Y.Sunita Chowdhary
Guna Balasubramanian is in the news for his perfect background score in Thank You Brother. He sets the tempo for a smooth narrative and heightens the tension in the as the film progresses. He is sure to bag more works in the Telugu film industry. The youngster is a Tamilian raised and settled in Chennai. He bagged this project through director Ramesh who saw his work on the internet. What was he doing earlier in the music or film industry? “Before I was working for three films in Telugu as a keyboard player. This is my debut film and first release ever as a music director. I did the complete music; There is the soul of Thank You Brother and the rest is background score. In Tamil I did three films which are due for release.” Guna is from Madurai where only recreation is cinema. He would watch films with his dad and once when his mother’s niece was going through vocal classes in Chennai, he too accompanied her. Hed would look forward to the summer vacations in Chennai and be a part of the music classes. Back in Madurai, his parents insisted on him learning music, piano and singing. He Learned Carnatic music for ten years and finished the eighth grade in piano..all this happened during schooling. He shares, “My mom was supposed to be a singer and wanted me to be one. I too love music and it has nothing to do with them forcing me. After 12th exams, I moved To Chennai and started working on short films and ad films even while the academics were on. I sought admission at SRM college to study music. I was with a band called Seventh Octave and we would win all cultural competitions. I developed my music through the band. I studied engineering for a year and discontinued because my heart was in music and I took up visual communication. After my plus 2 exams, I was working as an intern at Radio Mirchi, Madurai. That was where I got the attention and encouragement to learn more on cinema from the art guys. They wanted me to go to Chennai. At Radio Mirchi, I was doing a lot of jingles. The art guys spoke to my parents and made sure I went to chennai.”
Right from the time he was 18, Guna began earning his pocket money through small projects. Was an opening in Tamil cinema difficult? “I had to struggle as I didn’t have any filmi contacts. I had to equip myself, to learn and improve myself technically. Music direction is not only about music, it is about system, software. From being an amateur to reaching this position it took time. Music is the main soul but knowing the software is important. I was interested in music direction and naturally into singing. I was doing both and luckily I got to do both. I had to follow people, directors. I didn’t know how to impress them and it took time to understand when to talk and how to talk to them. This is the main struggle and I am aware that they will be very sensitive and I can’t call and pressurise them for work. I began working on a lot of short films, atleast 400 in tamil and 600 ad films. I still do short films but in a selective fashion.” He further adds, “It has been a while since I worked on a short film. People have moved to web series etc. Short films have made me strong and background score is my forte. It gave me a sense of aesthetics to improve it. I can actually predict the situation. I am comfy with the films I do now, because of the experience I had all these years. I know to treat a similar situation in two different ways. A love scene is the same with all the movies but how it is treated musically is different. It gave me a great deal of confidence. I make efforts to not repeat the previous sounding.”
Ask him why certain music directors tend to repeat themselves, he says “Sometimes we tend to stick to something we like, and we fall into a comfort zone. That is when the producer or director reminds us that we are repeating the tunes so we change the route. There are music directors who have sung for a huge number of films and they know their hit formula, it is their smart work. They know what to deliver to people, the pulse of the mass or the target audience. Mickey J Meyer’s music is classic melody and DSP and Thaman know the target audience because they work for big star films. To be particular, DSP did a Tamil film called Sachin, the album was classy and had good melodies and dance numbers. Music directors can do any kind of music and it is just that they cater to a particular segment. Creating a particular style for yourselves is difficult. Folk music is something that needs to be celebrated. The world can’t replicate, it is unique and belongs to us. We should be proud of the music we have, I can challenge any white musician, he cannot play our folk rhythm.”
About the importance of a hit song as a pre release and how a music director gets sidelined in the process he says, “I want my audience to hum my tunes. I want very simple, hummable tunes day to day life. I am eager to collaborate with new musicians and genres, that is my target as of now. Risks in this profession? We have to be mentally strong. A song becoming a hit as a pre promotion activity has become important, a parameter to success. Only in Indian cinema, we have this song pattern. In Hollywood, they reveal the background score as separate albums. The musicians perform the scores in the concerts. A song is an extra mileage but there are few songs like Butta Bomma that gives you a vibe and it gives an initial preparation. You get the colour of the song and it builds an expectation. Nowadays we get to see the first look poster and lyrical video which sets the mood of the film. I won’t say it decides the success of the film. A music director doesn’t regret not being the centre of attention. They are very sensitive and don’t take the credit, their only aim is to make the song a success. They don’t mind at all if the lyricist or the singer gets the attention. Basically the music director is the creator of the song and he thinks the rest of the people are part of the creation”.
Director Ramesh Raparthy sent the synopsis on whatsapp to Guna and told him that it is a thriller. When he watched the film, there were a lot of places where he found the space to score. He quips, “We came up with what we mutually decided on. It has a series of emotions. The film was 80 percent done on the edit table, it was tight. It was challenging and had thrilling moments. I just supported the film as being a thriller and emotional music together. With the help of Ramesh, I was able to crack it. The directors usually these days are going for an assortment of music directors and background score. There could be multiple reasons, there could be time factors or personal likes and dislikes, we can never predict anything. I am doing a film in Malayalam with Tovino Thomas and two more films in Tamil. The projects might be announced after the flattening of the Covid curve.”
