Not easy for a south Indian music director to work in Bollywood, says SS Thaman

He’s exuberant and passionate about music. Just 31, Ghantasala Sai Srinivas Thaman Siva Kumar or SS Thaman, as he’s popularly known, is a singer and drummer who is now a much sought-after music director in the Telugu film industry. The grandson of Telugu producer and director Ghantasala Balaramayya, Thaman took to playing the drums at the age of eight. Having lost his father Ghantasala Siva Kumar, who was himself a drummer with more than 700 films to his credit, Thaman started to work professionally from the age of nine. He has scored music for more than 60 films in just six years!

In an exclusive chat with dna, the young music director talks about his childhood, his one film as an actor, his successful music career in Tollywood and more.

His childhood

I started playing drums at the age of eight. I lost my father when I was 13 and I started to play drums professionally as I needed to earn money to look after my family. I had to discontinue school as well. I became a rhythm pads player for music troupes for SP Balasubramaniam and Gangai Amaran for live shows. I think I have performed for more than 1500 live shows. My mother Savitri is a playback singer and so is my aunt P Vasantha. 

Watch: Thaman in Shankar's movie Boys

Director Shankar and Boys

In 2002, a friend of mine (director Shankar’s nephew Pappu) said that Shankar was looking for someone who can play the drums to cast in his film Boys. I went to audition for it at Shankar’s office and I was asked to play the drums. I found out that the other guys who had come for the audition played Western genres so I played ‘dappangoothu’. A priest who was passing by gave me a fruit after listening to me play and blessed me. And I felt I would definitely get the role! The assistant directors filmed the whole thing and apparently director Shankar was impressed and I bagged the role. My relationship with director Shankar grew through the film and later he recommended me for two of his home productions with director Balaji Shativel. But they didn’t work out. Despite that, I have immense respect for him because he felt there was some spark in me to recommend me as a music director. During the making of Boys, I also got to work on the music with AR Rahman. I learnt a lot from Boys about music and about filmmaking as well. But my passion was music. Music was what had saved my family. So I didn’t take up any acting offers post Boys and continued to pursue music.

Break as music director

I worked with many music directors including Raj-Koti, MM Keeravani and Mani Sharma. I made my debut in Tamil as a music director with Sindhanai Sei in 2008 and in Telugu in 2009 with Ravi Teja’s Kick. My career in Tollywood kicked off right away with Kick becoming a superhit film. I think I have worked on more than 60 films since my first break as music director in 2009. To me, there's no distinction that this is a Telugu film or Tamil film - I work on every film with equal passion and give it my best. But the sensibilities of the Tamil and Telugu audience are different and I work accordingly. 

Watch: Thaman's hit song Lehchalo from Ram Charan's Bruce Lee

Success in Tamil films

I am still waiting for that one elusive big hit album in Tamil cinema. I have scored for many movies in Telugu for all the top heroes like Ram Charan, Mahesh Babu, Jr NTR, Allu Arjun and Ravi Teja. I would love to work on Thala Ajith’s film, Vijay’s film and all the top heroes in Tamil as well. I am just waiting for the opportunity to score music for them. While the music for some of the movies I have worked on in Tamil has been highly appreciated, they haven’t done too well at the box office. I think I need that one big box office hit in Tamil. Hope it happens soon!

Bollywood

I think working in Bollywood is difficult because the directors there need to understand south Indian music directors and vice-versa. In the south, we have a good understanding of how we all work and it's easy. But in Mumbai, it's very different and for a music director from here to get to that level of understanding and to deliver what is required is tough. I think this is why it's not easy for south Indian music directors to make in-roads into Bollywood easily.