Roopanthara composer Midhun Mukundan on the success of his collaborations with Raj B Shetty

Composer Midhun Mukundan is an integral part of actor-filmmaker Raj B Shetty’s team, a collaboration that began with Ondu Motteya Kathe. They’ve also done Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana, Toby, Swathi Muthina Male Haniye and Roopanthara together, with each film boasting music that’s stood out. What makes this union so special?

Speaking to Kadakk Cinema as part of the promotions of Roopanthara, which releases in theatres on July 26, Midhun said that the first and foremost reason, perhaps, is that he relates and connects to the subjects that Raj and his team pick up to make films on. But most importantly, it is the creative freedom that Midhun enjoys on these projects that makes their combination work.

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Elaborating, Midhun says that when a filmmaker approaches him to compose, say, a song for a particular situation, there is a way in which it is communicated. “For instance, some may cite an example of a hit song from recent times and expect a similar number. When that happens, your creative juices don’t get flowing. The defining factor of Raj and team is how he communicates his requirements for the music. To date, he has never asked me to compose a hit number. The ask is always to come up with a good song for a particular situation – one that I think is absolutely perfect for it,” says the composer.

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Raj adds to this that some of their hit collaborations, like Chanda Avala from Ondu Motteya Kathe and Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana’s Endo Bareda, for instance, were not composed for him, but for some other films, but that teams decided against them. When Raj heard it, he took an instant liking to it and then wrote sequences to match each of these songs.

As for the music of Roopanthara, Midhun has been quoted as saying that it had to encompass human experiences – what it means to be and grow as a human being – which, for him, was an immensely creatively satisfying experience.