'Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana' has to be the most creatively satisfying project in my career so far: composer Midhun Mukundan

There is so much to look forward to in the case of Raj B. Shetty's upcoming gangster-drama 'Garuda Gamana Vrishbha Vahana'. Set in the modern-day Mangaluru but with a story that refers to Hindu Mythology and a specific sequence from Yakshagana (called Sri Devi Mahatme), the film promises to be a visceral portrait of the life of transgression and bravado, with an exciting star cast at the center of it all. Raj Shetty plays one of the protagonists, Shiva, while Rishab Shetty plays his antipode, Hari, and the makers released the first track from the movie, titled Demon in Me, very recently to tremendous reception.

And ETimes Kannada, as the countdown to the film's bonafide theatrical release begins (on November 19th), caught up with its music composer Midhun Mukundan to discuss the making of the soundtrack, his camaraderie with director Raj B. Shetty, and rendering a new Mangaluru sound for Kannada cinema in the process. Here are excerpts:

Hmm... I think, essentially, the idea behind the song was to bring in a contrast factor in the movie and use an English track for a story that is set in the heartland and about "local" people, per se. So, Raj and I thought it would be interesting to have a song in English and lend the story a new perspective. For me personally, I think it carries a third-person's perspective and my music possibly allows the audience to look at the world of 'Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana' from an outsider's point of view. Because that's how it is for me since I don't belong to the Mangaluru region - although I have lived there - but I am not part of the culture from within. So, the song captures all that for us.

The track Demon in Me, however, was planned for the trailer and Raj had shared a piece of music from a commercial, wanting something similar. He would later share a rough cut of the trailer that had this really cute song running in the background and I loved the idea. We then used a female voice to highlight the contrast factor again because there are no women in the trailer at all! Anjali Sankaran and Rakshitha Rao lent their voices and Manek D'Silva was brought in to write the lyrics.

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I love gangster-drama films, to begin with, and have probably watched many across languages but this particular film is quite honestly unique and original - and Raj is the main factor. Right from the way he has conceived the story to the originality and freshness he brings into a film like this, you are bound to feed off it as an artist. And that's how I think it has worked for me, and also the cinematographer Praveen Shriyan, in creating something unique because it's a huge bonus for all of us that he is the one leading. So, there's the incredible amount of freedom and ease to work with him because there's never any fear of going wrong and you can become part of the project with all your heart. In that regard, for a film that's all about grit and intensity, its soundtrack boasts of a really tender love song which proves that we have taken a lot of liberty to conceive something new.

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Yes, indeed. We certainly had a vision for the soundscape of the film and a lot of the inspiration was drawn from how Raj had visualized the film. Also, Rakshit Shetty's 'Ulidavaru Kandanthe', scored by Ajaneesh, had already stamped its signature as far as the "Mangaluru" sound is concerned so we wanted to do something different to that. Be it through the instrumentation or the - for example, the Tase percussion instrument is such a vital part of the region's sound but we felt the need to exclude that from our repertoire and still keep the rustic charm alive. So, in that sense, our main effort was to keep the folkish sound of Mangaluru prominent and yet conceive it in my own way.

Personally, I like using electronica, orchestral music, and stuff like that so we fused many of my elements with the local sounds to create an original sound that, although sounds contemporary, still refers to the ethnicity of the region. I feel that's where we have really stood out. And I don't particularly wish to separate the songs from the score because there is a perfect marriage of the two and one would realize that a "song" is not an entity on its own when they watch the film. For this reason, mainly, we aren't going to release the music album until the film comes out so that the audience gets to take it all in at once - Demon in Me is the only track that will be out before the theatrical release.

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The impact of any story is paramount for me. See, I am not from the industry, per se, so the desire has always been to be part of stories that are compelling and effective. And once any story or subject affects me personally, I keep things simple and let my instinct nudge me in any particular direction. And at the same time, you have other composers that you look up to - guys like Hans Zimmer, A.R. Rahman, and Amit Trivedi for me - and while you don't boast of the same kind of resources that these guys do, you try to achieve a similar sound with the limitations that surround you. But what's important is to keep pushing yourself to get to that sound that you aspire for in your heart and make do with whatever best is offered to you in terms of amenities and resources.

For 'Garuda Gamana', I must have watched the film about fifteen times before I even began working on it. Although, funnily, I remember watching it for the first time back in February of 2020 and realizing almost immediately the kind of sound it needed. But, as I said, I like to internalize each nuance of the film and then approach it with an inspired mind. And the results are there to be judged, I suppose.

Image Courtesy: Midhun Mukundan

There is a strong connection between us, sure, but the main reason we work well is the ease of communication. Out of the many musical cues that were composed for the film, Raj liked most of them barring a few and I feel that happens because you have so much creative freedom to not just compose what you like but also own the film as an artist. I love the way he thinks as a filmmaker and had enjoyed working with him even on 'Ondu Motteya Kathe' but this one's ('Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana') special for sure. He speaks to me about what he wants and there's definite clarity in that - for instance, the climax portion has this lavish, very opulent score and I suggested that we add vocals to it to accentuate the effect. But Raj, being who he is, told me that the score suffices the intensity on screen and we don't need lyrics to communicate the message. Instead, we added these haunting female hum of a kind and the result is simply superb. I walked into the project imagining that it will be a huge challenge but thanks to all the factors I pointed out, it turned out to be breezy, fun, and super exciting.

Image Courtesy: Midhun Mukundan