Niruttara fame singer Balachandra Prabhu turns music director for courtroom thriller Wedding Gift

Hindustani classical singer Balachandra Prabhu, who shot to fame in Sandalwood with Apoorva Kasaravalli’s 2016 multi-starrer romantic drama Niruttara, has turned music director for Vikram Prabhu’s first directorial Wedding Gift. It’s a courtroom thriller, featuring Sonu Gowda and Nishan Nanaiah in lead roles, with Prema, Achyuth Kumar and Pavitra Lokesh playing important characters. The movie is slated to release in June this year.

“The film has a total of three songs - a love song, a wedding track and another mother-son number, which also has a reprised version. The audio launch happened earlier this month, with the release of the wedding song - ​​Modala Preethiya Payana  - sung by Nakul Abhyankar. It’s a melodious track that mixes classical notes with contemporary tunes. Apart from composing music, I have also lent my voice for the yet-to-be announced love song,” says the Mangaluru-born artist.

He considers himself fortunate to be composing music for songs written by renowned poet-lyricist Jayanth Kaikini. “A lot of effort has been put in to come up with fresh tunes for each of the three songs. This project has been challenging but a great learning experience for me. I am thankful to have worked with team Wedding Gift,” he adds.

Balachandra had made his playback-singing debut with Niladri Kumar’s chart-topping tracks, Aaha Identha and Aalangisu Baa Nannanu, for Niruttara back then. Aalangisu Baa Nannanu was later recreated in Bollywood for the 2016 film Shorgul. Known for his devotional songs and classical music concerts around the world, Balachandra comes from a family of singers, who used to perform bhajan-kirtan at temples, while he had received his formal training in classical music in Hubballi.

The singer had made a shift to contemporary music in 2020 with a soulful single, titled Male Hanigalu, while he is also interested in exploring Kannada pop. With the pandemic restrictions now slowly easing, Balachandra is looking forward to doing more live performances again.