How I Almost Botched Up My First Interview With This Metal Head Behind 'Kisa Pathiyil'
- 27 Aug 2016
- FWD Admin
- Features
Following the fame of his new hit song, new entry music composer Sushin Shyam is being hounded by the press. Everyone wants to know how this metal band performing artist serenaded us with the top trending song- Kisa Paathiyil. I was curious as well. So I set about going through the first ever interview in my life.
I was really nervous and my brilliant way of handling the situation was to ask him if HE was nervous! (You can roll your eyes now). But Sushin had already done a bunch of these interviews and asked me why he would be nervous in an almost accusatory tone. Escape! I confessed to him that I was the one who was nervous, we laughed and I was immediately at ease, following which I would address him as Machan every time I talked to him. He was in the middle of setting up his home studio and had electricians moving around the house. He told me I could visit his home studio anytime I wanted. (He didn’t actually say that but I thought I’d use this opportunity to buy myself an invitation…Haha!)
I began with the questions I had in front of me. I started with a juicy one and asked him if there was a personal story behind Kisa, if there was some female influence to the romance. Judgmental me was hoping for a no but the journalist in me was praying for some gossip. He had no such influence (high five judgmental me) and Kisa was purely from what he experienced from the two characters on screen. Music and girls are similar but are two very different entities which should be treated differently, he explains. I agree with you Sushin, music and girls are very different indeed, for instance I can always turn off music when I’ve heard enough.
It is still a mystery to Sushin how the song became such a hit. He intended this to be a simple song, with no particular hooks or wow factors. When I probed him on why he thought the song was a success, he told me that it could be because the music had a kind of haunting ragam. This makes sense because romantic songs have mostly been associated with either a happy or shokam setting. This song however, sets a beautiful balance between romance, mystery and creepiness which is probably what gave the listeners goose bumps in the first place. Sushin, I think you hit the right answer with that one.
Asking a musician what their favorite song is kind of annoying, so I asked him what his favorite sounds were. Light instruments and electronic sounds are what Sushin enjoys though his interests always change with time. You won’t last long in the industry unless you experiment with new sounds. Speaking of sounds, a much more impressive work by Sushin, in my opinion, is his background score for Lord Livingstone 7000. Take a look at the making of the background score and you will agree with me; the sounds just blew my mind!
pic courtesy: Vinayak Menon
But does Sushin prefer to compose film tracks or does he wish to continue with his metal roots of TDT? The two are very different experiences and he is willing to do anything that connects him with music. He agrees that the energy you get from a live performance is unparalleled. You get instant feedback from your audience and the crowd builds up your energy to a point where suddenly the madness becomes magic. Being a musician myself, I thought I’d get some good advice from our Machan on how to make it as a music producer in the industry. Although he recently got into the big spotlight through Kisa, Sushin has worked with many music directors and musicians and has learnt a lot from them. Going to a school might get you a good background; but there is no better learning than collaborating with other musicians and directors. So all you eager wannabe music producers, swallow your fear, be humble and try to get yourself a good mentor.
Unfortunately for Sushin, people still remember him the most for his iconic appearance in the movie ‘Thattathin Marayathu’ and his even more iconic punch line “He’s gonna screw you guys!”. Does he find that annoying? Sushin is mostly okay with it, but he remembers at one point it did started getting under his skin. He recalls how he was on stage for a show with TDT the crowd started yelling “Screeeeew!” Well that kind of screwed up his mojo. But Sushin takes it all in good stead and doesn’t mind going on screen again, which he did recently. Did anyone notice him in Guppy? But Sushin always puts music first and want to be known for that, because music is who he is. So guys, let’s not call him screw the next time we see him and instead sing the lines to Kisa.
Sushin is now working on the background score for the upcoming movie Ezra by director Jay K starring Prithviraj. All the best for your future work and we are anticipating more hits from you, Mr. Screw (sorry I couldn’t help myself).
So I am going to learn the complete lyrics to Kisa Pathiyil, so that next time I go for a Sushin Shyam concert, I know what to do.
Words by: Noel Alex
Feature Image: Sushin Shyam Facebook
The writer is a music buff who is currently meditating on what he wants to do with his life. He is also an engineer, which probably explains the meditation.
