KOCHI: Unni Menon needs no introduction to music lovers in Kerala and Tamil Nadu though he is more popular among Tamilians than Malayalis.
Right from Pudhu vellai mazhai...
(Roja) to the latest Partha pudhal naale ... (Vettayadu Vilayadu), he has a string of hits to his credit in Tamil.
Menon says he was intelligent enough when he took the risk of resigning his job at the Heavy Vehicles Factory in Avadi to enter the world of film music in the early 80s. After his lucky break in Roja, he has had no reason to look back.
And why should he, with around 1,000 film songs in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu, about 500 devotional songs and a number of stage shows to his credit? He now lives in Chennai and calls it his second home. Recently he was in Palakkad and during a chat revealed more about his career.
Mani Ratnam and A R Rahman were the people who gave him the break to conquer such great heights in Tamil film music. He is the most comfortable working with Rahman and the duo has over 30 songs to their credit. “Rahman gives you a lot of freedom. He radiates energy. There were occasions when I was reluctant to sing as I felt my voice was strained, especially while recording late in the night. But he urged me to go ahead and the final result was amazing. He gives you no tension. He is very calm and quiet,” Menon remembers fondly. Though he was not very popular in Malayalam, he doesn’t have any complaints. He attributes it to bad luck. He believes that it was destiny which took him to the Tamil film industry.
But it was in Malayalam that he became a music director (as well as an actor) for the first time with Sthithi, which won the State award for the second best film in 2003. And Menon will always be remembered for the song Oru chembaneer pooviruthu... from the film.
His recent hit in Malayalam is Omkaram (Veruthe Oru Bhaarya).
He entered the film industry without great expectations. In fact, he never thought of taking up singing as a profession.
He just wanted to switch from his Avadi job. And he is immensely happy with whatever he has achieved so far. Unni Menon has been a judge in the Super Star Global (Amrita TV) reality show. Asked about the credibility of such shows, he says - “Getting into a reality show itself is a litmus test for the contestant. And the contest usually takes six months to one year. During that period, one has to sacrifice everything and focus only on singing.” He feels that these shows are good for discovering quality singers.
He scotches rumours of manipulation through SMS votes and says that only the deserving contestant wins in the end.
About technological advancements in the field, Unni Menon says - “They have both a positive and a negative impact.
Be it rhythm, pitch, melody or even the voice, anything and everything can be corrected now using software.” He is not against techno-music, which, he says, was brought to South India for the first time by A R Rahman. “Music directors who can compose good techno- music are very rare,” he says. “Many singers themselves are now asking for pitch-correcting software.” He has words of praise for every new voice in the industry and a lot of them for Sweta Mohan, daughter of Sujata Mohan (who incidentally is his favourite duet partner). “She is extremely talented and well-trained,” he says.
“When I started off, I was not welltrained, which at times, was a handicap.
But today’s youngsters have enough opportunity to learn the basics. And basics are a must.”
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