12th
July 2005
What
is common among these AOR songs?
All the songs in this album are sung by female playback singers
only. There is couple of words uttered by a male in RightO
LeftO as the situation demanded it. Myself and Gangaraju Gunnam
wrote all lyrics except for 'Evaraina Choosuntara'.
It took a lyricist of Sirivennela standard to pen the lyrics
for that tune.
Did
you have any apprehensions about not having any male playback
singers for entire album?
I would like to tell you about the experience I had while
composing music for Zakhm film. I was having music sittings
with Mukesh Bhat, Mahesh Bhat, Pooja Bhat and Anand Bakshi
(lyricist). We composed 4 songs sung by female playback singers.
We have two more songs left. I suggested that we should have
only female playback singers for those two songs too. Then
Mukesh Bhat shot back saying, 'I don't want to make a lesbian
film'. Then I was forced to compose two duets with male playback
singers. I am very happy to say that the success of AOR proved
that the compulsion of having male playback singers is a Myth.
Now
let me illustrate how we fixed upon the tunes for AOR -
1.
I wanna sing: This song is a party song. Chandu (Chandra
Sekhar Yeleti) gave me Ketchup song and asked me to come up
with a party song with such kind of ambience. Maruth penned
the English words in this song. Myself and Gangaraju Gunnam
penned the Telugu lyrics. We selected Sunidhi Chouhan because
she has disco attitude in her voice and is capable of posh
English pronunciation. She got the right style.
2
. RightO - LeftO: The situation for this song is about
how a drugged girl tries communicating with cabbie about directions.
She is in the stage of semi-consciousness and she would be
speaking incoherently. This song also has vital importance
in this film as the part of suspense unfolds in this song.
When I took a break during the music sittings of Jagapati
film in Arjuna Raju office, suddenly this tune stuck me. I
called up Chandu and hummed the tune to him and it was okayed
immediately.
The
reason for taking Shreya Ghoshal for this song is her lack
of inhibitions. This song is about a drugged girl, hence she
would be blabbering without any shy. Even a great singer like
Chitra is very inhibited and is very shy. Shreya Ghoshal is
the perfect fit and she gave a great output.
3.
Needalle Tarumuthuvandi: I composed this tune in Park
Hotel of Vizag 2 years back for Nagarjuna's film Nenunnanu.
The lyric of Nenunnanu song goes like 'Kadanna Ninnu Vadalanuga
- Naa maata nammu cheli'. The producer felt that it was good
song but slow for a duet. They rejected this tune. I modified
that tune to the situation of AOR. The situation is about
a girl remembering horrifying incidents from her past with
terror.
This
song does not require any particular singer to sing it. I
wanted to record this song with Chitra. But I need to go to
Chennai for this purpose. When I went to Mumbai to make Sunidhi
Chouhan and Shreya Ghoshal sing songs for this album, I opined
that I make Shreya Ghoshal sing this song. She did the justice
and i saved some money to the producer by not flying to Chennai
for this purpose.
4.
Naa Naa Parugu Teesina: The music sittings of this song
took place when we (Myself and Chandu) were traveling to Srisailam
in car. While all other five songs met immediate approval
of Chandu, this tune took 2 months to get okayed. He tried
over 50 - 60 tunes before finalizing this one. Sunidhi Chouhan
sung the song.
5.
Evarina Choosuntara: This song comes when heroine who
is a chorus singer just finished rendering chorus to a Chiranjeevi's
song. She would replay the song and dance with the kids in
rain. This kind of song that describes Chiranjeevi needs a
great lyricist like Sirivennela. No other lyricist would have
done justice to this song. Sirivennela described Chiranjeevi
as 'Nadiche Nakshatram'. Incidentally, this is the first tune
composed by me for AOR when Chandu came to my home for breakfast.
I
always felt that Smita is a singer who is not restricted to
just one kind of songs. She might not do classical or semi
classical songs, but she got great potential. I made sure
that she sang different songs each time I asked her to sing.
These songs are -
1. Gangotri
- Mavayyadi Mogalturu
2. Maa Alludu Very Good - Padaka padaka
3. Sye
4. Evaraina Choosuntara - AOR
5. Mannela Tintivira Krishna - Chatrapati
6. Humming: Maestro Ilayaraja uses electric guitar
very frequently. I also used electric guitar for this humming.
Though I composed music for around 1150 film songs, I used
Keeravani ragam only a couple of times. I used Keeravani ragam
for this chorus. Ilayaraja used Keeravani ragam for atleast
200 songs. Keeravani ragam was very effectively used in Keeravani
song in Anveshana film. And Vandemataram did not use Keeravani
ragam while composing 'keeravani ragamlo' tune for Swayamvaram
film.
Who
rendered the voice of 'Venumadhava' song from Nenunnanu that
played in the tape recorder of Charmy in AOR?
She is Ravali (a student of Ramachari). She is a chorus singer.
You
made Hindi singers like Sunidhi Chouhan and Shreya Ghoshal
sing these songs? Is it not difficult to work with Hindi girls?
Let me give you the list of singers who perform in less time
with quality intact. SP Balu, Chitra, Mano, Shreya Ghoshal
and Sunidhi Chouhan could record any Telugu song in 30 minutes.
I find Udit Narayan to be the one who takes most of the time
to sing. He takes at least 2 hours to sing a song. He has
got very short memory and keep forgetting lyrics.
Tell
us about the director Chandu?
Chandu is one of the very few directors with originality in
Telugu film industry. When I started my career, I followed
Ilayaraja to get acquainted with the art of music composition.
After one and half years, I left the style of Ilayaraja and
developed my own signature. Likewise, Chandu is greatly inspired
by Ram Gopal Varma. The mark of Ram Gopal Varma is evident
in his films though he denies it. Chandu is the director to
watch in the future.
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