Being the son of a celebrity made his entry into the world of film-music a cakewalk. “But it was unfair when people compared a young newcomer like me to my father who carved an incomparable niche of his own over decades.
They expected me to be as good as him,” says singer Vijay Yesudas who was in the city recently.
Excerpts from an interview.
From Miami to Mollywood
My family shifted from Chennai to the US after I completed class IX. In high school, I and my two brothers were the only Indians. I learnt to play the piano somewhere around this time.
I was put in a Catholic school close to where we stayed. I graduated in music and theatre from the University of Miami. College was fun. It was a conglomeration of cultures. I began to do shows with dad when I was in college. I also took training in western vocal in the US besides lessons from dad on and off.
Debut in tinseltown
I got a huge opening in 1999 with the songs ‘Shravan Gange’ and ‘O Mumbai’ in ‘Millennium Stars’. The songs went on to become hits but the film failed to click. Before he called me to sing in this film I had worked with music director Vidyasagar in the album ‘Thiruvona Kaineettam’ and my song ‘Chandana valayitta kaikondu nee’ was well received.
From then on I took singing more seriously and started learning carnatic music and bhajans from Prof Ramamurthy Rao, a disciple of Bhimsen Joshi.
The journey wasn’t smooth
I followed up with a song in ‘Indriyam’ with Berny-Ignatius and ‘Keli nilavoru palazhi’ with Vidyasagar in ‘Life is Beautiful’ but none of these were superhits.
I wasn’t touted as the next big thing. I grew gradually, learning from criticism. People compared me to my dad and said I was not up to the mark. They forgot the fact that I was just a beginner.
Heading to Kollywood
I made my Tamil debut with ‘Friends’. The music of the film was scored by Ilaiyaraja. The song ‘Malligai’ with composer Mani Sharma in the film ‘Arasu’ followed. But my song in ‘Kathal Kondein’ composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja and ‘Jayam’ marked a turning point. In Malayalam, ‘Oru chiri kandal’ (Ponmudi puzhayorathu), ‘Kolakkuzhal’ (Nivedyam) and a state award for the latter later, people in the industry have evinced a keen interest to include me in their projects. I’ve worked with talented composers here including M Jayachandran, Ousepachan and Raveendran.
Recent hits and upcoming releases
‘Poomukha vaathilkkal’ (Ivar vivahitharaayal), ‘Mamarangale (Pattanathil bhootham), ‘Annarakanna’ (Bhramaram) and ‘Koovaramkili’ (Benares) have been received well. The first song - a super hit of the 80s sung by my dad - was packaged with the right ingredients in its new avatar without messing with the original. So it has gone down well among the public. I’ve sung in ‘Robinhood’ and ‘Vairam’, the songs of which have been composed by M Jayachandran. I share a great rapport with him. I’ve also sung in the yet to be titled Dileep-Mamta Mohandas starrer.
In Tamil, I’m looking forward to ‘Ayirathil Oruvan’ in which I’ve sung a very different semiclassical number composed by G V Prakash.
Mollywood or Kollywood?
The Tamil industry gave me recognition. It’s is more open to newcomers and has a different crop of music directors who are open to changes.
But the classiness of music has undoubtedly stayed on only in Malayalam. Music in Tamil filmdom has been influenced by the West. So while the hits in Malayalam are mostly melodies, it’s fast numbers that click in Tamil apart from a few melodious hits like ‘Kangal irandal’ (Subramanyapuram) and my song ‘Kathal vaithu’ (Deepavali). It’s in Tamil that I get to sing different types of songs.
I love singing in both the languages. In Bollywood, I’ve sung in Revathy’s ‘Phir Milenge’, Priyadarshan’s ‘Chup Chupke’ and ‘Dhol’.
I like...
From the young lot I like Naresh Iyer, Haricharan, Karthik and Benny Dayal. Benny gives amazing songs in combo with A R Rahman.
There are amazing singers who come out through talent hunts. But they don’t get the push to take their career forward. Instead of gifting them cars and flats, it’s better that they be given the means to bring out an album to take their career ahead.
Looking forward to...
I’m now into production with my label Diva Records. Our first album ‘Maunam Pranayam’ was released last Valentine’s day. The video of one of the songs, ‘Kalamezhuthi pattum padi’ has just been launched. I’m planning an album each in Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam. It’s my dream to bring together 10 music composers in the Malayalam album.
Vijay the dad
Am loving every minute with Ammeya, my six-month-old daughter. She’s trying hard to move on her knees now. Ammeya goes to sleep listening to my song ‘Koovaramkili’. These days, when my dad and mom babysit, they too sing that song to her!
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