HYDERABAD: Telugu thriller Family Drama, which was released in October, got Tollywood fans to sit up and take notice. Its original soundtrack (OST) and background score took the film to another level, giving viewers goosebumps throughout the two hours and 12 minutes. We speak to the brothers behind the music — Ajay and Sanjay Brahmandam. The dynamic duo tells us all about their music journey so far, future plans, what they’re doing in Los Angeles, hopeful collaborations with Indian artistes and more.
Choosing the wrong course in school got the brothers hooked to music. “I was in my sixth grade, studying at The Hyderabad Public School in Begumpet. They had this extra-curricular activity class once a week, and I chose to be part of something called the ‘Space Club’. After two classes, I lost interest and ditched that class, until one day, I got called into the vice-principal’s office. I burst into tears, saying: ‘I don’t like this class, the teacher is very mean!’ The vice-principal responded by saying that I could choose another class. I enrolled for the drums classes and there was no turning back ever since,” says Sanjay.
Within a few weeks of him joining the drums classes, he ended up getting an opportunity to perform at a 10K run in the city, with his school band. As one of the spectators, Ajay was blown away by his performance and the crowd’s reaction. “People stopped running and started filming Sanjay on the drums. This inspired me to pick up a guitar and work on my vocals too. Essentially, that incident and heavy metal music are what brought us together in this journey of making music,” says Ajay.
Fast forward a couple of years later, the Brahmandam family moved to Tokyo and the brothers were performing all over Japan with international heavy metal bands. They received a lot of appreciation, love and support from the locals too. “Ajay had even earned the title ‘Scream Machine’. After five years in Japan, we moved to Los Angeles, California,” Sanjay shares.
Why LA, and pat comes their reply: Hollywood! “We wanted to learn the ins and outs of entertainment from the world’s largest industry. I mean, both our colleges were literally on Hollywood Boulevard.” Also, their musical journey took off mainly due to heavy metal; they have always been drawn to western music — classical or otherwise. They want to introduce the Indian elements in this genre.
Currently, Ajay is working on commercials and reality TV shows. The brothers are also working on Indie film projects and some trailer music. “Aside from that, we’re working on our second heavy metal album and pop/experimental album which we’re very, very thrilled about,” an excited Sanjay says.
Their contribution to the recently released thriller Family Drama, starring Suhas, won them critical acclaim and a new fan base in Hyderabad. On how they landed the project, Ajay says, “The director, Meher Tej, and I had worked on a short film together a long time ago. We went to the same university in India. Although we never saw or spoke to each other during our time there, one of our mutual friends redirected him to me for the short film. A couple of years later, Meher reached out to us with the story of Family Drama which both Sanjay and I instantly fell in love with.”
Their growing fan base, especially in Hyderabad, wants them to foray into other film industries in India. Are they looking forward to working more here and collaborating with other artistes from the country? Absolutely! “Growing up, we were huge fans of Tollywood movies. We would love to work on any potential Telugu movies. We’re just waiting for the right story.
We would love to get an opportunity to work with Jr NTR, Allu Arjun and Vijay Deverakonda. On musical terms, Thaikkudam Bridge (band from Kerala) is one of my favourite Indian bands and I’d love to collaborate with them sometime in the future,” says Ajay, who listens to a lot of Telugu and Tamil music, especially songs by DSP, Thaman and Anirudh Ravichander, to name a few.
Apart from what they’re already doing and conquering, Sanjay hopes to take things to the next level. “We want to cover every single genre of music — be it scoring for different kinds of films, heavy metal/rock, pop, EDM, classical, jazz, country, etc. When people think of music, I want them to think ‘Ajay and Sanjay’. Even if I were to step out a little of the ‘recognition’ aspect and speak purely philosophically, no human being ever really has one emotion throughout his/her/their life.
We see these emotions being synonymous to the different styles/genres of music and us being artistes, we see it as achieving our fullest potential in our (artistic) expression. And I, for one, don’t see a greater goal.” Both the brothers have always enjoyed taking an actor’s approach to music, which means, “taking on different roles and expressing every possible shade/emotion humanly possible.”