Stay tuned to Vinu Thomas

That his tryst with Malayalam film music industry started many moons ago is a lesser-known titbit about Vinu Thomas. Many wiki movie pages owe him the credit him as a composer, but mouse over his name and it leads you nowhere.

There are no hyperlinks or other wiki trumpet on his five Ws and one H. Over time — exactly 12 years — this lawyer-turned-musician has gifted many memorable tunes to the audience. Why dig deeper? Doesn’t the song Marivil Kudaneerthum... in Drishyam still tug at your heartstrings?       

The Tiruvalla lad, who has proven his musical chops in film and ad world, is making a grand launch of himself as a composer-cum-background scorer in Malayalam in the about-to-be-released Oru Murai Vanthu Parthaya (OMVP), a Sajan K. Mathew directorial. He has set to tune three songs in the film.

“The movie is a friends’ reunion. Sajan (director), Abhilash (screenwriter) and I have been together since our college days and were there throughout composing, particularly for background music. So I enjoyed every bit of it. For every movie I have worked with, the directors used to be great pillars of support and the camaraderie repeated this time too,” Vinu shares.

Basically an ad-man, after the success of Drishyam, Vinu was back in the world of jingles. In the past one year, he did as many as 30 of them while engaging in a couple of songs for films ocassionally. Ads came calling when he was a law graduate and his first break as a Malayalam film music composer happened with Jayaraj-directed Of the People in 2008. the same year, he made a Telugu outing in Ankit, Pallavi and Friends.

Being grounded in classical music, Vinu devises tunes keeping those first and basic lessons in mind. “My way is to compose through singing. For more than 80 per cent of the songs I did so far, composing happened before penning of the lyrics. That keeps me cool and gives much freedom. And all the lyricists I have teamed with were so cooperative and getting the best lyrics is a blessing,” he says.

The OMVP audio jukebox got an overwhelming response on YouTube, and the Arikil Pathiye song alone amassed close to 1.60 lakh views in 15 days, Vinu doesn’t prefer to sit on laurels and is getting back in the business. He is composing music for a song in the Asif Ali-starrer Kavi Uddheshichathu next.