The actor has crooned for a couple of films before, the most recent being the Leonard Cohen number in ‘Pranayam’. Most of the songs were chart toppers, but nothing would have prepared Mohanlal for the overwhelming response he is garnering for his latest outing. Within one day of its FM release, the ‘Attumanal payayil...’ song from his latest flick ‘Run Baby Run’ has become the next big thing in music circuits. The catchy melody has struck the right chord with the audience leaving the netizens busy searching for it. “Lal sir has outmatched even professional singers in the rendition. He remained extremely focused throughout the recording and put his hund red percent,” says Ratheesh Vega, music director of the film.
The composer insists that the song was not something tailor-made for the actor suiting his style and voice and, though essentially folkish in character, has an outlandish charm to it. “The song is a blend of folk and rock and the orchestration is arranged in such a way that the voice is not interrupted at any point. Even Lal sir feels it’s the loveliest track he has ever sung,” he smiles.
It was a joint decision of the director and scenarist to make the lead actor sing a song for the much-hyped movie. “They wanted to enhance the raciness. When the actor sings in his own voice,there will be a zingy feel to the whole sequence,” he says. Ratheesh says that the actor was a little uncomfortable with the song at first as it required frequent pitch variations. “But I was quite confident as I composed the song after listening to all the pieces he has sung before.”
He says hobnobbing with Mollywood’s biggest star was a terrific experience as Lal is an actor sans any starry airs. “I was a bit hesitant to point out the mistakes first and then he started to improvise based on my expressions. Usually people are happy when we appreciate their singing, but Lal sir was different. He prompted me to come out with the faulty parts so that the final version will be error-free and perfectly in tune with what I wanted,” he says.
The composer, whose claim to fame was the awesome tracks in ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Cocktail’, adds that the film and the song were very crucial to his career and he is keeping his fingers crossed for its release. “It’s the biggest project I have ever associated with. You have an ace filmmaker like Joshiey at the helm and a legend like Mohanlal in the lead. The comic-thriller has a larger-than-life canvas and is an Onam release,” he says.
Most of the recording process was completed in Vienna and London for technical perfection. “It was done to add a exotic flavour to the BGM and also we have used some rare instruments for the music,” he says. The film, which is slated for an Onam release, has another specialty - the composer himself has sung the title track of the film, that too for the first time.