SOUTH MASALA BangaloreMirror | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2011 28www.bangaloremirror.com/southmasala

Talking about Tamil, the song inAayirathil Oruvan (Thai ThindraManne) should be your bestsong. It was the toughest song I haveever recorded in Tamil, takingalmost a full day. Purely semi-clas-sical in style, it was a very situational song for the characterin the film and it required me touse all my capability to the fullest.A huge thanks to directorSelvaraghavan and composer GV Prakash.

That brings to mind the song(Sahara..) in Shivaji-The Boss.The version you rendered wasnot used in the film, but manysay it is one your best renditions.Yeah, it was a great song byRahman sir. In fact that was thefirst version recorded for the song.Later, a faster version (by UditNarayan and Chinmayee) wasused in the film. Rahman sir wasgracious enough to use my slowervariant in the CD.

The recent song in Mankathashould be your most popularsong in Tamil. Yes, the film is a superb entertainerand thanks to its success our songhas been received very well. Iwould say the Billa song that Isang for Thala (Ajith), a solo, was abigger hit.

What about Kannada andTelugu?I love singing in Kannada actually.I have had the fortune of singingsome of the tunes composed byHamsalekha sir, the Ilayaraja ofKannada. In fact, I had myKannada debut in Nenapirali(Ajantha Ellora...) composed byHamsalekha. Then the song

Odimaga.. in Jogi which was achartbuster and then many filmssuch as Aa Dinagalu, Honganasu,Yuga Yugagale Saagali and so on. InTelugu too, I had some projectslike Ramadasu, Shivaputrudu, NaaAutograph, Maharadhi andSeethayya.

You had a brief stint inBollywood as well. I’ve yet to breakthrough inBollywood, it doesn’t come thateasy, but I’ve recorded beautifulmelodies for composers likeHimesh Reshammiya and Pritam,although my debut was for PhirMilenge by Revathy, which wascomposed by Bhavatharini(Ilayaraja’s daughter). One of myfavorites is the song I’ve been wait-ing... composed by none otherthan Rahman sir for the filmJhoota Hi Sahi.

Yuvan Shankar Raja in Tamiland M Jayachandran inMalayalam were like pillars foryou. They keep giving you awe-some songs.Without them, I would be

nowhere. In Malayalam, MJC isone of the main reasons for myimprovement and success in manyways. He takes great efforts toguide me while we record. And inTamil with Yuvan sir, it was alwaysabout the different type of songshe gave me, and the confidence hehad on me to deliver.

The whole world may haveloved those songs, but what doesyour father say? Is he fond ofany particular song of yours? Usually, he does not get time to lis-ten to each and every song. Thatapart, there was a song in Banaras(Koovaram kili...), a favourite of mytwo-and-a-half-year-old daughterAmmeya. When this song gotreleased and came on TV she was just a few months old. Shewould stop crying whenever it was played. So my my father had to learn the song and render it for the sake of his granddaughter. So I guess thatsong of mine, by default, has to behis favourite.

So you think Ammeya has thesinging gene.Even when she was very young shecould easily differentiate my voicewith others. The moment my songappeared on TV or a player, shestarted listening. She would not, ifit was rendered by someone else.She loves Sujatha chechi’s (play-back singer) voice as well. Initially,this was a huge surprise for all ofus. The only instance where shegot confused was more recentlywhen we’d play the songs of myfather and I together.

There is a controversy overbringing the likes of ShreyaGhoshal to South You really cannot put your fingeron a topic like this. I am not surehow the local singers are gettingaffected because of the so-calledoutside singers. At the end of it, itis who a music composer wants towork with. As far as Shreya is con-cerned (I have sung many duetswith her) she’s definitely one of akind and unique. There is no rea-son why anyone should be com-pared to one another. Her abilityto adapt to any language justamazes everyone.

Yesudas’s son is a hugeRajinikanth fan as well. Haveyou met him and told him aboutyour hero-worship?Yeah, huge, huge fan. I have methim many times, but never hadthe courage to tell him anything ofthat sort. I would like to admirehim from a distance. Recently, Ihad requested my friendAyshwariya (Rajinikanth’s daugh-ter) to get my Enthiran postersautographed for me. She did itdutifully. I watched Sivaji-The Bossfirst day first show in the US. Iwould have seen the film at least20 times, and Endhiran I’vewatched five times in differentcities across the globe — in Dubai,London and the US.

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I am a huge Rajini

fan. I would have seen

Shivaji -The Boss at

least 20 times

I have had the

fortune of singing to

some of the tunes

by Hamsalekha sir

Vijay and his wife Darshana during Onam celebrations

Ever since Mankatha wasreleased and declared a mas-sive hit, Venkat Prabhu hasbeen in the front pages as therehave been a lot of speculation

regarding his next project. Reports sayVenkat is ready with a script whichhas the workingtitle NeradiO l i p a r a p p u ,which he plansto shoot in 3Dformat. Sourcesclose to Venkatsay the directorhas a couple ofscripts readyand all of whichcould be madein 3D format. It is also believed thatthis one was to be his first film but itwas not be so as SP Charan, the pro-ducer of Chennai-28, wanted that to beVenkat’s debut film. It has also beenreported that Venkat is certain to join hands with a top hero under a big budget production banner. (notAjith, anyway!)

Meanwhile, Venkat was so busysorting out the Sona-Charan conflictbesides a trip abroad celebrating thevictory of Mankatha. Insiders tell usthat a number of production housesare chasing Venkat. Reportedly, manystars have evinced keen interest tohelm their projects as well.

It is learnt that Venkat has beenroped in by Studio Green, a bannerowned by Suriya’s cousin, KEGnanavel who produced films likeChillunu Oru Kaadhal with Suriya andSiruthai with Karthi.

It is not clear yet if the film to bemade by Venkat under the StudioGreen banner will feature Suriya or hisyounger sibling Karthi. While Suriyamay do a film with director Hari afterhe completed KV Anand’s Maatran,Venkat may have to wait for quite awhile to do a film with Suriya. Karthitoo is busy with Sakuni. Let’s us waitand watch as to who would act underVenkat’s direction.

Suriya or

Karthi?Flooded with offers, Mankatha

director Venkat Prabhu wants

to make his next film in 3D

R S Prakash

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