It is no mean feat for any actor, let alone a newbie, to work in three languages within two years of entering the industry, but Madonna Sebastian has done the impossible. While Premam launched her career in a big way, her Tamil film Kadhalum Kadhanu Pogum opposite Vijay Sethupathi hit the bull’s eye and she followed that up with the Malayalam hit King Liar.
She is also a part of the Telugu remake of Premam titled Majnu and has signed up for her next Tamil film opposite Sethupathi again. The lass is having the best of three worlds and is as busy as a bee flitting from one project to the next.
But as her popularity as an actor grew, it eclipsed the singer in her and many in the audience forgot that she made a mark as a singer years before her tinsel town debut and is also a part of a band. Though the audience memory may be fickle, Madonna has never lost sight of her passion for singing and is all set to croon at her first live gig at Radisson Blu, Kochi on Friday at 7 pm along with the members of her band Everafter.
When we caught up with Madonna, she was in the midst of her band rehearsals, but once she starts talking, the husky words flow effortlessly punctuated by easy laughs. She is on a high, enjoying time with her band members whom she has known for a long time. The singing rehearsals have been hectic, but she has no complaints at all.
“It has been a while since we have been planning a live performance. There has been a gap since we made music together, but the time is right because the chemistry and sync between us is quite nice. We are all friends who talk about music and that is important in a band.”
She adds as an afterthought, “If you are a musician, you have to spend a lot of time on your music, but because of my acting schedules, I have not been able to do that. It has been long since I performed a one-and-a-half hour gig, but it is only when I perform that I will start getting into the groove and start singing again. Music needs hours of practice, but whatever time I could manage, I have been practising and since the members of the entire band are in Kochi, it becomes easier!”
‘Everafter’ has prominent music composer Roby Abraham as the founder; the gig will have a set list of 12 of the band’s originals and will also feature a few popular covers. The band is a freestyle post rock band with ambient progressive elements as the mainstay of their music. The songs move between the themes of heavy rebellious outcries and social awareness, to mellow breezy numbers and true-blue romantic melodies.
Madonna’s parents first recognised her singing talent when she sang at the church and encouraged her to pursue it, enrolling the little girl for music classes. Though Madonna exudes tremendous confidence and ease before the camera or crowd, she is in real life very shy around people and an introvert. She reveals, “I was a very shy, obedient and quiet child and being that shy, my parents had to push me on to stage; they accompanied me to every competition and my dad even made me sing through the night till I got my notes right. They have put in a lot of effort, but now they have left me free; their contention is that they have trained me enough. I feel most of the artistes are introverts, but they train themselves to be social; otherwise most of them are sensitive and like their space”
Premam was the 11th film Madonna accepted after rejecting 10 films. Mentioning that she has been lucky, Madonna continues, “I am trying to be very selective about what I am doing. What matters at the end of the day is working with a good team and my main criteria would be the director in any language.” About acting and singing being two different ball games, she opines, “I actually don’t think there is much of a difference between acting and singing, but I feel a lot more scared to sing than to act!”
Quizzed about what was more important to her — singing or acting, she replies, “Both actually.” She has high hopes for the band wanting it to go places. We leave her humming a tune and for now, Madonna’s life is a song where she has hit the right notes.
