Picked up music by observing dad from when I was a kid: Kaala Bhairava

The recently-released animation mythological fantasy, The Legend of Hanuman has gone on to become a huge success. The series that is streaming on Disney+Hotstar has its music by playback singer-composer Kaala Bhairava and has been a discussing point for the audience. “Ever since I was a kid, I have observed how music is made from scratch. Also, I have seen what a producer or a director needs from a composer. I am lucky enough to have had first-hand experience in witnessing composing sessions whenever my dad produced music. Coming to The Legend of Hanuman it is nothing less than a spectacle and I was able to pull it off because of my observations,” he begins.

Kaala Bhairava says that Baahubali was the immediate reference that the team had to look upon during brainstorming sessions. “Both are similar in terms of grandeur and character. One is a fictional tale and the other is epic mythology. But the basic emotion of the lead characters is pretty much the same. They run strongly on the foundation of emotions and we took it forward from there.” The composer-singer has worked with several music directors lately. He certainly had takeaways when it came to composing for this series. “I always look to expand my horizons by working with different composers. So, what ran on the back of my mind was how would different composers I worked with approached a particular emotion or a particular scene. That came in handy for me,” he opens up. Did he discuss with the legendary Keeravani when he met with challenges mid-way for this particular project? “Not really. I told him that I will be working in this project and he was equally excited for me as this is one of the most special projects so far.”

With OTT platforms growing simultaneously and focusing on content more than music, Kaala says, “OTT releases are gaining popularity, and the language barrier doesn’t exist anymore. I am a composer who don’t see a song album in a film and background score separately. Music for me is one and the same irrespective of its placement. For instance, in my debut film Mathu Vadalara, there are only two songs of which one was a promo song and the other one was a title track. It never bothered me that I did not have to showcase or prove a point by composing a lot of songs for it. When someone tells me the background score is nice, I never take credits for it because I believe it is the scene that made me compose such music,” he concludes.