Composer C Sathya is back to what he describes fondly as his ‘Engeyum Eppodhum zone’. In upcoming North Madras-based flick Theedhum Nandrum, directed by Rasu Ranjith, the music director is working on a set of melodies that takes him back to the days when he worked on Engeyum Eppodhum, the 2011 film that catapulted him to fame.
But that’s not the only project he’s kicked about. What he’s looking forward to is the audience reaction to the tunes of Pucca, starring Vikram Prabhu and Nikki Galrani, that gave him an opportunity to experience the magic of folk music in a very on-the-ground way.
“I’ve worked on folk songs before, but in those, there would mostly be a modern touch to it. But for Pucca, director SS Surya wanted me to give a very native soundscape as his film was mostly being shot in crowded thiruvizhas in rural areas.”
Sathya jumped at the opportunity. A few months ago, he undertook a short trip to Kallakurichi, where a karagam group regularly performs. “It was an all-night performance and the experience was dramatic,” he recalls. But he wasn’t just a spectator at the performance — he was going around recording the sound that would be of use later.
Sure enough it was. For the ‘Ola Veedu’ number, penned by Yugabharathi, the composer used these raw sounds to get the “nativity” that the director requested for. “I’ve never attempted something like this. Of course, Pucca also features other routine musical elements like the hero-introduction number and a pathos number,” he says.
When he’s not busy composing tunes, Sathya listens to numbers that his contemporaries have tuned. “I listen to all kinds of music. Apart from hearing English tracks, I make it a point to listen to everything that comes out of Bollywood and Kollywood. In Tamil, I listen to my friend Santhosh Narayanan’s songs and also love how Anirudh’s work is commercial despite having a musical value,” he says.
Sathya, who’s also working on a yet-to-be-titled film by Ezhumalai (who earlier worked with Prabu Solomon), is also looking forward to dishing out some independent music in the near future. “I’ve already completed a song on romance in today’s times,” he says, “After that, I am looking to work on some independent music that will throw light on some social messages I’m passionate about.”