CHENNAI: He is a Tamilian, knows a little Hindi but not a word of Bengali. For him, to compose a Bengali song for an international film at the age of 20 is quite an achievement. Meet Mukund Ambarish Manivannan, a Chennaiite who composed the entire background score for a Hollywood independent film, Interconnect.
The film is a fictionalised account of the 2013 Savar Factory collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It revolves around a woman and her love for her husband. This is where a Bengali song was supposed to be added to the background score. The director chose one of Rabindranath Tagore’s poems.
Talking about the making of the tune, Mukund says, “It was extremely challenging. I’ve been composing music for years but when I hear the lyrics, I translate them into Tamil. This time it wasn’t possible and I had to change my music sensibilities. I listened to a lot of Bengali tracks, how it sounds and the many interpretations of Tagore’s poems. I wanted my tune to be unique but also retain the Bengali essence. After seven compositions, I was still not happy,” he recalls adding that the tune hit him one night and he sang to it and composed the entire track in two minutes.
Bengali is a very musical language and it gives a lot of importance to melody and pronunciation. Moreover, working on Tagore’s lyrics was a challenge. “Most of the time, Hindustani classical tunes are used in Bengali songs. But I have included carnatic tunes using the violin. I wanted to bring my culture in. Though such fusion has been done by a lot of musicians, this violin-piano-Bengali lyrics combination is new. It has an international appeal but sounds Indian.”
Mukund got this opportunity while pursuing bachelor’s in Music Composition at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. One of the directors recommended him to Interconnect’s director. “Composing music for a Hollywood film has been a great experience and I consider myself lucky. Music is my passion and I love cinema. My ultimate goal is where the two converge.”
Inspired by daily life, the sounds of the waves and his personal thoughts, Mukund found his passion quite early in life. When he was in Class 11, he did a few promos for a radio channel and came out with a single called Iru Vizhi. He also studied at AR Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory. Now in Chennai on a vacation, Mukund is excited about the film and is waiting for feedback.
Would they like it? Listening to his favourites by AR Rahman, Beethoven, Anil Srinivasan, John Williams and Illayaraja, he has his fingers crossed.