KOCHI: Singer Radhika Thilak has enthralled music lovers with her voice and elegance for years. Her sudden demise in 2015 was a shock to the music world as well as her family. Reminiscing her evergreen music, her cousins and playback singers, G Venugopal and Sujatha Mohan have come up with a Family Medley on Radhika’s sixth death anniversary on Monday. Venugopal took to his YouTube channel Hrudayavenu Creations to release the music video that features Sujatha, her daughter Sweta Mohan, Venugopal’s son Arvind and Radhika’s daughter Devika Suresh.
According to Venugopal, the music video features two generations of Radhika’s family. “It is our first time creating a music video together. The Family Medley comprises few of the evergreen popular hits from the early ’90s,” says Venugopal. In the video, ‘Mayamanjalil’, the song Radhika sang with Venugopal in the film Ottayal Pattalam is rendered by her daughter Devika and Arvind.
“I was very excited about the mix-up of two generations of singers. The elders helped me understand how to sing the lines,” says Devika. “Due to Covid restrictions, we recorded the songs separately from studios at our respective locations. For me, it was a journey down memory lane —revisiting old popular tracks. We wanted to keep Radhika alive through her songs,” adds Venugopal.
Arvind, who handled the coordination of the music video along with Shweta, is quite emotional about the offering. “We began Family Medley last year. It was my father’s and Sweta’s idea and we planned it as a dedication to Radhika. Swargangal Swapnam Kanum is sung by all five of us together,” he says. However, he does believe the experience would have been more wholesome if not for the pandemic. “It would have been more emotional if we could all meet and execute the video,” says Arvind.