'Adada’ was composed in just 30 minutes, says Pragathi Guruprasad
The latest music video Adada has crossed over two million views. Marking singer Pragathi Guruprasad’s debut as a composer, the song also features Ashwin Kumar. The duo visited the DT Next office to talk about the making of the track and how independent music videos are ‘almost’ beginning to gain momentum in the Tamil music industry
Ashwin Kumar and Pragathi
CHENNAI: When Ashwin Kumar and Pragathi walked into DT Next office, we could see their chemistry from Adada transcend beyond the camera. The music video has predominantly received positive reviews from netizens, who have showered their appreciation for the teamwork as well. “When we see a project we appreciate it and move on. However, the work that goes behind it is massive. It is about all creative and like-minded people coming together to give the audience a good product. That is what happened with Adada. We are happy about the responses,” says Pragathi.
The musician, who is making her debut as a composer, put together the tunes for Adada in just 30 minutes. “Initially, I had doubts in myself if I could compose music. We were dabbling with a few tunes in random. In the next half an hour, Adada was ready but I shelved it because we thought we could come up with a better version someday. But after making multiple versions, we ended up using the first version of the vocal. The idea of making this into a music video happened after VYRL South came on board. They gave me creative freedom and that’s when I started having a vision for the song. It is about a man in a woman’s eyes and I wanted the video to convey the same as well. Hence, I had a dreamy boy in my mind to play the male lead and who better than Ashwin could tick all boxes,” remarks Pragathi.
Ashwin couldn’t help but we can see a slight blush on his face and surely Adada video has him in one of his best makeovers. When we tell him he looks younger by a few years, he says, “I really don’t know how to react when people give me such compliments. But thanks.”
Having been a part of few music videos, Ashwin tells us that he wasn’t skeptical about being a part of another one, when Pragathi bounced him with this idea. “We have known each other for quite some time. And the concept of music videos has always excited me. Even when it comes to songs in films. It gets me going. I love music and I don’t see a vast difference between music in films and a standalone music video. They both convey stories in a beautiful manner. At the end of the day, they are made for the audience to enjoy them,” he adds.
Be it Kutti Pattas, Loner and Vaadi among others, Ashwin says that independent music and indie music videos in Tamil could have been in a better space. “Bollywood is ruling the roost when it comes to independent music. The craze for Hindi and Punjabi songs are only going higher with each passing day. In Tamil, it has been a swinging pendulum. It is probably because of the kind of music that is being consumed right now by Tamil listeners. In the last decade, I don’t think there has been a song that most of us have played in loop mode. This in turn has made investors think twice when it comes to investing in independent music,” the actor says.
On a concluding note, Pragathi goes back to shooting days of Adada and attributes the success to her team. “Since it’s narrated from a female perspective, I wanted Ranjini Ramesh to direct it. Along with Anirudh Ganapathy’s visuals, they both made the process easier and beautiful. That is the perk of having the best creative minds. I wanted to show Chennai in a refreshing and a different way and our production team ensured we had all location permissions and made the process simple. We are a team of 30 and they all put in their heart and soul in this,” she remarks.
