CHENNAI: What happens when you take two diehard Rajini fans, who have never played for a Kollywood film in their life - put them in a studio - and tell them it's for Kabali?
Neruppu Da. That's what. Today with over six million views on Youtube, it's hard to imagine it all came together in a 45 minute jam session. No auditions. No retakes.
Meet Tamil metal head and guitarist Jhanu Chanthar and drummer for alternative rock act Skrat, Tapass Naresh. Never in a million years did these two independent musicians expect to get called in to record for a Rajinikanth film. And certainly not the way, this played out...
The call came out of the blue from singer Pradeep Kumar of Aagaayam Theepidicha (Madras) fame who had met up with the two by chance during separate shows early last year. Those familiar with the independent music scene in Chennai would recognise Jhanu from a Tamil metal act by the same name and Tapass, from alternative rock band Skrat, that has been making music for almost a decade now.
Expecting an audition and a callback if they were lucky, as they walked into music director Santhosh Narayanan's studio in November last year — 29-year-old Jhanu recalled the experience couldn't have been more different. "For starters, there was no audition. We were just jamming together, Santhosh as well, when he suddenly brought up that he was working on a Rajini film." The next thing he knew, Jhanu remembers, "Santhosh told me to to imagine Rajinikanth from Basha and Thalapathi multiplied by 100, and then play..."
Jhanu tells us in restrospect, "And this was to a fan who cried when Basha got beaten up in the movie! The moment I heard this was a Rajini film, I knew that I would give this movie all the talent I had."
The jam session lasted 45 minutes, no retakes. And that was that.
It was a whole six months went by before they heard from the music director next. This time, the meeting was in his car. "And just like that we were listening to the finished version of Neruppu Da!" says a mind-blown Tapass. With the song having crossed over six million views on Youtube, and the the teaser with the same track over 23 million since its release on May 1, it's hard to believe it all came together in 45 minutes!
Both diehard fans of the Superstar, these first-timers to Kollywood made a special request while recording their second track for the film, Veera Thurandhra, and the movie's background score. "I told them I don't want to watch any scenes while playing for the film, because I want to watch the movie like a fan," says Jhanu. A hard ask, when you're required to match music with emotion onscreen. To prevent any peaking, they had a crew member describing what Rajini was doing every step of the way to track the background score of the film.
Talk about going the extra mile to prevent any spoilers. What can you say to that? Except, it's Kabali Da!