Over five lakh views and counting. ‘Neeye’, a trilingual music video is going viral and someone who can’t stop smiling is Nizar. He has sung the duet in Tamil, Kannada and Telugu.
The video, released on YouTube early this month, has been written and directed by Bengaluru-based Gomtesh Upadhye and has music by Phani Kalyan, a student of A.R. Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory.
“I had sung for Phani in the Tamil film, Konjam Koffee Konjam Kaadhal . Actually we had recorded the Tamil version of the song long ago. I had almost forgotten about it! The crowd-funded video was in the making for sometime. It was after shooting the video that we recorded the Telugu and Kannada versions,” says Yazin.
While Sameera Bharadwaj has sung with him in the Telugu video, Sparsha R. K. has sung in the Kannada version. Sharanya Srinivas, daughter of singer Srinivas, has crooned the number with him in Tamil.
The team can’t still believe that the work is such a huge hit, he says. “Filmmakers S.S. Rajamouli and Gautham Menon have appreciated the work on social media. We were not prepared for this kind of reception. These days it is rare for music videos to get so much of popularity, unless they are covers of popular songs. But this is an original track. Moreover, is a simple video, shot in everyday locations in Bengaluru. There are no stereotyped frames or storyline. The success is the result of tremendous teamwork.
Kudos to the two incredible dancers Shreya Deshpande and Niranjan Harish who weaved in a beautiful story with their dance moves,” says Yazin. The video essentially is about this couple who are dancers and how their love finds expression in their dance.
What went in Yazin’s favour was his notable track record in all the South Indian languages. Following his debut with Punarjani in 2002 and winning many reality shows on Malayalam television, he scored massive hits in other South Indian languages. He has many chart busters to his credit, the latest being songs in the Mohanlal-Junior NTR starrer Janatha Garage and Allu Arjun’s Son of Sathyamurthy .
He also worked with leading composers in the league of G.V. Prakash, Vijay Antony, Devi Sri Prasad and Ghibran. In Malayalam, he has sung for Vidyasagar, Shaan Rahman, Bijibal and M. Jayachandran.
His big moment was when he sang for Ilaiyaraja in the Telugu movie, Abbayitho Ammayi . “It is every singer’s dream to sing for him and I am proud that I have fulfilled that wish,” he says.
Yazin hopes to work in rock-Sufi genre by next year. Meanwhile he is all set to travel to the United States for a concert.
