KOCHI: While we are regaled with tales of love gone wrong on an everyday basis, here comes a music video that celebrates the essence of romance.
The song ‘Ud ja re’, released last month, is about a young couple that goes through difficult times and their story is told against the backdrop of kalarippayttu. “We made the song in Hindi so that it gets a pan-Indian appeal. If it’s in Malayalam it will stay limited to Kerala audience only,” says S Mahesh, director.
The highlight of the video is the way it interweaves kalaripayyttu, Kerala’s own martial art form, into the main thread. “Himachali singer and theatre artist Gourav Mehta has been with me for a couple of years to learn kalari. He is a trained Hindusthani singer and a martial arts expert. That’s how the idea of a music album came up,” says Mahesh who is also a kalari instructor. He adds that they wanted to make a song that will showcase kalari at a national level. “Thekkan kalari, the type we have here in Thiruvananathapuram, is more defense oriented. It’s a totally different style from what we have in Malabar.”
‘Ud ja re’ is basically a motivational song that blends romance and martial arts with streaks of women empowerment, he says.
“In the romantic track, the boy loses his memories after he is attacked by some goons. The girl, who practises kalaripayattu, saves him and slowly brings him back to his life. It shows how the martial art form helps him in sharpening his senses and regaining memory,” he adds. While Gourav and Diana play the couple, Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam are the main locations in ‘Ud ja re’. The music video is produced by Red Archers.