Kylie Minogue is the toast of Bollywood music now. Her Chiggy Wiggy, composed by A.R. Rahman, has put Blue on top of the charts. Rahman can take credit for introducing new talent by the dozen into Telugu and Tami l music before he set his eyes on Hindi and international music. The Telugu industry took its time to warm up to the idea of having fresh, young talent but now, young guns call the shots.

Do the new
Heard Panchadhara Bomma? Radio jockey and theatre actor Anuj Gurwara is on a high after the chartbuster from Magadheera. Former Viva band girl Neha Bhasin gave the Atu Nuvve Itu Nuvve song from Current a sensuous twist and made it popular enough to be on every FM channel and mp3 player. “There’s a combination of new and seasoned singers in every album and then it is up to the audience to judge the album and give their verdict. There is so much work now for singers with different films being produced in different budgets, which plays a role in encouraging new voices,” says Anuj, who has recorded his next song with percussionist Selvaganesh.

Tried and tested singers are still a call away for every composer. But the need to capture the attention of younger audiences who are in tune with international beats and voices is making composers think out of the box. “For a movie like Ride, which was all about bikes, the music had to be pulsating. When the director heard some of hip-hop and rock beats, he wanted me to do something similar,” says singer Hemachandra, who turned composer with Ride. Hemachandra says it’s a good time for composers to bring in new elements in their compositions. “Directors want variety and tap youngsters from reality shows,” he says. Hemachandra’s next is Maa Naana Chiranjeevi, a film ‘inspired’ by Will Smith’s The Pursuit of Happyness. “There are three songs, of which one is fast paced like the music of Power Rangers and Mask of Zorro. I’ve worked on a melodious montage song too,” he says.

Bollywood singers Shreya Ghosal, Sonu Nigam, Kunal Ganjawala and Udit Narayan have become permanent fixtures in Telugu music alongside Sunita, Smita, Shankar Mahadevan, Chitra and others. But the case of one singer singing for one actor doesn’t exist any longer. At times, actors exercise their vocal chords too. Yuvan Shankar Raja got Siddharth to sing Love at First Sight in Oy! and Mickey Meyer made Shweta Prasad sing Nenani Neevani in Kotha Bangaru Lokam. And Vikram did his best in Mallanna. Mickey and Yuvan too have sung in their own compositions. The time is ripe for fresh talent and new ideas, says Mickey. “When I started off, the background score I did for a film didn’t cut ice with the director. The composition was new for Telugu cinema. But now directors want variety and are willing to encourage new ideas,” he reasons.

Shruti Haasan, who crooned to Harris Jayaraj’s tunes in Tamil, debuts as composer with Eenadu and got rapper Blaaze to sing along for the promotional video. Shruti also convinced her father Kamal Haasan to sing a Sufi number.

Among those who’ve grown in popularity is Karthik, who burst into the music scene with Naakoka Girlfriend Kaavali in Boys. From Ghajini (Oka Maru Kalisina Andam) to Kotha Bangaru Lokam (Nijanga Nenena) and the recent Kick (I don’t want love), he’s been on a roll.

There’s no dearth of voices, really. Konte Chooputho from Ananthapuram 1980 featuring Belly Raj and Deepa Mariam, Egire from Koncham Ishtam Koncham Kashtam featuring Hemachandra, Clinton and Raman Mahadevan and the Gopi Gopika Godavari album featuring Kausalya, Vasu, Geeta Madhuri and others are cases in point.

So, tune in and enjoy the variety.

-SANGEETHA DEVI DUNDOO