‘If there’s freedom, it takes just 10 min to write a song’
Conversation with K Kalyan , Kannada composer & lyricist
The ‘romantic poet’ ofSandalwood , K Kalyan, is close to achieving a milestone. It has been 23 years since the 39-year-old started as a lyricist and music composer. He is at the striking distance of the colossal figure of having written 3,000 film songs, just a little away from the all-time record of 3,150 songs by the late Chi Udayshankar. After hitting low in the early part of this decade, he bounced back last written nearly 200 songs. But for Kalyan all these are just numbers as he continues to spread his message of love in song after song....
Q In the last one year, your songs seem to be in every Kannada film that released.
For nearly three years, there was a lull. But in the last one-and-a half years, I hardly had time for all the work. It started with the title song of Ninnindale. Though the film did not do well, the song became a huge hit and since then I have written for 96 films and close to 200 songs. You can call it the purple patch. Songs I wrote for Bhajarangi, Maanikya, Adyaksha, Gajakesari, Supero Ranga, Ranna and Vajrakaya all became hits.
Q At 39, you are already a veteran of 23 years!
My first hit, Nammora Mandara Hoove, was my 45th film as a lyricist. Both my first film as a lyricist and as a composer was at the age of 16. The first song I wrote was for the film Hantaka, directed by V Manohar, had Ramesh Aravind in the lead. It was a patho song -- Mounaraga Mounaraga, baalu besada shoka raaga. But the first released flick was Love Training for which I wrote the title song. So I have remained a writer of romantic lyrics. The first film I composed music for was at the same age. It was Premalaya, produced by Ratna Vasudev, the sister of Ambareesh. Incidentally, the song was sung by Rajkumar. My very first song as a composer was by the legendary actor, but unfortunately the film never got released. As a composer, Tayi Kotta Seere turned out to be first film to have released.
Q So there were quite a few misses in the career...
Today I am close to 3,000 lyrics and have composed music for 43 films. But in the early days, there were many that went unnoticed. For the film Kalyani, I composed 11 songs all in the Kalyani raaga. Even the background was composed in Kalyani. It went largely unnoticed. It was Chandramukhi Pranasakhi that eventually made people take note. That was when I realised that using ‘too much of brain’ was not necessary, but using a lot of heart was. So love became everything in my lyrics and music after that.
Q Do you feel special at approaching the 3,000-figure mark?
Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar sang thousands of songs. But Mukesh Kumar, who rendered a little more than 200 songs, is equally popular and spoken of in the same breath. So it is the highest quality that we have to work for. If I can write lyrics and compose music with clarity and quality, that is what I would do.
Q How was your early life?
It was mired in poverty. I was born in Palace Guttahalli in Bengaluru. By the time I was in SSLC, we had moved to a village in Tumkur called Sampige. My father was a priest in the village temple. I managed to pass SSLC on the first attempt in second class. I joined a diploma course in computers. But I skipped exams. There were two reasons I could not continue studies. First was poverty. My father earned a salary of Rs 120 a month. I did not want to trouble him. Second, I had no interest in computers.
Q Then how did you turn to music?
My mother, who knew Carnatic music, would teach me from an early age. I had lost all interest in age at that young age mainly due to poverty. One day, I woke up at 4:30, had my bath and walked to Sharadamba temple near Shankar Mutt in Basaveshwarnagar (we had moved back to Bengaluru). I was even thinking of never returning or dying. I remembered someone telling me Hamsalekha lived nearby. I walked around and found a woman cleaning the front yard. I asked her where Hamsalekha lived and it turned out to be his house. At 5:30 am, he walked out all ready to go to a studio. I fell at his feet and sought his blessings. He asked me my name and work. I said I was a composer and lyricist like him! He asked what I wanted and really not knowing I said I wanted to be his assistant. He said, “Then come to the studio” and left. I asked the woman which photo studio I should go. She said it was the Sanket Recording Studio and not a photo studio. It was 16 km away and I walked as I did not have money for bus fare. I asked the woman who she was. She turned out to be Hamsalekha’s mother-in-law and her name was Sharadamma.
