Aug 5, 2010 Poda Podi is a romantic musical: Dharan Posted by PRAVEEN KANNA at 10:03 PM

Young composer Dharan is a relieved man these days. Poda Podi, the film that was supposed to be his ticket to the big league, has finally taken off. Plus, his non-film venture, Sing one more time ... , a tribute to Michael Jackson, has also come in for praise.
Says Dharan on his non-film single, “Michael Jackson has been an inspiration for many composers. His songs and dance have wowed the young and old alike. And, he has given so much for social causes. He’s a special person. I got to learn of his death in the middle of the night and I couldn’t believe it initially. Later, I listened to my favourite songs of his and realised that when I look back later in my career, I wanted to see myself as having done something for this great artiste. So, I played a tune and composed an unplugged version for keepsake. But later, I felt that I could share this with fellow musicians who were also fans of MJ. In the place of doing 10 tracks, I felt that a single track that tells about the man and what he has done would do more justice.”
Dharan is in his elements when talk veers to Poda Podi. “Every music director dreams of having a perfect film, a la Alaipayuthey or a Minnale, to showcase their music to the maximum. For me, Poda Podi is that project. Just like my debut film, Parijatham, this is a romantic musical. The script is quite challenging for a composer as it is about dance, salsa in particular. The music will be experimental and totally new. We want the songs to sound fresh for the listener,” he says on the Simbu-Varalakshmi starrer.
The film has six songs, he reveals. “I’ve provided four songs and a few themes to the unit which will be taking off to London in the next couple of days.”
Talking about the song, he says Simbu’s introduction song will be quite different. “It is in hip hop,” he explains and talks about the other songs as well. “We have recorded a song in conversational style with the leads wondering whether to fall in love or not. There’s a proper love song, like Pachchai niramae..., a sad song, a fast track and a unique kuthu song. Simbu has sung for two songs while Yuvan Shankar Raja will be singing for one,” he details.
But did he get disappointed when the film got stuck in a limbo? Dharan gets philosophical, “I never expected to become a music director this soon. It was pure luck. Similarly, a movie taking off too depends on luck. The director and I made a short promo and showed it to the producer and later to Simbu. They were very much impressed. Things began to move so fast. We had originally planned to shoot the film in India but now, it has become a big budget project that is being shot entirely in London. So, even when there were talks about the film getting dropped, we never lost hope.”
Quiz him on the lacklustre showing of his recent albums and Dharan explains, “My second film, Sivi, had some good music, but it got lost as the film did not do well. The same happened to a couple of movies as well. There are times when a film’s music will click only if the film succeeds. And in certain cases, a music director has to go with the tone of the movie and restrict himself creatively. It all depends on the kind of music that is the trend at that point of time.”


thanks: Times of india