Making music his life

Even while pursuing a degree in engineering, Sreeraj Sahajan dreamt of music and its endless possibilities. After years of singing and competing in reality shows, it dawned on him one fine day that music composing is something he is capable of. Today Sreeraj is being lauded for his role as the music director for the movie Kolumittayi.

Kolumittayi, the children’s movie, was released earlier this month. Ever since it hit theatres, its tracks have been attracting the attention of song lovers. When quizzed about how he landed the music director’s job, Sreeraj says, “I have been creating songs but just keeping them to myself with a hope and plan of releasing them as albums. The producer of Kolumittayi, Abhijith Ashokan, is a friend of my cousins and my cousins have heard the songs that I have composed. It was they who introduced my work to Abhijith. After that I was contacted and got my first professional shot at music direction.”

Kolumittayi has a total of four songs, out of which Sreeraj himself had lent his voice for two songs — Minni Chinnum... and Puthiyoru Sooryan... About his musical background, Sreeraj says, “I am basically a singer. My mother is a music teacher and my first guru. My grandmother T.K. Pushpavalli was well known as a theatre vocalist once. Music composition has always been a passion, but I was never sure how I could pull it off. So I kept that wish in my mind and never thought of pursuing it. But then, I won a keyboard after participating in a reality show. It was gifted to me after the elimination. I started fiddling around with it and composed a few songs, that is when I realised I can do it. I was encouraged by people around me as well.”

Despite his stint as a music director, Sreeraj continues to refine his vocal skills and has been a student of Hindustani classical music under Vijay Sursen for the past six years. He is currently in the process of putting together a music band.