‘Play’ by Maalavika is a tribute to her granddad

It all came flooding back one day, when her cousin and she were looking at photos of the dashing ol’ man — then in his late teens or early 20s — playing the instrument. Spontaneously, she decided to trace back her journey from successful singer and performer to being his grandchild. A music video titled Play, released recently, talks about their bond and how vital his role was in shaping her passion for music. 

“Grandpa to me was a typical father figure who would lecture me to find a ‘proper’ job. But after I saw those photos, I saw him like me, playing music. That’s when I decided to pen Play; honestly the song wrote itself,” Mali (as she’s better known) shares. She wanted to record the song and shoot a music video but spent nearly a year convincing her grandfather to record his portions. “We’re originally from Kannur, Kerala, though we’ve settled in Chennai for around four generations. My grandparents often like returning to our 200-year-old ancestral property there. So when I told them about the music video, they asked me to come over with my friends and spend a week with them!” 

Along with Krish Makhija, who was the cinematographer for the video and a few other friends, Maalavika boarded the train to Kannur. “We would go to new parts of the city every day and listen to the stories my grandpa would tell us while filming it, sort of like a documentary. It was literally a walk down memory lane,” she shares. 

This experience made her have a lot of epiphanies because unlike she who quit a mainstream job to pursue music, Rammohan bade goodbye to his talent for a steady job. 

“Between 1930-60 people like him got stuck in a rut, where they could survive only if they had a steady job. But I have the Internet, which is the biggest platform through which my music reaches audiences. He didn’t have any such luxury so he was worried if I would succeed until Play released. Now, my grandmother and he follow all my new releases on YouTube and count the number of views they’ve gotten — they’re my biggest fans.” 

Maalavika hopes to find time to release two more singles this year, in between chasing her childhood dreams. “I’ve always wanted to play in Wembly and now it’s actually happening — I’m accompanying Anirudh Ravichander on a concert in London and Paris and am super excited about it,” she gushes.