CHENNAI: Calling your work Neon Nagaram is a dicey affair. But it all sort of fits when Shammeer reveals, “We’re all software engineers working with IT giants. The only time we ever got to record our music and for me, to write this novel, was at night. Everywhere we looked, Chennai gave us bright neon signs for company and not much else.” It is quite an achievement for a Chennai-based new-age band, Paadhai (pathway in Tamil), to release their second ‘musical-novel’, on Sunday.The core duo, Siva and Shammeer, handle the music and lyrics while the others chip in wherever required. After a sober debut with Ranam Sugam in 2006, Shameer says that it took him “15 days to write this, and two weeks to get it edited. The music part started immediately after.” Experiencing Neon Nagaram can be a slightly complicated process, requiring a DVD player, a comfortable couch and lots of popcorn handy. As you start reading page 232, ‘contemporary love story of a Chennai youth’, there are pages that will direct you to play each of the 17 songs on the DVD, at specific points during the story. “It was always meant to be like a movie and we’re now hopeful that it will find takers for the big screen,” chips in Satish, who handles their Record label, Clariti Records.NN garnered a surprise boost in the arm during their audio launch. Filmmaker Cheran, who admitted that he had been following the group since their last album shocked them all by announcing on stage, “I’ve decided to make this into a film! I felt youthful while working with Paadhai.” High praise indeed from a director who has never had any qualms hitting out at ‘top-notch’ peers in the industry who “make money from high budget remakes”.Actor Prasanna who was the other guest of honour could not stop waxing eloquent about how much the protagonist in NN reminded him of his own life. Rather ironically he described a ‘Tamil rap’ sequence in the album as being akin to “rape”, only to find that the rapper was waiting in the wings to perform next. Prasanna made a swift recovery though and all was well.The lyrics have been translated into Hindi, so that it can reach a larger audience reveals Satish, “We are hoping to publish it in English if we can find the support the album deserves.” Asked what they have planned next, the collective answer from the group is unanimous – SLEEP! “After months of sleepless nights, the launch is done. Now it’s time to sit back, wait for the response and hope nobody brings up proof-less accusations of tune lifting,” concludes Shammeer. (Neon Nagaram is priced at `199 and is available via flipkart on www.paadhai.com)
Comments
0 comment