Bijibal couldn’t have asked for a better debut than ‘Arabikkatha’. As each song of this movie released in 2007 was lapped up by the music lovers, the composer in him was overwhelmed. Looking back, it has been a highly satisfying career, he says. And admits to have learnt some lessons, most of them the hard way.
He sounds extremely honest and practical when he says, “I have not become a high profile music composer. I have not got any phenomenal hits. But, yes, I am proud that I have been part of a handful of projects which were turning points in the history of Malayalam cinema.” Which, according to him are, ‘Arabikkatha’, ‘Passenger’, ‘Daddy Cool’, ‘Loudspeaker’, ‘Kerala Cafe’, ‘Paleri Manikyam Oru Pathirakolapathakithinte Katha’ ( co- composed with Sharreth) and ‘Salt N Pepper’.
“These are some of the movies which, I believe, have brought about some constructive changes in the Malayalam film industry.” And you can’t but agree with him when he observes that, “There is a section of people in the media who decide which song is good and which is not. The so-called critics make so much hue-and-cry over the media about a song that the listeners approach each song with a prejudice. They are the ones who make a song a hit and a flop! I honestly feel that the media should exercise some level of neutrality when it comes to judging a song.”
Bijibal even feels that his songs of the recently-released ‘Sevenes’ would have gone unnoticed if the songs of ‘Salt N Pepper’ had not become so popular. “I feel that at least one song of ‘Sevenes’ got noticed because of the appreciation I got for ‘Salt N Pepper’.”
He affirms that he is not an exception. There are many composers, whose songs, though good, go unappreciated and unnoticed. “For example, the songs of ‘The Train’ by singer-composer Sreenivas are so beautiful. But, very few talked about those songs.”
Compromises are part and parcel of the game; hits and misses are so unpredictable, he has realised it all. “I am so emotionally attached to the song of ‘Paleri Manikyam...’ (‘Palerum naadaya...’ which he himself has sung). But media didn’t even treat that as a song. I didn’t expect that. Then the song ‘Kanamullal...’ from ‘Salt N Pepper’ which was so popular prior to the film’s release was taken over by the song ‘Premikkumbol...’ when the film got released.”
Talking about ‘Premikkumbol...’ in which he has made use of the evergreen, ever-youthful voice of P Jayachandran, Bijibal says, “His rendition is close to my heart. All these years he is being talked about as the second best, which he is not. The youthfulness is still there in the voice of this 67-year-old singer. I would love to work with him again...”
Otherwise, he would always give chance to new voices, Bijibal affirms. “I want to bring maximum new voices into the industry.”
He mentions talents like Arun (who sang ‘Swapnam oru chakku..’ in ‘Best Actor’ and a song in ‘Sevenes), Jayaram Renjith (‘Sevenes’) and Ganesh Sundaram who sang ‘Himakanam in Violin’, “who has been there for long looking for a break.”
And it is with the intention of giving opportunities for talents that he, along with film-maker Lal Jose and others have launched Traya, an artistic and cultural forum. “Lal sir and I share a terrific rapport post ‘Arabikkatha’. He ensures that I am part of his projects in one way or other. He is the chairman of Traya. We are working on setting up something like an artistic and cultural hub, where budding talents can be brought together. Eventually it should be a place from where the film industry can recruit people.”
This naturally leads our chat to reality shows. Having been a judge on one of them, Bijibal opines, “The shows have become so much misguiding. They have become nothing more of a showbiz industry. And parents have become so addicted to it.”
His future projects include Mammootty-starrer ‘Venicile Vyapari’ and Rajasenan’s ‘Innanu Aa Kalyanam’. He is also putting in that extra effort towards establishing his band ‘Down To Earth’, a 12-member group. “We would like to project different issues, social and environmental through compositions. The songs would be fresh and the compositions would cover different music genres. Besides, we would be singing some unplugged film songs.”
And he is open to doing background score, after successful attempts in ‘Arabikkatha’, ‘Cycle’, ‘Paleri Manikyam...’, ‘Best Actor’, ‘Salt N Pepper’ and ‘Sevenes’. “However, I feel I need to go a long way in this. They just happened, something like my singing in ‘Paleri Manikyam...’, ‘Arjunan Sakshi’ and ‘Best Actor’.”
We had to ask him about the copycats in the industry, some of whom have been caught redhanded. “Plagiarism is definitely there. It is a fact that sometimes incidental similarities come up when you tune a song based on a particular raga. But, apart from that there are the so-called ‘inspired’ tunes, which are obvious lifting from old songs. However, I feel the practice is bound to come down, because many have been exposed. There is nothing more shameful than getting caught!”
Bijibal lives in Kochi with wife Santhi and two kids, Devadutt and Daya.