The Hyderabad-based Rudhra band has been on the path of creating their own niche in the musical market. The Pioneer connects with the band’s in-charge as he shares more in detail about the uniqueness of this band.
Tejal Sinha
Let the good vibes flow’ has been the main motto behind Hyderabad’s very own Rudhra band. The name ‘Rudhra’ can be traced back to the Indian god of destruction, evoking images of death and devastation. Similar to Rudhra, the band’s name was chosen to represent the intense nature of its music.
Band Rudhra is the brainchild of Raghavendra and Jayanth. The band that began with these two musicians has now grown to a band of five members: vocalist Raghavendra Saraswathula, drummer Jayanth Sri Sai Krishna Challa, violinist Chiranjeevi Bankupalli, keyboardist Saimanoj Mutchupalli and guitarist Venkata Karthikeya Challa.
“The origin of the name Rudhra is based on the belief that music, which includes both melody and beat, is derived from Lord Shiva’s Rudhra Thandavam,” shares the lead singer Raghavendra on an exclusive chat with The Pioneer. “Both Jayanth and I happen to symbolise different aspects: I embody ‘Tune’ while drummer Jayanth embodies ‘Rhythm’. Therefore, the band is appropriately named Rudhra.”
The troupe of these talented men finds their biggest influences in the musical maestros Ilaiyaraaja, AR Rahman, Shankar Mahadevan and Mani Sharma. Meanwhile, they also derive influences from Indian-based popular bands like Indian ocean and Thaikkudam Bridge, which have gone global with Indian fusion. He further shares, “Our ideas are starting to form and with the influence of the aforementioned inspirations, we are already creating our independent music, the future for Indian music bands.”
As a team, the team participates in their creative process by sitting together and jotting down various ideas, including social stigmas and issues faced by young people, current social patterns and pressures, and suggestions for coping and playful alternatives. Jayanth further shares, “We will showcase this in a combination of Western and Carnatic aesthetics. We could refer to it as a work-in-progress. We are now writing our own lyrics using our band’s collective thoughts instead of having an external person do it for us. Currently, the band exclusively performs covers from the worlds of Tollywood and Bollywood.”
Staying true to the core of the song, the band adds their own twists to the instrumentation while allowing each musician to showcase their solo talents.
Asked what’s something that the team enjoys the most about performing live, he further goes on to share, “Live performances are thrilling for us, and occasionally we try and improvise spontaneously. Secondly, as we take song requests from our audience, we also include those songs in our playlist. The main source of great satisfaction is when our fans tell us that our songs are refreshing and that our band presents them in a unique way compared to other bands in the city. Additionally, it is rewarding when the audience continues to attend our shows. When our audience mentions they will never forget this evening performance and that it relieved their stress, it brings us great joy and satisfaction.”
However, things do not come out effortlessly. They confront their challenges, and, speaking of them, he mentions that their biggest challenge is to demonstrate their worth as a band in the music industry. “Later, the struggle was to build a fan base, so we performed many shows for a smaller payment at first. To achieve the correct sound output, we hired a sound engineer named Sunny John. We talked and played music together, finding the perfect balance for each instrument and determining the optimal mixing technique for the best sound quality. Currently, we are entertaining prominent event organisers and high-end music venues and clubs in Hyderabad,” explains Raghavendra.
Since starting out, the band has entertained various Tollywood celebrities, such as music directors, actors, and directors. In Satyabhama starring Kajal Aggarwal, Raghavendra sang a song, with drummer Jayanth providing extra beats. Both artists recently collaborated on this project .
Besides their music, the group has also been actively participating in sports. During the time that Raghavendra is engaged in playing cricket, Jayanth participates in both chess and cricket, while Manoj prefers volleyball, and Chiranjeevi excels at long-distance driving.