QYou were one of the many who worked under Hamsalekha initially..
He is a big university. Those days, he was recording songs each and every day. My job was to copy his songs and do all errands. I tried to learn whatever possible from him. The dedication towards work and the sincerity required was the biggest lessons he taught me. His lyrics and music too come from practical experiences of life. If I had not met him that fateful day, I would have died. It was during that stint where I met all the people like V Manohar, Sadhu Kokila and others with whom I started working later. I also started learning music from Vidwan Channakrishnappa during this time.
QThe music scene other than film music seems to be nowhere...
There is no market for private albums now. With the explosion of smartphones, even the cinema audio market is down. Not that people are not listening to music but they are no longer buying it. Within minutes of a music launch, it is available for free digitally. Even people, who buy music, first see who the star is and what the budget of the film is. No one is buying the music for the composer or the lyricist. Fortunately, Kannada has the world’s biggest repository of light music.
QBeing a composer yourself, how easy or difficult is it to write lyrics for other composers?
I have worked with 93 different music directors apart from myself. When I am writing lyrics, I do not feel like a composer. My dedication is to writing. I am a writer and I have to write. That’s it. Even when I am both composing and writing lyrics, I do it as two separate persons. If I am writing lyrics for Ilayaraja or Arjun Janya or a new composer, I become their lyricist. I am flexible.
QYou are one of those rare people who write lyrics and compose music.
There have been people like this. Ravindra Jain in Hindi, MM Keeravani in Telugu and even Ilayaraja in Tamil. Ilayaraja has written many songs particulary when it comes to songs about mother. But the person who really revolutionised the trend was Hamsalekha. He composed and wrote lyrics for 300 films at a stretch. Then, V Manohar too. But I have written lyrics for 30 films of Manohar as well.
Q What are the challenges of writing lyrics?
If there is complete freedom, it takes only 10 minutes to write a song. But if you are “tortured”, you cannot complete it even after 15 days. If filmmakers have confidence and leave it to me, even my responsibility increases and I am eager to do something memorable. The ‘torture’ is when directors come with 15 words in their pockets and want them to be used in the song. Some want simple songs, but with new words. Usually people in confusion cannot be convinced. A writer should have patience like a mother.
Q What happens when you have complete freedom?
In Amruthavarshini, for which I wrote all six songs, the director Dinesh Baboo was a Malayalee. Composer Deva was Tamilian and the producer was Telugu. I was the only Kannadiga and it was a perfect combination of Dravidians. I was left to write ‘toonturu’ or whatever I liked. It clicked. It may not click all the time. What is visually shown becomes important. In the end, a film rises on the bedrock of the director’s experience. With freedom, we get to use our experiences in the lyrics.
Q How do you deal with people changing your lyrics?
I am liberal. I am available all the time and if the film-maker wants any word or line changed, I am ready to do it. Sometimes I also give them alternatives. But Jayanth Kaikini is very strict about making changes. Even if it is a word, he wants his consent to be taken. In most cases where film-makers have altered my lyrics, the songs have not become hits. I do not make an issue out of this.
QLike many in the industry, you too have a stock of dishonoured cheques..
Money is secondary now. I come from extreme poverty and it was the most important thing once. I have been paid Rs 10,000 for five songs and Rs 1 lakh for a single song. Producers have promised me Rs 50,000 and ended up paying Rs 75,000. Someone promised 75,000 but paid only Rs 3,500. I am a liberal lyricist in that regard. I give what they want and they pay me what they want.
Q Why is your music not as popular as your lyrics?
People still talk about Chandramukhi Pranasakhi. I assume that because I have not composed music for any of the big stars, I am known more as a lyricist. But I have written at least 30 songs for each star in the current generation. I have written 12 songs for which Ravichandran has composed music for.
Q How can you churn out love songs every day?
There is no limit to experiences. As long as there are new experiences, there will be new expressions. A new song is just a new way of expressing the same thing: love.
