Tag: Santhosh Pandit

Santhosh Pandit vs. Malayalam Media/Cinema

So much has been said and being said about Santhosh Pandit, an amateur movie director, actor, producer… (and so on). But nothing has been so abusive as the television show “Niyanthrana Rekha” on Manorama News yesterday. The program started with anchor Shaani saying that Santhosh Pandit’s movie has nothing to it’s credit and from there began the ‘show’ orchestrated by Shaani and Manorama News. Either Shaani has not cared to see the impact that Santhosh Pandit has made (negative or positive) in the Malayali society or she has chosen to ignore it completely. Whichever is the case, she has set a bad example for an anchor of such a show.

Santhosh Pandit definitely has something to his credit. His movie shows that the viral and social media marketing could help a lot in bringing people to theaters, provided it has something to hype about. The hype here was in a negative manner, but Santhosh has used it to the core to make money out of it. People wanted to see and cheer a clown and Santhosh Pandit happily let himself to be one. It is a fair trade and I think Santhosh is the ultimate winner at the end of the day. He’s got everything that an amateur artist could ask for – his video has lakhs of hits on YouTube, for which he claims that he gets Rs. 4/hit, he has appeared on all major Malayalam television channels, his movie is now showing in 14 theaters in Kerala though it was started with 3. The man is making money and he is (in)famous. Shaani of Manorama News chose not to see it.

But it did not stop there. The stage set by Shaani yesterday was taken over by someone called Adv. Baburaj who in all his 18 years of existence in Malayalam cinema was barely noticed until, ironically, he made himself to be a clown of a character in the hit movie Salt N Pepper. He made personally abusive remarks against Santhosh Pandit. He went on to ask if Santhosh Pandit has a mental disorder and made fun of Santhosh’s outfit. All this while the anchor, who is supposed to the ‘moderator’ of the show (someone please explain to her what responsibilities comes with a moderator title) stood silent (and probably smiling). Not an attempt to stop Baburaj or to remind him that personally abusive remarks on public television could not be allowed, particularly when Pandit has not hurled out any abuse against Baburaj.

What Baburaj has churned out with his 18 long years of experience in the Malayalam movie industry are the movies like ‘Black Dalia‘ and ‘Manushyamrugam‘. Both of them were box office disasters and won no critical acclaim and that man sat there rubbishing Santhosh Pandit who is a first time amateur in the industry.

I haven’t watched Santhosh Pandit’s movie “Krishnanum Radhayum” and I have no plans to watch it in the theatres. Just because I can tell from the trailers and clips of the movie I have seen on YouTube that it will be crap (just as I don’t watch Baburaj’s movies either in the theater or on television). Plus, I have no interest to go to a theatre to hurl abuse at someone who has not done any harm to me, knowing exactly what I would get out of it (most of the audience – particularly the young crowd – knew what they would get from the movie and paid to see it on screen). I do look for his latest interviews though, because I am curious to see if this man is consciously making a fool of himself or not. His rationale in many of the interviews are unmatchable and the current Malayalam cinema industry will have no option than being silent before the questions he pause in those interviews.

I think Santhosh Pandit has talent. If not in acting or direction, he would match the current industry standards with his music compositions and dialogues. I like the song “Raathri Subharaathri” or “Vachasaalum Vapusaalum“. I think if any of the ‘surviving’ superstars delivered the punch dialogues that Santhosh has delivered in his movie, they would be an instant hit among their fans. So these two areas are what Santhosh could genuinely work on and contribute to the box office industry.

And for Shaani and her types, I wonder if they would treat Mammootty or Mohan Lal the way they have treated Santhosh Pandit for their performances in the movies such as Vaamanapuram Bus Stop, Thuruppugulaan or such. I also wonder why did Manorama News bring a psychiatrist to the debate on a movie. Would they do the same thing to discuss a crappy movie of any of the leading stars in Malayalam?

Related: Kerala’s YouTube stars!

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.