the language. The participating homes are suitably decorated, most of the times with a banner that has the event name on it. Songs in different languages are sung at these events. But it’s not just about singing one song after the other. The participants spend time in appreciating the lyrical and musical aspects of a song. Sometimes, karaoke tracks keep company or music instruments are played by some of the members.

Notes from the homeland

Roshni Chandran and Iyyappan Santhanam, a couple from Los Angeles formed a group DesiTunes with the primary goal to unite the Indian/desi musicians in Los Angeles. DesiTunes also welcomes musicians of other nationalities who are interested in performing Indian/desi music. Roshni says that though there were many musicans of Indian origin in Los Angeles, there is no common platform for all of them to meet or socialise and this is what DesiTunes is striving to provide.Los Angeles group They meet twice a month to jam with other musicians. “Usually they have to wait for once-ayear community events organised by Indian regional communities where they hardly get a chance to sing a song due to the time constraints. We thought it would be helpful to create a consistent opportunity to perform where it could benefit the existing and the new musicians who relocate to Los Angeles to get the exposure they deserve,” Roshni says.

Back in Thrissur, Kerala, another group of people organises a monthly music meet-up called paaTTarangu. The event takes place every month in Thrissur town, at any convenient location. The songs are mostly unplugged versions without any karaoke or instrumental tracks to support the vocals. They welcome everyone to join them and invite a celebrity guest singer for every meet-up. The response, they say, is heartening.

So what goals do these groups achieve with these meet-ups? Priya and Venkat say the aspirations of participants are on different levels. “What happens is, they better their own performances the next time. Each one takes time to select songs, learn them, procure karaokes somehow, practice well and when they render at the music meets, it is sheer happiness to see the contentment on their faces,” Priya notes. She says it has also helped people, especially the kids, to get over the stage fear and the fear of holding microphones and singing in front of a group of people. paaTTarangu also has a similar success story to tell about singers from the city of Thrissur in Kerala. For DesiTunes, it is all about meeting, socialising and jamming with fellow musicians. “And for others, it is a consistent opportunity to perform which in turn gives them a chance to display their talent. There are a few music bands which are part of DesiTunes and some of these bands have been able to select singers/musicians based on their performance during our past meet-ups.”

In the early days, people were happy and content with singing along the karaoke tracks in their private spaces. They called themselves ‘bathroom singers’ and were hesitant to express their appreciation towards music by singing in public spaces. But with many of these groups encouraging people to sing before the others and help them get better and better with each new meetup, south India could witness a new trend of grooming musicians through impromptu music sessions and meetups. Not to mention allowing all those bathroom singers to be able to sing their heart out!

‘Chappa Kurish’ is an honest film

Chappa Kurishu poster‘Chappa Kurish‘ is a strange name for a Malayalam movie. Everybody was wondering what the name meant when they first heard the movie title. Later we learned that it is the Fort Kochi slang for ‘Head or Tail’ and the movie held true to it’s title, portraying two different lives in contrast to each other. The movie is directed by cinematographer Sameer Thahir (his directorial debut) and he also shares the writing credits with Unni R.

The story is simple and contemporary and it has been woven in a credible manner. The protagonists of the movie, Arjun (Fahad Fazil) and Ansari (Vineeth Srinivasan), live in the same city but in two different worlds. Arjun, a successful young businessman and a playboy who is engaged to Ann (Roma) but also has a relationship with Sonia (Remya Nambeesan), his colleague. Ansari is a cleaning boy in one of the super markets in the city, who is always ridiculed by his boss and almost everyone else except Nafeeza (Niveda) – his love interest. The story gets interesting when Arjun loses his iPhone and Ansari gets hold of it. Arjun desperately wants to get his phone back because it contains the video clip of his private moments with Sonia and it can  jeopardize his upcoming wedding and Sonia’s life altogether.

Ansari doesn’t easily give the phone away and it is not because of the video clip (he is not aware of it) or he wants to sell it. It is simply because this phone is a powerful tool that he could ever get. He even tells his love interest once that, “when you have this phone, you don’t have to be afraid of anything in this world“. He enjoys it when Arjun pleads to him and address him as “Sir” because he never had respect from anyone else in this world. He loves it even more when he could use Arjun to slap his boss, or to pour black oil on the Volkswagen of a woman who accused him of misbehavior and got his boss to make him apologize to her (for something he never did).

Eventually, Ansari decides to give the phone back when Nafeeza insists. But things go out of hand when the mobile shop owner, who offers to help Ansari to charge the phone battery, extracts the clip off the phone and upload it to YouTube under the title “Mallu Boy and Girl New“. The video goes viral thereafter and Arjun goes to find Ansari on his own.