Q Who are the current lyricists you like?
I love songs by Yograj Bhat. And then Jayant Kaikini, Nagendra Prasad and Kaviraj. All of them are versatile writers. There are also some good newcomers. They are yet to come under the limelight. All newcomers today come with preparation.
Q People who played the keyboard for your compositions like Harikrishna, Abhminan Roy and Arjun Janya are popular composers now. Do you feel left behind?
This is too big a field, but there areonly a few horses running around. There is enough space for more. All of us will go towards our destiny and there is no need to feel like a race. Even today there is no competition for Hamsalekha or Rajan Nagendra or GK Venkatesh, Harikrishna or Arjun Janya. All have their own journeys to make. There are 200 films a year and a composer can compose only for around 8-10 films.
Q How do you generate love?
I love everyone. I am humourous outside, but deep inside, I am always in a serious-thinking mode. I am as spiritual as I am romantic. These are the two tracks my life is running on. w
ALWAYS A STUDENT
* The secret to success to be a student all your life. A teacher, who has studied BEd, stays in that post all his life. But students who learn from him go on to do bigger things. So if you are a student all your life, you go on becoming better.
* Difficulties provide us with challenges. We have to face the challenges if we want to win. Life becomes simple when we believe it is simple.
* I usually travel by auto rickshaw or BMTC buses. I rarely travel by car. What I feel proud of is that people treat me like a family member. They relate to what I write. I still live in a rented house. But I am living happily.
Awards and rewards
Kalyan has won three State Film Awards, including one for best music composer. He also has in his kitty two Filmfare Awards and eight Aryabhatta Awards. What many don’t know is that he has a National Award for the best script of a radio programme for Naalegalu Namagirali. The title Prema Kavi (love poet) was bestowed on him by the organisation Wings of Fire, a fan-group of APJ Abdul Kalam.
Music Freak
Kalyan is obviously a big lover of music. “I end up listening up to 300 songs a day, even if it is bits. I can sing around 7,000-8,000 songs in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil. Since I do not know Hindi, I can only hum the tunes.”
FAVOURITE AS A COMPOSER
Chandramukhi Pranasakhi Tananam Tananam Ganga Kaveri Kamsale Kaisale Srimastu Shubamastu Tayi Kotta Seere Mahabharata
The ‘romantic poet’ of
Q In the last one year, your songs seem to be in every Kannada film that released.
For nearly three years, there was a lull. But in the last one-and-a half years, I hardly had time for all the work. It started with the title song of Ninnindale. Though the film did not do well, the song became a huge hit and since then I have written for 96 films and close to 200 songs. You can call it the purple patch. Songs I wrote for Bhajarangi, Maanikya, Adyaksha, Gajakesari, Supero Ranga, Ranna and Vajrakaya all became hits.
Q At 39, you are already a veteran of 23 years!
My first hit, Nammora Mandara Hoove, was my 45th film as a lyricist. Both my first film as a lyricist and as a composer was at the age of 16. The first song I wrote was for the film Hantaka, directed by V Manohar, had Ramesh Aravind in the lead. It was a patho song -- Mounaraga Mounaraga, baalu besada shoka raaga. But the first released flick was Love Training for which I wrote the title song. So I have remained a writer of romantic lyrics. The first film I composed music for was at the same age. It was Premalaya, produced by Ratna Vasudev, the sister of Ambareesh. Incidentally, the song was sung by Rajkumar. My very first song as a composer was by the legendary actor, but unfortunately the film never got released. As a composer, Tayi Kotta Seere turned out to be first film to have released.
Q So there were quite a few misses in the career...
Today I am close to 3,000 lyrics and have composed music for 43 films. But in the early days, there were many that went unnoticed. For the film Kalyani, I composed 11 songs all in the Kalyani raaga. Even the background was composed in Kalyani. It went largely unnoticed. It was Chandramukhi Pranasakhi that eventually made people take note. That was when I realised that using ‘too much of brain’ was not necessary, but using a lot of heart was. So love became everything in my lyrics and music after that.
