In an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, music composer P.V.R Raja, the voice behind the tracks of Vitamin She(2020) and Madhi(2022), opens up about his musical journey, what music means to him, and more.
Tejal Sinha
Music composer Penumatsa Venkata Ramaraju aka P.V.R. Raja in the film industry rendered tunes for films such as Mitti: Back to the Roots(2018), Vitamin She(2020) and Madhi(2022).The young composer hails from Vizianagaram district and he made it to the “International Book of Records” for playing 36 guitar chords in 10 seconds and 380 guitar strummings in 30 seconds.
At a time when filmmakers would go all over the place to find tunes for their short films, P.V.R. Raja would help them with original tunes. They used to refer to him as “Short film Maestro”. In 2020, he got nominated in the Best Music Director category at SIIMA Short film awards 2020 for Antharardham.
A few months after the release of Madhi, the music director is all set to embark on a new journey with a couple of new projects and an album. In this wonderful email interaction, P.V.R Raja discussed music, influences, what makes him stand out and his propensity for good stories.
Starting it off with how it all started, he said, “I used to write many poems and songs in my childhood. Initially I composed music for my lyrics with my voice. Listening to any kind of music completely changes my mood. Unknowingly, I developed a love for music. I started learning music from my 10th standard by reading music books in the library.”
Out of all the music directors, the Madhi composer particularly liked A.R. Rahman and Harris Jayaraj, “I came into the industry to gain a reputation for myself. In the beginning, every song I heard inspired me to come this far. Especially A.R. Rahman and Harris Jayaraj Songs.”
He says music was the only saving grace during tough times, “I had to start my music career from the zero level because there were no known people in the industry. But I was never really afraid. The love of music alone did not show any hardships.”
“My courage has always been music”, reiterated P.V.R. Raja before explaining us the story behind the moniker, Short Film Maestro. “Even though I am a music director, I write lyrics, play guitar and sing songs. So I strongly believe that I can survive in the music industry.
I have composed music as a music director for around 250 digital films in Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, English and languages. Especially since a long time I am the only one who has mostly given original music in short films. I give the same quality music to short films as I do to big films. Many awards have come to my music. In the industry Elders like L.B. Sriram made me the maestro of short films.”
Vitamin She marks his debut in the Telugu film industry and as we all know a debut is a big deal for artistes, “Paper Boy film director V. Jayashankar shot his second film Vitamin She in the time of the Covid pandemic. As I have done music for all his short films in the past, I was hired as the music composer for this film.”
What makes the Vitamin She music director stand out from the rest? “If anyone approaches me with a good story, we will discuss more where the music has a good chance. I prepare my music team based on the movie budget and time limits. I am a professional guitarist. I have received awards on behalf of the Indian Government at State and National level. I have a good understanding of all genres of music.
I can do all types of music from Indian classical music to western music. I can write a song, compose music to it, play the guitar and sing.This uniqueness separates me from other music directors. The only thing in my mind is to add life to the director’s vision through music.”
There’s a complaint that music directors often repeat themselves and play safe. And it is understandable that like anything in this world, things do become repetitive but the ones who beat that mundaneness are the ones who make it to the top. Replying to the same, P.V.R. Raja said, “As music softwares often updates and music teams change, any composer’s music may be different from what it was before.
Also, each story has a different musical style, and if you understand that, each of our projects is different from the one before us.”When asked about his upcoming projects, he informed,“ Maro Prapancham and I am preparing concepts and tunes for my 100 video albums. At present, after making a mark in Telugu, I think the focus is on Bollywood. In the meantime, if I get good stories, I will make music.”
