Yuvan Shankar Raja News & Updates

[viraajan]

Yuvan’s Magic

CT CATCHES UP WITH HOTSHOT COMPOSER YUVAN SHANKAR RAJA, WHO IS ON A HIGH POST PAIYYA...
SREEDHAR PILLAI Times News Network

Yuvan Shankar Raja is on a song. According to trade reports from the music industry, his Paiyaa has become 2010’s biggest selling audio, and the number one in ringtone sales. The song Thuli Thuli… from Paiyaa has become the first Tamil song to be featured in an all India index of the top 20 songs on radio for the month of April 2010. This is as per the report of a national broadcasting agency which monitors the number of times a song is played on radio. It clearly means the song was played on all FM stations more often than any other song in the history of Tamil film music! CT catches up with Yuvan for an exclusive interview…

• Congratulations! Your song from Paiyaa features among the top 20 songs in India…
Thanks. It’s a dream come true for me. It means a lot, and clearly indicates the popularity of the Paiyaa album and the Thulli Thulli… number, sung by Haricharan. We have been placed in the same league as that of the recent hit numbers from Hindi films such as Kites, Housefull and Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani.

• How did you compose the songs of Paiyaa?
Lingusamy is good at narrating a script and when he told me the situation about the hero falling in love at first sight, this tune came immediately to my mind. To be frank, some years back, I saw a beautiful girl while driving in rain and wanted to stop my car and express my love, but unlike our film heroes, I simply didn’t have the guts to express my feelings. The tune that came to my mind at that time is what is now Thuli Thuli… And, Na Muthukumar came up with the meaningful lyrics, which added to the tune’s likeability.

• How do you create such peppy tunes?
Finding inspiration to make popular music is difficult. For me, the key lies in long drives on the ECR or the OMR. If given an opportunity, I’d love to escape from Chennai to other parts of the world and compose on my laptop. Sometimes in the early hours of the morning, I suddenly wake up, grab my smartphone and key in a tune.

• Do you party a lot?
(Laughs) The image is partially due to the company I keep, mainly Venkat Prabhu and gang. Now, I hardly party in Chennai, but when I go abroad, I visit the discos, because that is where you get a taste of the music of the place.

• Your detractors say that you’ve become repetitive…
I always make it a point not to repeat my tunes. However, whatever we do, at some point, every composer becomes monotonous. I make it a point to destroy the tune, sound and technology that went into the making of a particular song. For me, the policy has always been to hunt for new sounds and technology to create new music.

• How do you rejuvenate yourself?
When I get lost and confused, I listen to my dad’s (Ilaiyaraaja) music which rejuvenates my senses. I’ve created my own playlist which features 25 of my dad’s favourite numbers. I’m also a big fan of John Williams and Frank Sinatra, and closer to home, RD Burman.