Switch on your TV and the striking jingles that accompany each commercial are sure to bring a smile to your face. Compact and catchy they are power-packed with music you never tire of hearing again and again.
“It’s a very competitive world and you have to dish out the best,” says Varun Sunil, the man credited with composing the music for a hundred-odd TV commercials including the lilting tunes of Bhima Gold, Brahmins Curry powder, Sunny Diamond and Optima Home Appliances.
But listen carefully to some of his signature music that has a touch of jazz and a strain of blues and you’re sure not to miss out on the rhythms of percussion that accompany it.
“I’m always on the look out for music that instantly uplifts you,” says Varun, who is a popular percussionist and whose tryst with music started at the young age of five.
His skills on the mridangam sharpened by a course in audio recording and sound engineering from the Chethana Music Academy in Thrissur soon saw him performing with many popular musicians here.
But it was a meeting with Stephen Devassy the music prodigy whom he was introduced to by ad filmmaker Sleeba Verghese that brightened his prospects.
Today Varun performs regularly with Stephen’s Solid Band across the country and even abroad. “We have performed in almost all the colleges in the country,” says Varun, who has also been the man behind the catchy theme music of Vanitha Film Awards for the past three years.
The musician is also a prolific player of Arabic instruments like the derbukka and the Spanish cajon and these make his concerts a treat to hear.
“The training I got from learning mridangam has given me the confidence to handle any other percussion instrument,” says Varun. His musical talent can also be traced back to his father Sunil who was a popular singer of the Shruthilayam orchestra of yesteryears.
An active member of the band Malabar which saw him performing with Amrita Super Talent Winner, Govind S. Menon, Varun attributes his success to the relentless support of his mom who did everything to nurture his talent.
Varun is in the process of doing an English musical album for the Muthootu Pappachan Group. “Music is a gift from god,” he adds.
