THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The song “Akashadeepangal Sakshi” by Yesudas in Mohanlal-starrer Ravanaprabhu is a favourite of many people. But not many know that singer Jayachandran too had lent his voice to that song. And the latter’s contribution is just a sound ‘il’ in “manasil ni eppozhum” that the original singer missed in the final take. Humble Media, a popular YouTube channel, contains similar titbits and interesting anecdotes on film music. The channel also keeps an eye on ‘plagiarised tunes and lyrics’ and substantiates its claims with evidence.
The man behind the channel is Thiruvananthapuram-based Rahul Humble Sanal, a young researcher in Malayalam songs. Rahul’s simple narration, mixed with excerpts from the songs, has become a hit among film and music lovers. Not just film songs, the channel reviews different genres, including folk songs and theatre songs in Malayalam.
Rahul’s revelation that “Hridayaraga thantri meetti” composed by maestro Raveendran had a close resemblance with a prayer song by Vasanth Desai was nothing less than a shocker to music fans. Desai had composed it for the film “Guddi”. Same was the case with “Nila Paithale” by Ouseppachan which had striking similarities with Richard Mark’s “Now and Forever”.
“I launched the channel in 2019 taking inspiration from my father the late P C Sanal Kumar who had reviewed films and songs for popular magazines. At that time, YouTube did not have an exclusive channel for film songs with regular updates. I’m happy that today there are many channels that drew inspiration from Humble Media,” says Rahul. Rahul’s father was a former civil servant who was quite popular as a singer and satirist.
Even some popular film lyrics too owe their origin to other works, claims Rahul. Tamil poet Kannadasan’s classic lyrics “Mannukk Maram Bharama, Marathukk Ilai Bharama” may not be popular among Malayalees. But they can instantly recall the lyrics “Manninu marangal bharam, marathil chillakal bharam” from yesteryear blockbuster “Kabooliwala”. Rahul’s another finding was that Kannadasan’s “Kodi Asainthathum Kattu Vanthatha” has a cousin in the same Malayalam movie — “Thennal Vannathum, Poovulanjuvo, Poovulanjathum, Ilam thennal melle vannuvo.”
Rahul was a video editor in prominent Malayalam TV channels before launching the channel. Literary researcher Rema K J is his wife and Subba Lakshmi daughter.