Normally, those who fail to get awards cry foul. Perhaps for the first time, an award winner has come up with allegations against his own team. While expressing his elation at winning the state award for Best Music Director, for the songs Paswathi Dishi Dishi from the movie Edavapathy and Sahradambaram from Ennu Ninte Moideen, Ramesh Narayan has lashed out against the Moideen team for humiliating him.
“It hurt me, it was insulting the way I was treated,” says the Hindustani musician. “But now I am happy.”
Explaining the background, he says it was he who helped the film to take off. “I started it all. R.S. Vimal (director) had first shown me a documentary about Moideen and Kanchanamala. I decided then and there that this story had the potential for a good movie.” He then approached the producers and introduced them to the director, he says.
“Myself and Rafeeq (Ahamed) worked on the songs as soon as the script was ready. It was all done according to the situations. Meanwhile, Prithviraj was roped in. I had in fact suggested Prithviraj’s name for the movie. Soon, I found out that he was not satisfied with the songs. He told Vimal and the producer that the songs were too ‘academic,” explains Ramesh. “First of all, I would like to know what he meant by ‘academic’. Secondly, if he did not like the songs he should’ve just told me. Prithviraj also insisted that he will not be a part of the project if I composed the songs.”
He says he decided to step down as the music composer at this juncture and told Vimal that he could go ahead with a different music director. “It was humiliating, since all the songs were ready. The producers went and begged Prithviraj and he finally agreed to retain Sharadambaram and the song sung by my daughter," reminisces Ramesh.
Adding to his discomfiture, Prithviraj himself contacted M. Jayachandran and fixed him as the music director, according to Ramesh. “But I said I will do the three songs which were already set. They deleted the song Ee mazhathan sung by Yesudas which was a beautiful song recorded over two days. My daughter’s song was deleted as well.”
Clearly, Ramesh Narayan feels that the award announcement is a vindication of his talent as well as that of his daughter. “Prithviraj is not grown up enough to judge my music,” he signs off.
Asked about the charges, director Vimal says, “I have nothing to say about the allegation made by such a third rate person. There is no truth in his allegations which are absurd.”
