Tuesday Mar 11 2008, Trivendrum

I’m more attuned to Tamil music than Malayalam

About you...I was born and brought up in Dubai.Both my parents, Devaraj and Asha Devaraj, have lot of interest in music and are trained singers.

How did you develop a liking towards music!

I started learning music when I was hardly six years old.My first ambition was to learn to play the Guitar but as my fingers were too short to play it, I switched to learning to play key-board from noted music tutor Zeiko of Bulgaria.I also learnt Carnatic music.Courtesy Zekio’s tutelage in playing the piano, I believe that I can bring my unique style to the music I make.

From which age did you aspire to become a music director?

From the age of twelve, I started dreaming to become a music director someday. Hard work and perseverance followed from then onwards and I started moulding myself to realize my dreams.

When did it actually happen...?

I moved to Kerala to pursue my under-graduate course.
Those days, I used to work as a ‘keyboard player’ with many music directors.Though I possessed the requisite experience, I didn’t get any break in the music industry. The break finally occurred when Malayalam film director Siddique organized a musical night in the U.S.A.

Out of sheer desperation, I decided I would do that particular event and bid adieu to music and told Siddique Sir about my plan. Not only did he advise me to think otherwise but he also told me to shift to either Mumbai or Chennai if I really wanted to make it big as a music director. I heeded his advice and came down to Chennai. Within no time, I got an opportunity to work with A.R.Rahman in ‘Rhythm’ and helped him in setting the background score.After that, I played keyboard with Vidyasagar, Keeravani, Mani Sharma, Bollywood music directors Sandeep Chowdha, Anu Malik and Adesh Srivastava in flims like ‘Run’, ‘Gilli’, ‘Dhool’, ‘Anbae Sivam’ and superstar Rajni’s ‘Chandramukhi’.Your first film...

I was looking for my first movie as a music director and approached Siddique Sir who was looking for a new musician for his film ‘Chronic Bachelor’. That was my first meeting with him after a gap of three years and I really felt moved by his warmth, because, but for his timely advice, I wouldn’t have come to India to pursue a career as music director. He immediately offered me the chance to set music to ‘Chronic Bachelor’. After this, I did more than ten films like ‘Udhaya Naanu Thaaram’, ‘Naran’, ‘Lion’, ‘Khaki’, etc. It was significant that most of these films starred megastars like Mammotty and Mohanlal and were quite successful at box-office.

Movies you have on hand right now...At present, I’m working for a film titled ’20:20’, produced by Malayalam Cine Artistes’ Association (AMMA).This is a unique film starring almost all the leading actors in Malayalam film industry.As far as Tamil movies are concerned, talks are on with some producers.It’ll be finalized very soon.

Which language movies you prefer the most....Malayalam or Tamil?

I am very conversant in Tamil language and am aware of the taste of the Tamil audience.I have already gained a reasonably good reputation in Malayalam film industry. Even my Malayalam movies would have a bit if Tamil music, ‘the Tamil flavour’, in it. The Malayalam movie directors whom I have worked with have also told me that, my kind of music would be best suited to Tamil films.

Furthermore, in Malayalam films, the music director’s flair is limited within the practicality of the movie concerned. But, I’m aware that the Tamil audience with open hands would welcome any innovations in music.Thus, there would be more scope in Tamil film industry to try out new things in composing music.I am more than confident that the Tamil audience would encourage me to a great extent.