‘Darbuka’ Siva on art mirroring life in ‘Mudhal Nee Mudivum Nee’
The Hindu
Music composer-actor ‘Darbuka’ Siva on turning filmmaker for his debut ‘Mudhal Nee Mudivum Nee’, a high school drama that transports us back to the 1990s
Somewhere in 2013, ‘Darbuka’ Siva decided to take a break from the music scene. Ironically, it was the same year he was selected for OneBeat, an initiative of the US State Department that brings together musicians from all over the world for creative collaborations. During this period, Siva began to look inwards, rummaging through memories of his high school years. He maintains that creativity comes from memories; although there was no starting point to any of these, except for the snapshots that presented themselves.
“It’s like a dream; you never know when it actually begins and remember only the middle part and what happens before you wake up. For me, composing a piece of music is akin to a dream. As was writing for Mudhal Nee Mudivum Nee (MNMN). It is this collection of memories that I kept going back to,” says Siva over phone, ahead of the film’s premiere on Zee5 on January 21.
Siva had the idea and flow; he knew exactly at which point the story needed to begin and where it needed to end. But all these thoughts resided in his head without a form until one day, Siva put them to paper. “Whenever I share my school memories with people, they get super stoked. I thought it would be exciting to work on the story. I kept grinding the idea before I started writing the script. MNMN is still 50% fact and 50% fiction but I won’t tell which is what,” he adds with a laugh.