Love is bliss …! – Music Director Bharadwaj

When I was travelling in a taxicab from the airport to the hotel in Malaysia, the driver who was a Chinese asked me whether I was from India. When I said ‘yes’, he became very enthusiastic and told me that he would play a fantastic song. And, he played the song ‘Oh podu …’ from the film ‘Gemini’. I asked him to give me the CD and showed him my name as the composer and introduced myself as the music director Bharadwaj! The driver was simply delighted! I feel really very happy when I receive praises from persons without introduction. The Madhavan-starrer ‘Priyasakhi’ ran to full houses in South Africa. The people appreciated the movie and the songs very much. Adhiyaman, the director of the film and me, the music composer were honored by being their state-guests for ten days. The movie was dubbed in their ‘Zulu’ language; the dubbed version also was a hit. The songs were written in Zulu language and the singers sang the songs for which I composed the music. I scored the music for the movie ‘Kaadhal.com’. A person by name Ismail, who had listened to the songs on the net congratulated me for the music and requested me to give him the track. I told him that I couldn’t give the track but he could use the song for his film. And, he used one of the songs in his Portugese film! The song ‘oru vaarthai ketka oru varusham kaaththirunthaen …’ in the movie ‘Ayyaa’ was used by a Chinese in his film with the consent of Kavithalayaa Productions. The song ‘Ovvoru pookkalumae …’ received tremendous response and appreciation. When a knitwear unit in Tiruppur was to be closed down due to heavy loss, the workers decided to commit mass suicide by consuming poison. At that point, by a strange coincidence, Vairamuthu’s song in my music in the film ‘Onpathu roopaay nottu’ was telecast. The lines started as ‘Markazhiyil kulichupaaru, kuliru pazhakip pokum …’. When the workers listened to the song, they realized the seriousness of their wrong decision and immediately decided to give it up! When I composed the music for Kamal Hasan’s songs for the film ‘Vasool Raja’ I took the track to Kamal’s house and made him sing on his laptop. It was a new experience.

Q: Now, you’ve started the noble work of scoring music for the verses of Thirukural. Tell us about this project …

A: : When I read Thirukural recently, it was an intensive reading. I wished its principles and doctrines should reach one and all. With this aim, I’ve started composing music for all the verses. I’ve composed in such a way that the Tamils spread across the globe would be able to sing each and every verse. I had been to Dubai recently for recording. And, I’ll be going to the US next week. I require lot of money for this project. I’ve founded ‘Bharadwaj Foundation’ for this purpose. I am making great efforts at mobilizing funds by conducting music programs in various countries. I’ve no commercial aim as far as this project is concerned.