CHENNAI: What does it take for a man to get back to what he loves doing, after a seven-year layover? In Viji Manuel’s case, it was a call from AR Rahman.
“He said uncle, why don’t you come over and try my new Steinway...” the pianist recalls the day this happened out of the blue a few months ago. “So I went over and started with Chinna Chinna Asai, jazz style,” the 63-year-old says with a smile which gets broader as he adds, “A while later I was asked to play for the movie Sivamani was working on, Kanithan.” According to ‘Viji uncle’ as most in the industry call him, Rahman was a part of this too. “He told Sivamani, let uncle take his choice of any of the 15 pianos at the KM Music Conservatory...” And when he did eventually pick one, and play, he remembers with a laugh, “Sivamani was so happy, he kissed me on the lips!” He adds with a chuckle, “I’ve been kissed by a lot of girls before, but that was a first.”
But hold on. Before we go into any more crazy stories, you’re probably wondering — who this Viji uncle is. And why is Rahman so fond of him? “Truth is I met him before he even had the name Rahman,” reminisces the veteran musician. Back in the 80s when Viji was a big shot working on a heavy load of jingles by day, and recording for Ilaiyaraja by night, he remembers, “I introduced the folks at the studio to this young boy called Dileep and told them that he would handle a few tunes.” And an always humble Rahman, has apparently never forgotten.
However, life for Viji who tells us he’s played in over 850 films (think everything from Mouna Ragam to Hey Ram) turned upside down when one day he slipped on a carpet at his house and broke his femur. “It was the day before I had a recording with Raja,” he recollects. “But I had to cancel it, the pain was so bad, I couldn’t even crawl.” That was seven years ago. And two surgeries later with no income, the pianist admits the road has been very rough.
“See this keyboard,” he points to the one at his home in Kilpauk, “I didn’t buy it, one of my fans actually gave it to me,” the musician relates unabashedly. Now that he’s back in the game though, having recently even released a new Tamil gospel album across Chennai, Malaysia and Singapore, we’re sure those keys will be getting a lot more playing time.
And the comeback, he probably never would have imagined would be because of a 12-year-old called Dileep who once played for him many moons ago. “I love that boy,” Viji beams. “Now I just really want to get back to work.”
Nose notes
When you’ve played over 850 films with a legend like Ilaiyaraja, we imagine the ‘studio stories’ are bountiful. However, nothing could have prepared us for this one. “There was one of those elaborate action sequences I was playing for with a whole orchestra,” Viji recalls a certain yesteryear recording with the great. “All of a sudden Raja says to me, Viji, I’ve forgotten a shot — we’ll need a big bang for it.” This was a time of no digital cuts or edits. So Viji, hands full already with two keyboards had to think fast. “We couldn’t stop the entire reel because of this one thing, so when the time came I plunged forward nose first on to the keyboard for the bang!” he finishes, the excitement of that night coming back for a moment. “Of course, my nose was out for a week,” he laughs,