The moment when Superstar Rajinikanth makes his entry in the Kabali teaser, with the singer in the background going Neruppu Da, created goose bumps for all of us! Arunraja Kamaraj, who penned and sang this song, is on cloud nine. In a chat with DC, this multifaceted artist constantly springs surprises — he speaks about his adventurous journey, how his real-life laughter acquired cult status through his character in Raja Rani, and also his aspiration to become a film director.
“I’m not a trained singer. In fact, I don’t even understand the dynamics of singing! It’s only music directors like Santosh Narayanan and G.V. Prakash Kumar who bring out the best in me. But, given all that, I’m extremely flexible and I can reproduce what the music director teaches me,” starts Arunraja, who also sang and wrote the lyrics of the hit Theri Dub Step. Elaborating on his music career, he says, “I got my first break only as a lyricist. The songs Engo Oduginrai and Rathiri which I wrote for Pizza, got me good acclaim. From that point onwards, I’ve been getting decent offers.”
When we queried him about how he ended up as an actor, he said his good friend, director Atlee, fetched him the much-talked-about role in Raja Rani. “I’m as crazy in real life as my role was in the movie. Atlee particularly loved my laughter, and that’s how he cast me. But I never expected it to garner such response — right from memes to ringtones to comedy channels, I can hear my laugh everywhere,” he grins. Arunraja, who went on to act alongside Sivakarthikeyan in Maan Karate, also states that he started off his career as a mimicry artist and he tried jobs in other departments as days passed on — “As mimicry is a tough art to master, it made me a more creative person.
For example, I sang the Ding Dong song from Jigarthanda in Vinu Chakravarthy sir’s voice! Thus, I bring new dimensions.” Being no stranger to experimentation, he has also had a tryst with independent music — “I like to keep exploring. Recently, I did a single called Jaya He, which talks about the importance of voting. I will be overwhelmed if my message in the song reaches the youth.”
When we ask what his first love is, from among all these fields, he replies instantly, “Directing! It’s my passion. I’ve been trying to master all the other crafts only to equip myself as a filmmaker. I’ve also been hugely inspired by Christopher Nolan’s works,” he adds, “Though it might sound overly ambitious, my dream is to cast Vijay sir as a hero and Kamal Haasan sir as a villain in a movie. I sincerely hope that it happens someday!” In fact, Arunraja worked as an associate director in Simbu’s yet-to-be-released Vettai Mannan.
On a concluding note, he gave us some titbits about his forthcoming projects. “I’ve done an interesting role in G.V. Prakash’s Pencil, which is slated for release soon. Apart from this, I’ve also written songs for a few movies including Enaku Innoru Peru Iruku, Veera Sivaji,” he says and signs off.
