Humming Ah aah ... kili poyi, is the latest rage among the young and the old. The catchy phrase often heard on campuses was turned into a peppy number by none other than Rahul Raj. No wonder the youth have fallen in love with his music. To top it all, the number has won him a ticket to Bollywood.
Kili Poyi is not the first film in which his music was noted. He created waves in Bachelor Party, Chotta Mumbai, Time, Ritu, Annan Thambi and One Way Ticket to name a few. Like every other new age musician Rahul too wants to step into music maestro A R Rahman’s shoes. His romance with music began with imitations of Rahman’s music. But with the heady concoction of utmost dedication, hard work and god-given gift, Rahul has now become one of the most sought-after music composers of the Malayalam film industry today. “Put your heart and soul into the song and do it as if it would be the last song of your life, so why not give your best shot for it! May be in few years time I will become the Jack of all genres in music, a complete musician, but right now I believe I still have a lot to learn.”
Rahul was 12 years old when the tag of music composer fell on his head. His very first composition was a bhajan for Mata Amritanandamayi. From then on there was no looking back.
His father had gifted him a keyboard (a synthesiser) on his 17th birthday, which he still has. The gift helped him discover the magic in his fingers. For him music is all about melody and harmony, with technology to compliment the music that flows from the heart.
Though Rahul had the support of his parents to choose music as a career, they wanted him to give equal importance to academics as well. He balanced music and engineering with elan at Cochin University of Science and Technology. “I did my level best to ruin all the interviews that came my way as I wanted to live my dream of a career in music. But invariably the interviewing panel was impressed with my attitude and I ended up getting selected,” quips Rahul. After he realised that engineering was not his cup of tea, he quit his lucrative job with a firm in the UK. Though he knew he would end up in the field of music, he never dreamt of becoming a singer-cum-music composer.
“I created Lokah Samastah for Amma’s birthday, the theme song of Amrita, which fetched me worldwide appreciation and made me stand where I am today,” he says. Rahul entered the music industry with jingles and theme songs. The jingles and a theme song of Amrita channel gave him an opening in the film Chotta Mumbai, by Anwar Rasheed. His initial challenge was to give a touch of jazz music to the songs, which later on became a big hit. He is the first one to introduce the technique of counterpoint in Malayalam film industry through his film Ritu in 2009. “I had put in my heart and soul for Ritu as I wanted to create a different feel for the music in it.” Shyamaprasad, director of the film, who saw me at work told me that “I hope and pray that you get an award for your work!”
As an answer to his prayers Rahul won the Vayalar Award 2009 for Best Music Direction and Kerala State Film Award 2009 for the Best Background Score for Ritu. He also bagged Jaycees Foundation Award for the Best Music Direction for his composition in ‘Oru Rapoo’ from the film Time in 2007. His composition for Oh my Friend, in Telugu fetched him the Maa Award for the Best Debut Music Composer in 2011. He says, “Music should have its own freedom without any restrictions in its flow and it must have meaningful lyrics to have an emotional connect with the ears,”. The next projects in his kitty are Paathsaala in Telugu, Bad Boys in Malayalam and a Tamil movie.