Q Do you feel special at approaching the 3,000-figure mark?
Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar sang thousands of songs. But Mukesh Kumar, who rendered a little more than 200 songs, is equally popular and spoken of in the same breath. So it is the highest quality that we have to work for. If I can write lyrics and compose music with clarity and quality, that is what I would do.
Q How was your early life?
It was mired in poverty. I was born in Palace Guttahalli in Bengaluru. By the time I was in SSLC, we had moved to a village in Tumkur called Sampige. My father was a priest in the village temple. I managed to pass SSLC on the first attempt in second class. I joined a diploma course in computers. But I skipped exams. There were two reasons I could not continue studies. First was poverty. My father earned a salary of Rs 120 a month. I did not want to trouble him. Second, I had no interest in computers.
Q Then how did you turn to music?
My mother, who knew Carnatic music, would teach me from an early age. I had lost all interest in age at that young age mainly due to poverty. One day, I woke up at 4:30, had my bath and walked to Sharadamba temple near Shankar Mutt in Basaveshwarnagar (we had moved back to Bengaluru). I was even thinking of never returning or dying. I remembered someone telling me Hamsalekha lived nearby. I walked around and found a woman cleaning the front yard. I asked her where Hamsalekha lived and it turned out to be his house. At 5:30 am, he walked out all ready to go to a studio. I fell at his feet and sought his blessings. He asked me my name and work. I said I was a composer and lyricist like him! He asked what I wanted and really not knowing I said I wanted to be his assistant. He said, “Then come to the studio” and left. I asked the woman which photo studio I should go. She said it was the Sanket Recording Studio and not a photo studio. It was 16 km away and I walked as I did not have money for bus fare. I asked the woman who she was. She turned out to be Hamsalekha’s mother-in-law and her name was Sharadamma.
QYou were one of the many who worked under Hamsalekha initially..
He is a big university. Those days, he was recording songs each and every day. My job was to copy his songs and do all errands. I tried to learn whatever possible from him. The dedication towards work and the sincerity required was the biggest lessons he taught me. His lyrics and music too come from practical experiences of life. If I had not met him that fateful day, I would have died. It was during that stint where I met all the people like V Manohar, Sadhu Kokila and others with whom I started working later. I also started learning music from Vidwan Channakrishnappa during this time.
QThe music scene other than film music seems to be nowhere...
There is no market for private albums now. With the explosion of smartphones, even the cinema audio market is down. Not that people are not listening to music but they are no longer buying it. Within minutes of a music launch, it is available for free digitally. Even people, who buy music, first see who the star is and what the budget of the film is. No one is buying the music for the composer or the lyricist. Fortunately, Kannada has the world’s biggest repository of light music.
QBeing a composer yourself, how easy or difficult is it to write lyrics for other composers?
I have worked with 93 different music directors apart from myself. When I am writing lyrics, I do not feel like a composer. My dedication is to writing. I am a writer and I have to write. That’s it. Even when I am both composing and writing lyrics, I do it as two separate persons. If I am writing lyrics for Ilayaraja or Arjun Janya or a new composer, I become their lyricist. I am flexible.
QYou are one of those rare people who write lyrics and compose music.
There have been people like this. Ravindra Jain in Hindi, MM Keeravani in Telugu and even Ilayaraja in Tamil. Ilayaraja has written many songs particulary when it comes to songs about mother. But the person who really revolutionised the trend was Hamsalekha. He composed and wrote lyrics for 300 films at a stretch. Then, V Manohar too. But I have written lyrics for 30 films of Manohar as well.
Q What are the challenges of writing lyrics?
If there is complete freedom, it takes only 10 minutes to write a song. But if you are “tortured”, you cannot complete it even after 15 days. If filmmakers have confidence and leave it to me, even my responsibility increases and I am eager to do something memorable. The ‘torture’ is when directors come with 15 words in their pockets and want them to be used in the song. Some want simple songs, but with new words. Usually people in confusion cannot be convinced. A writer should have patience like a mother.