Almost everything in this movie is told honestly. The plot, the characters, how they respond to each other and situations of the story are all so honest and natural. It is this honesty that I liked about this movie. Fahad as Arjun and Vineeth as Ansari have given wonderful performances. With their body language and acting, they have made their characters credible. I never liked Vineeth Srinivasan in any of his movies until now (Fahad also was disastrous in his first movie), but Ansari is one character that fits him like a T and he has done full justice to his role. Fahad is to be noted for his top-notch, matured performance.

There are a few firsts about this movie when it comes to Malayalam cinema. Except for one song sequence, the entire movie was shot on Canon 7D, a still camera (apparently, the Hindi movie “Stanley Ka Dabba” and parts of Hollywood movie “Black Swan” were also shot with Canon 7D). The traditional ‘blossoming-flower syndrome‘ for love-making scenes has moved way to a two minute smooch between Sonia and Fahad. Remya Nambeesan has to be applauded for having the guts to do it in a Malayalam movie. The climax action sequences were realistic, something that you also would do in real life, if put yourself in a similar situation. We would think that it is going the ordinary way when the movie clip goes online and we see Sonia going to the toilet with a blade. But we spot her in an airport later and she is also joined by Arjun soon. Jomon T John on camera and Rex Vijayan (Avial fame) with music also have done commendable work. But I wish Rex’s background score was a bit more tight at scenes like Arjun chasing Ansari.

If there is anything that I would complain about this movie, it is the scripting and editing and those are not small things to pass on. Had there been a tight script and an editor who knew his job, this movie would have easily become the best Malayalam cinema in the recent years. But in many scenes the movie loses it’s pace when it should have kept it’s viewers gripped to their seats.

My rating:

(Image courtesy: Wikipedia)

Salt N’ Pepper – What really is cooking?

Salt N Pepper poster

From the movie reviews that I read in several websites and FB status messages, it seemed to me that “Salt N Pepper” was a refreshing, path-breaking, unconventional movie that is part of a ‘movement in Malayalam cinema’ (courtesy: Prithviraj) lead by some young people in the industry.

But the hiccup starts right from the beginning, when Kaalidasan abducts Mooppan from the wild. Kaalidasan wants the viewers to believe that he has plans to learn the unknown tribal recipes from the Mooppan, but throughout the movie, Mooppan is just an antique decoration in Kaalidasan’s house. He says nothing, does nothing except staring and smiling at times. We don’t know why that character is even there if not to bring in the ‘human right activists joke’ into picture. Oh yeah, we need to talk about that joke.

Off late, Human rights activism has been made a subject of ridiculeness in some Malayalam movies. It was started off with Major Ravi and his war movies and the nationalist fervor of people has cheered them all the way. Aashiq Abu does the same kind of ridiculing, with that loud ex-police character so it is easy for the viewers to hate the human rights activists. As a result, Kaalidasan, who pulled a tribal man off his environment and does nothing for him and rather Kaalidasan’s intention is to make use of Moopan to please his taste buds, is portrayed as the good man and the hero. The human rights activists who try to save the old man are portrayed evil.

Then comes Maya, the rebellious dubbing artiste who knows how to handle the guys in the studio or the big shot film industry people, who in a boozing session with her flat mates says that “being a woman, I fell for his trap” referring to her failed romantic relationship. The director who was bold enough to let the heroine hold a bottle of beer still couldn’t do without the ‘traditional wisdom’ that women are, by nature, fragile. Typecast never ends as the male assistant in the beauty salon acts like a woman. Again the traditional wisdom that men working in the beauty/glamor industry must be lady-boyish.

The film’s highlight is it’s light-hearted comedy but some bits of it is not so light-hearted. For example, look at the scene where Maya asks for ‘garlic chutney’ (to go with the Thattil Kutty Dosa) and Kaalidasan reacts by looking at his private parts. The hint is clear and Aashiq Abu certainly knows how to please his male audience. We should also note that this is the kind of ‘comedy’ that is seen in Malayalam cinema/TV/live shows these days.

So much so to the ‘path-breaking, un-conventional’ movie. But the film is not without it’s positives. The way that Kaalidasan bonds with Maya through their common love for food has been portrayed nicely. Their conversations on food, their own different reasons to love food – Kaalidasan a born foodie and Maya cooks to connect with her mother’s memories – have also been shown nicely. The most yummy and well taken scene in the movie is when Kaalidasan tells Maya the recipe of Joan’s Rainbow Cake and both make and relish it. The old Premier Padmini is also a part of the movie that does it’s role well while abruptly playing the music through it’s dysfunctional radio.

