Making melody a visual treat

For a music video to stay in people’s hearts for a long time, both the song and the visuals should be impressive, offering a superior listening and viewing experience. The Hindi music album Bezubaa, which was released recently, belongs to that category. The makers have spared no expense to raise it to Bollywood standards. The song moves through the life of a young man and his lady love, and show their deep love for each other. There are a lot of romantic moments, but also present is the pain of bereavement. Bezubaa, directed by Ayyappan R. Nath, has Vishnu R. Nath and actor Viviya Santh playing the lead roles.

What catches the immediate attention of the viewers are the stunning locales and the designer clothes that the pair dons in the film. And there is a reason for that. “I am a fashion designer by profession,” informs director Ayyappan. “I happened to hear a song composed by music director Sajid Thentral when I was in Fort Kochi, which I loved instantly. My brother Vishnu had nursed ambitions of being an actor. On my part, I left my fashion designing job in Bengaluru and moved to Kochi to become a costume designer in films. I realised to my dismay that cinema is an entirely different ball game and lost a lot of money. Despite the bad experience, I wanted to do something connected to films.”

That was when Ayyappan decided to kill two birds with one stone — he decided to make a music video like a film and cast his brother as the hero. “It was Vishnu’s wish to act in a Hindi film, which he had mentioned years back, and so Bezubaa took shape with Hindi lyrics,” he states. Vishnu himself financed the album, too.  

Though it was his debut, Ayyappan put in immense efforts to get the perfect locales for the video. The locations chosen were Kulu Manali, Taj Mahal and Jaisalmer, along with the Kochi backwaters and Kodungallur beach. There was meticulous planning involved, too, as he had drawn out what he had on mind on a paper. “I had drawn a hill and found the exact same hill in Manali,” he happily says. There were hardships, too. “The weather in Manali was bad and what I had planned as a four-hour shoot was canned in 20 minutes. Even in Jaisalmer, I faced my share of bad luck. We had serial tyre bursts that halted our journey and one and a half day’s shoot was finished in half an hour. On returning to Kerala, we came face to face with the floods that delayed our project further,” he recalls.

Despite all this, he persevered and managed to complete the shoot in six days with a budget of '10 lakh. The efforts have paid off, too. “I have been getting a lot of compliments for the stunning visuals and the song and that is reward enough,” he sums up.