Q What happens when you have complete freedom?
In Amruthavarshini, for which I wrote all six songs, the director Dinesh Baboo was a Malayalee. Composer Deva was Tamilian and the producer was Telugu. I was the only Kannadiga and it was a perfect combination of Dravidians. I was left to write ‘toonturu’ or whatever I liked. It clicked. It may not click all the time. What is visually shown becomes important. In the end, a film rises on the bedrock of the director’s experience. With freedom, we get to use our experiences in the lyrics.
Q How do you deal with people changing your lyrics?
I am liberal. I am available all the time and if the film-maker wants any word or line changed, I am ready to do it. Sometimes I also give them alternatives. But Jayanth Kaikini is very strict about making changes. Even if it is a word, he wants his consent to be taken. In most cases where film-makers have altered my lyrics, the songs have not become hits. I do not make an issue out of this.
QLike many in the industry, you too have a stock of dishonoured cheques..
Money is secondary now. I come from extreme poverty and it was the most important thing once. I have been paid Rs 10,000 for five songs and Rs 1 lakh for a single song. Producers have promised me Rs 50,000 and ended up paying Rs 75,000. Someone promised 75,000 but paid only Rs 3,500. I am a liberal lyricist in that regard. I give what they want and they pay me what they want.
Q Why is your music not as popular as your lyrics?
People still talk about Chandramukhi Pranasakhi. I assume that because I have not composed music for any of the big stars, I am known more as a lyricist. But I have written at least 30 songs for each star in the current generation. I have written 12 songs for which Ravichandran has composed music for.
Q How can you churn out love songs every day?
There is no limit to experiences. As long as there are new experiences, there will be new expressions. A new song is just a new way of expressing the same thing: love.
Q Who are the current lyricists you like?
I love songs by Yograj Bhat. And then Jayant Kaikini, Nagendra Prasad and Kaviraj. All of them are versatile writers. There are also some good newcomers. They are yet to come under the limelight. All newcomers today come with preparation.
Q People who played the keyboard for your compositions like Harikrishna, Abhminan Roy and Arjun Janya are popular composers now. Do you feel left behind?
This is too big a field, but there areonly a few horses running around. There is enough space for more. All of us will go towards our destiny and there is no need to feel like a race. Even today there is no competition for Hamsalekha or Rajan Nagendra or GK Venkatesh, Harikrishna or Arjun Janya. All have their own journeys to make. There are 200 films a year and a composer can compose only for around 8-10 films.
Q How do you generate love?
I love everyone. I am humourous outside, but deep inside, I am always in a serious-thinking mode. I am as spiritual as I am romantic. These are the two tracks my life is running on. w
ALWAYS A STUDENT
* The secret to success to be a student all your life. A teacher, who has studied BEd, stays in that post all his life. But students who learn from him go on to do bigger things. So if you are a student all your life, you go on becoming better.
* Difficulties provide us with challenges. We have to face the challenges if we want to win. Life becomes simple when we believe it is simple.
* I usually travel by auto rickshaw or BMTC buses. I rarely travel by car. What I feel proud of is that people treat me like a family member. They relate to what I write. I still live in a rented house. But I am living happily.
Awards and rewards
Kalyan has won three State Film Awards, including one for best music composer. He also has in his kitty two Filmfare Awards and eight Aryabhatta Awards. What many don’t know is that he has a National Award for the best script of a radio programme for Naalegalu Namagirali. The title Prema Kavi (love poet) was bestowed on him by the organisation Wings of Fire, a fan-group of APJ Abdul Kalam.
Music Freak
Kalyan is obviously a big lover of music. “I end up listening up to 300 songs a day, even if it is bits. I can sing around 7,000-8,000 songs in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil. Since I do not know Hindi, I can only hum the tunes.”
FAVOURITE AS A COMPOSER
Chandramukhi Pranasakhi Tananam Tananam Ganga Kaveri Kamsale Kaisale Srimastu Shubamastu Tayi Kotta Seere Mahabharata
