Vasuki on the making of his hit songs

Vasuki Vaibhav is one of the most in-demand music composers in the Kannada film industry. His first film ‘Rama Rama Re’ gained critical success helping him bag some big projects such as ‘French Biriyani’, ‘Badava Rascal’ among others.

Thanks to his strong theatre background, Vasuki adapts to different genres. The talented artiste, who is an all-rounder, spoke to Showtime about his journey so far. Excerpts:

Talk about your journey before you got into films.

I was exposed to theatre at a very young age, thanks to my father and a few other family members who were involved with the team Benaka, founded by BV Karanth. I never had any formal music education; it was all through theatre. My grandmother Indira Keshavan, who wrote and composed ‘devaranamas’, influenced me.

Later in life, I met K Kalyan sir, V Manohar sir, Anoop Seelin, and Praveen Stephen, among others and got some studio experience. I sang more than 100-200 tracks as a track singer, and I sang the chorus for more than 40-50 films. I also happened to meet Raghu Dixit and wrote jingles for him. To try my luck in acting, I was also auditioning for films and serials while I was doing theatre. D Satya Prakash and I always discussed cinema. He roped me as the composer in ‘Rama Ram Re’.

Did the hit ‘Kaagadada Doniyalli’ from ‘Kirik Party’ change your career?

Rakshit Shetty really liked the album of ‘Rama Rama Re’ and my song ‘Kelu Krishna’. So he insisted Ajaneesh to try my voice for one of the songs. I initially sang another song that was not approved. But Rakshit tried me for another song. That is how ‘Kagadada Doniyali’ happened. That is why I call it a chain link. Your work connects you to another work. The song defined me as a singer and helped people notice me.

‘Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shaale’ (SHPS) is a children’s film. How did you ace the genre?

You have to cater to specific things in a star films. I didn’t have such a pressure in ‘SHPS’. Initially, it had only four songs. But in the process, five more songs were added. It was actually the second film I had signed up for. So given that it was at the beginning of my career, I also had a lot of innocence. I wanted to try something new. Even the script was unique. There is a prayer song in the film. Not many films have it. To date, we still receive videos of it being sung in schools.

‘Innunu bekagide’ is among one of the most viewed songs of yours on YouTube. While this was a romantic song, it was ‘Aagaga nenapaguthale’ which turned out to be an anthem for the broken hearts...

Technically, ‘Badava Rascal’ was my first film for a star. The director gave me a free hand. He describe the song by telling how he wanted the audience to feel, such as how everyone going through a breakup should listen to it and relate to it. It was a little challenging in the beginning for me as it is important for one to believe in what is told and then to compose it. So I am very happy and thankful for the result.

‘Innunu bekagide’ is the only song I composed for ‘Mundina Nildana’, which sort of became the film’s identity. Vinay is a very good friend. I should thank him for approving the tune and giving me all the freedom. I had no idea it would be received this way. I still receive covers and messages for the song and is the one song people wait for during the concerts. There were around 15,000-20,000 people singing this song along with me in my recent shows.

Given that you are a Bengalurean, is ‘The Bengaluru Song’ from ‘French Biriyani’ your understanding of the city?

I might have some influences from Malnad. But Pannaga Bharana, the director of the film, is a hardcore Bengalurean. Any place influences the way one thinks. I used to see an ambulance pretty much every day while travelling back and forth to school. I used to feel very helpless. So it was a conscious effort to bring all this up when I was writing about traffic. It was the director’s idea to bring in rap. But I wanted to make it quirky, so we mixed some Dholak elements and brought in some qawwali style.

Being both a composer and a vocalist, how do you decide the songs you want to sing?

Most of the time, it is the choice of the director. Initially for ‘Badava Rascal’, I wanted to sing ‘Udupi hotel’ and wanted ‘Aagaga nenapaguthale’ by someone else. But the director insisted me on singing the latter. Sometimes, I feel like I should sing a particular song. For instance, in the recent release ‘Dooradarshana’, I sang ‘Kannu kannu’, which did pretty well. The director suggested a few other names for it, but I asked him to trust me. It is mostly intuitive in nature.

You seem to be one of the busiest composers in the industry. Please talk about your upcoming projects.

I am working on a film called 'Tagaru Palya', produced by Dhananjaya and starring Nagabhushana. I am also doing a film called 'Tatsama Tadbhava', which marks Meghana Raj’s comeback. There is also another film lined up with 'Rama Rama Re' fame Satya Prakash. Apart from this, I am also concentrating on my independent music, which I am really excited about this year. I have already composed a few songs and will probably release them as singles. One of the songs is 'Mansinda yarunu kettoralla', which I composed during Bigg Boss. I have revisited it and am planning to release it as my independent song.