Those who listened to the Vaathe Poothe song from Kunchacko Boban’s Valliyum Thetti Pulliyum Thetti cannot easily forget that tricky track, which has been getting good response from the day it was released. The interesting fact is that the person behind the music as well as the lyrics of this song is a 26-year-old newcomer Sooraj S. Kurup. He has also crooned the song with Vidhu Prathap.
Sooraj has been dreaming of directing a movie since his graduation days at CMS College, Kottayam. And that forced him to direct a short film Punarjani, which garnered many accolades. But once he graduated, he was in a dilemma — ‘What to do next! To continue with studies or to follow passion?’
“I was working as an assistant director in a film when I got admission for MBA in a college in Thiruvananthapuram. I was confused whether to join the course or choose films,” he remembers. Luckily, his family supported him; he chose the latter and moved to Chennai.
“My only aim was to become something in the film industry and it was how I secured admission for an audio engineering course in an institute there. In fact, that decision became a crucial factor, which helped to look at music more seriously. Till then, my focus was completely on filmmaking,” says Sooraj, who has been with VTPT director Rishi Sivakumar for the past six years for the film’s pre-production.
“We have been friends for the past few years; it was not in connection with the film. But when he told us about his dream, I, along with some other friends, supported him. In fact, the basic works, from composition to lyrics writing, were happening along with the scriptwriting,” says the music director who has penned five songs for the film.
Even before the release of his debut directorial venture, he has composed a song for another film Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho, being produced by Kunchacko Boban for Udaya. “It was around two months before we started the shoot of VTPT that Chackochan called me with this offer. It was actually a big surprise as I was not expecting such a big project in this initial stage. It was after hearing my compositions, especially the track Kannukal, which became his favourite, that Chackochan approached me,” says Sooraj.
