'Charulatha' was a rare project, says Sundar C Babu

Just like most of the team from his Tamil film Nadodigal, music director Sundar C Babu has also ventured into the Kannada film industry. Sundar marks his entry into this industry with Charulatha that is releasing on Friday.

“So far, composing music for Tamil and Telugu films had kept me busy. The fact that I had not got any exciting offers had also kept me away from Sandalwood. But a project like Charulatha is very rare for a music director to come across, I felt. The film is about conjoined twins who are violin players thus making music an integral part of the film,” he reasons.

What also made him say yes to the project was the fact that it was being made in all four South Indian languages. “To come out with music that people from all these states could identify with was quite a bit of a challenge,” he adds. This apart from the fact that the film also allowed him to showcase his expertise in background score encouraged him to take it up, he says. “Ideally in a film, 20-25 minutes is set aside for music. But in this case, most of the second half is dominated by my background score. The climax in particular is high on emotions and I’ve been provided with ample scope to experiment with music,” he adds.

“The emotions of a ghost are expressed in this scene and since this is anything but a horror story, using scary sounds were not an option,” he explains. Composing the title song was also a pleasurable experience according to him.

“Six-year-old Varsha has sung the song along with her father and she is a complete delight to listen to. It took four months to complete the film and in that, a whole month was required for completing the music alone. I thought Nadodigal would be my most challenging project, but now I feel I’ve outdone myself with Charulatha. And the efforts seem to have paid off, for all those who have heard the music are saying only good things about it,” he says.

So any more offers from the Kannada industry? “I may be working with the producers of Charulatha again. But nothing is concrete yet. A Malaysian film that I composed music for is due for release in November. It was great fun being a part of this film and I’m looking forward to its release. It is a comedy that revolves around a bear that escapes from a zoo.

Charulatha stars Priyamani in the lead. It has been directed by P Kumar, whose Kannada film Vishnuvardhana was a runaway hit.