Working with Manjari

(Back to the album details for today. Short film is still under construction).

The song Kadal is actually a younger sister of the song Venal. While composing Venal there were so many tunes left over that I decided to make another song out of it. How ever, I tried my best to keep them as distinct as possible.

The song's track was done by Arthi. My goal was to get Ms Sujatha to sing it. I called her up and tentatively booked a date. However, a week before my trip Sujatha was down with flu and lost her voice. There was no sign of immediate recovery. My brother suggested Manjari. He played some of her songs and I was sold. I called up Manjari and booked the same day as I was going to record Vidhu Prathap in Trivandrum.

I met Manjari first at the restaurant along with Vidhu and others. She was cool. Her mother was a very nice lady. There was some confusion about the timing of the recording. I let Vidhu and Manjari sort it out. One thing I noticed quickly about Manjari was the way she gets into the core of the song. She is incredibly talented. Except for one or two suggestions here and there, she did it all herself. Listened to the track and rendered it in her own style. I just observed. Manjari's sound does not need too much digital processing to make it sound good. I used absolutely no pitch correction. All I had to do was, clean up the unwanted takes, give some equalizations and there I have the finished vocal track. No wonder she is Ilaiya Raja's favorite singer in Malayalam.

The still think that the lyrics of the song.. especially the second half of it is very very.. dry. If possible.. I will re-write and re-record it. Like I said before.. I am a perfectionist. Its a blessing and a curse at the same time.