There is nothing much to be said about Lal and Shweta Menon (who have portrayed Kaalidasan and Maaya respectively) as we already know how talented these two actors are. Surprise of course comes from Baburaj, who usually does villainous characters, doing a comic role here. The scene that Lal asks Baburaj to go with him was hilarious.

When the movie ends, you would be wondering why the much-awaited meeting of Maya and Kaalidasan was scheduled at a museum and not in a food joint. But that is quite obvious as the food factor is forgotten right after the first half of the movie and from then onwards it’s an excessive bit of salt and pepper you taste here and there.

Mazha Njaan Arinjirunnilla (cover)

It has been more than two months since I have sung or recorded anything. Thanks to my wifey and kiddo who were kind enough to leave me alone on a Saturday evening, I recorded a cover version of this beautiful song without any backing track. Do hear and let me know how it sounds. 🙂

Movie: Doctor Patient (2009)
Lyrics: Rafeeq Ahammed
Music: Bennet-Veetrag
Original singer: Hariharan
Covered by: Joseph Thomas (Jo)

Mazha njaan arinjirunnilla (cover) by jocalling

Sankara Sasthri and the rocker

This is a well written article by Jithin Das in his Google Buzz (found it through Thulasi) and I am re-publishing it here with due permission from him.

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By Jithin Das

There was this ‘famous’ scene in the movie Sankarabharanam where noisy neighborhood kids annoy Sankara Sasthri with loud music at midnight. The vocal was a lampoon, intentionally done to annoy Sasthri and guitars were off the track. Situation surely warrants an interception. Sasthri did it. Then the unusual happens.

Pathetic rockers inform Sasthri that this is not Sa Re Ga Ma music and he wont understand it. Sasthri in turn challenges the kidos by telling them he can sing whatever they can but they cannot sing the way he does. One of the guys try out a tra la la l and Sasthri mimics it perfectly. But when sastri hums a raga rock kid fails to repeat it. Ashamed, he accepts defeat. Well, movies are movies.

What would have happened in real (if the entire rock band members weren’t complete morons as we presume everyone except Indian classical singers to be! ) is more like this:

Rocker: “Sasthri, this is not your sa re ga ma. You think it is noise because you dont understand western music.”

Sasthri: “Is that so? I can sing whatever you can, but you cannot do that to me.”

Rocker: ” That challenge shows your ignorance, Sasthri. Let me tell you something. What I meant by sa re ga ma music is, your music follows only tones. Your system trained you to associate everything with a note, a pitch and a beat alone. Sounds are in solfage and anything that falls out, such as a chord may sound like noise to you.

This is evident from the very fact that you challenged me to sing a vocal bit so that you can repeat it. If I sing something, you- the master of Carnatic should be able to understand it at tones, pitch and beats. But the music we make is much more complex to be measured by these alone. Rock has its own different aspects. The one you just heard was a verse chorus, which has a very different effect than solo singing or harmonic singing . Asking one of us to do a solo verse is like telling me to separate sugar from my coffee so that you can prove coffee is just some grains of sugar. I hope you got it now.”

Sasthri: “Are you telling me your music is as systematic and scientific as classical music? Our popular songs are not.”

Rocker: “Yes it is. The difference is, the popular music or rather film songs here did not evolve . It is fusion of Carnatic or Hindustani and very basic western classical. But our music keeps on evolving. Rock inherited everything it can from classical to folksongs and then, it evolved as a new music genre. In fact it is not one system, it is several systems that keeps on evolving.”

Sasthri: ” Now I am getting it. May be it is so different and so complex that it doesnt sound like music to me.”

Rocker: “It is not so hard. As a person who knows music you should be able to understand an unfamiliar one too. Just listen to this guitar chord. It is called C major seventh . It is sa-ga-pa-ni played together. sa is the root note, ga & ni are the major notes, pa is the perfect note. Together it becomes the chord C major seven . Now can you identify this?”

Sasthri: ” it sounds like sa-ma- ga-dha- mixed.”

Rocker: “you got it, it is F major seven. ma is the root, dha & ga are majors sa is the perfect fifth. I told you it is not as hard as you think.”

Sasthri was impressed. He learned several new things that night. He sang too and the rock kids were mighty impressed by his perfect microtones and easiness of improvisation. He just doesnt need to write down anything to make an improvisation!

That night Sasthri decided to lead the brats to forming a new band where he will be one of the vocalists. Kind of fusion music, but very different from those who pathetically mix and match music. Sasthri did his sweet revenge to the orthodox Carnatic music fans who outcast him because of his suspected illicit affair . In his new world nobody cares a shit about the guy, they just want his music. He did not have to beg and borrow anymore to make both ends meet. Needless to say earned reasonably well, his band was popular enough to get some concerts every now and then, for a decade.