Experimenting led to creating chartbuster 'Oo Anatava.. Oo Oo Antava...'

HYDERABAD:  The recently released film Pushpa - The Rise’s record-breaking streak refuses to stop anytime soon. With the film rules the box office here and the world over, songs from it, too, have been achieving unbelievable feats — three of the five songs from the album hold a good position at the ‘Top 100 Music Videos Global’ playlist compiled by YouTube on their video streaming website (trends and people’s choices). 

While Oo Anatava.. Oo Oo Antava... featuring actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu is at number 1, Saami Saami is at number 4 and Srivalli took the 54th position. Kudos to rockstar composer Devi Sri Prasad, who achieved a hattrick with director Sukumar and Allu Arjun, after their Ringa Ringaa (Arya 2) and Aa Ante Amalapuram (Arya). 

Oo Antava..., whose lyricist is Chandrabose, stands tall at 91.7 million views on YouTube (at the time of writing this article), making it the first-ever Telugu lyrical video to top YouTube’s playlist! We catch up with the busy DSP on what he has to say about the unexpected feat. “I want to believe it has reached the heights it has because it’s unique, catchy — almost like a mantra you can chant,” he says, still trying to wrap his mind around the exciting news.  

“Fortunately or unfortunately, we’re known for dishing out good item numbers and we really wanted to do a good track this time too. However, I was tired of repeating what I did with such songs before (loud tracks and vocals) and was looking to try something very different this time. We squeezed a lot out of Bunny (Allu Arjun) already with the other songs that turned out to be superhits, so we needed to do this without him. I got cracking on what can be unique and that’s when I chanced upon the idea of choosing a slow and mellow track with husky vocals,” DSP shares. 

He sent a recording of his composition to Sukumar from whom he expected suggestions or changes, but got nothing apart from praise in return. “I told Sukku bhai, ‘This might not sound like an item number, but if you can trust me, it’ll do wonders.’ He responded with ‘Darling, I trust you, go with it,’ and we did. While we didn’t expect it to go on a record-breaking spree, we knew it would be a huge hit.” 

DSP gives due credit to singer Indravathi Chauhan, who tasted success overnight. “She did exactly what I wanted her to do — she was a very quick learner — and here we are today.” 

Before he signs off, we ask him about his next project and excitedly, he says, “I’m working with director Bobby (KS Ravindra) for his film with megastar Chiranjeevi. I can’t wait for #Chiru154 to be out!”