Daddy's boy, alright!

There is that familiar deep bass voice. That bit of crack in between words. From his dad, you think, remembering legendary composer Rajamani’s baritone that came out more on interviews and television shows than as a singer’s. And now, Achu, his son, with the voice of his dad, has gone ahead in the same direction, but on a slightly different track. While his dad and grandfather B. A.

Chidambaranath composed music for many Malayalam movies, Achu’s work has mostly come in Tamil and Telugu  industries — including ventures such as Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathilaey, Urumeen, etc.

“One, I have been too busy in Tamil and Telugu, and two, I have not got offers from Malayalam. After singing a song for Happy Husbands, no one has approached me in Malayalam,” says the young man, who has composed for 26 films so far.

But then he is behind the background score of Veeram in all the regional languages, and composed music for its Bollywood version. Achu had been a secret musician for years, a keyboard player and programmer, a singer that not even his friends knew of. The cover blew in his college days. “I was the lead vocalist for Green Peace India and once we came to perform at Chennai IIT. I had no idea that my friends were all there!”

He maintained the same secrecy with his dad for he was scared of this man who had been doing great things ever since he could remember. Achu recalls a day in 1993 when Johnson Master called his dad to conduct music for a scene in Manichitrathazhu. The young boy watched in awe as his dad conducted a hundred musicians with ease at the AVM studio. “Appa was an independent musician by then, but he would go whenever Johnson uncle called him,” he recalls.

Achu started working with his dad from Chinthamani Kolacase. “There was sweat in my hands and head. I would tell about it to my mom Beena. Dad would always tell me to really improve while he lauded about me to others.”

It was in 2012 — five years after Achu turned an independent composer that Rajamani finally let on to his son what he thought of his work. “The date was February 4. I remember. It was after an audio launch. My dad never introduced me for the launches, he never recommended me. He wanted me to be self-made. But on that day, he told me, ‘I know it’s been a long time. But now you are a grown up musician and I am proud of you’. I was speechless.”