Y Sunita Chowdhary
How far has your work in Maha Samudram come to?
Ajay Bhupathi’s Maha Samudram’s work is on. Two or three songs have almost been composed, the tunes have been done even before the hero has been decided. There could be further changes in compositions and characteristics. Structuring is over, selecting singers are to be done in the perspective of the hero. There will be five to six tunes and whenever we get an idea, we do structuring of the background score. My earlier works were Bujji Bangaram (Guna 369), it connected with a lot of people in Tik Tok too and my work in Manmadhudu has been appreciated as well. I did ‘7’ and those who heard the music said they loved it.
Post RX100, how do you avoid being typecast?
Once I follow a tonality, I try to avoid it in the next song. RX100 was set in a village and Pilla Raa became a huge hit. Without expectations, the film was liked by all the segments. If I can bring a new colour or attempt something fresh, the other composers in the industry can take it as a challenge and vice versa. It will be a healthy competition. If I repeat the same style, it will be like a business. I keep searching for stories but post RX100, I’m getting the same stuff. We feel lucky if we get something totally different. Rx 100 is a village love story and is very realistic, 7 is a thriller but it had a modern look. While composing, I look at the colour palette and check the nature of the emotion in a scene before the commencement of the song. The song shouldn’t be disconnected from the background score. If it is a set based song that approach doesn’t work but for montages it does.
What do you look for while composing?
If a director has clarity on visual tonality, it helps while composing. If it is a love song…I look at the genre too. Pilla raa and Repalla ninda song and the numbers in 7 are different. ‘DOP tho synch ayyi, director nundi different requirements vosthe baguntundhi.’ More than the story, I try my best to give different music. ‘Story yela aina undocchu.’ Music plays a sixty per cent role in elevating it. If I get a scope to experiment in terms of musicality, it will be challenging. Whatever I do, I use live elements like guitar, flute. If I implement it is an experimental process.
Your observation on music composers in OTT platforms?
I see a lot of fresh talent composing music. I don’t remember the names of movies yet I observe a lot of music content and quality-driven work which is good. Sadly, only if a film is a hit, popularity for the music director soars. The audio might be good independently but might not sync with cinema, such problems arise sometimes for composers. If he does three or four movies, he will know what the director is expecting from him or the directors should know what kind of music to extract from the music director.
Since I have a lot of time at hand, I am watching a lot of movies and web series at home. We don’t have songs for web series but any movie defines a colour in music. When you watch a film in a relaxed way a lot of interest is generated in orchestra or hybrid score. There is equal interest in the background score too. There is scope for experimenting and we are able to learn something new and there is a growth in wisdom while a lot of observation happens. On the flip side, while music is of low frequency in OTT and not audible, there is a necessity for good earphones. There is no clarity on the phone too. The impact of background score is less. Though there is scope for experimentation on OTT, it isn’t possible, it hasn’t advanced much and the focus is more on the story. Also, there is no connectivity, some people see little today and the rest watch on some other day when free.
