Malayalam actor Neeraj Madhav on pushing boundaries, his new hip hop single ‘Ballaatha Jaathi’ and new projects

Neeraj Madhav, actor and musician, discusses his hip-hop music journey, pushing boundaries in the industry, and upcoming projects.

When I ask actor-musician Neeraj Madhav about the edginess and the underlying note of anger in some lines of his recent hip-hop numbers, he explains that braggadocio is a part of hip-hop music. “Hip-hop has an element of flexing or boasting. It is self-uplifting and about embracing the self. It can also be an outlet to vent anger. 

As hip-hop artiste NJ, he has cemented his place in Kerala’s rap-heavy indie music scene. His latest single is ‘Ballaatha Jaathi’, in collaboration with homegrown hip-hop artistes Dabzee and Baby Jean. The earworm has garnered 14 million views on YouTube and has been streamed more than 20 million times [at the time of writing] via several audio streaming platforms since its release in June. The song will be part of his album, Padakuthira, tentatively scheduled to drop later this year. He intends to collaborate with musicians across language and regional barriers for the album.

“Nothing [films] exciting came up after RDX (Robert Dony Xavier). I am a right-brained guy, and if I am not enjoying the process [of creating] then I cannot do it. I’d rather not do something if it does not excite me!” 

Belonging to an industry where one’s relevance is measured by how often one is ‘seen’ on screen, Neeraj actively chooses to push boundaries. He also refuses to be complacent, does not try to fit in, and prefers to be picky rather than take on projects to rack up numbers. He will be next seen in Vaashi director Vishnu Raghav’s web series, Love Under Construction , scheduled to stream on Disney Hotstar.

He chooses to focus on his music, which, he agrees, has given him access to another audience. His musician persona attracts “a younger, cooler audience.” Music gives him the space to experiment as an artiste; his repertoire includes, besides hip-hop, melodies and pop songs too. 

The 34-year-old’s first rap number, which came out in 2020, was Jungle Rap.; Panipaali followed, and there was no looking back as a musician for Neeraj. The indie music scene has evolved exponentially and is financially viable for musicians, unlike in the past. 

Of the contributory factors to the success of ‘Ballaatha Jaathi’, the most important is the familiarity with what Neeraj calls the ‘Malabari’ slang. Films located in the region and the popularity of musicians such as Dabzee and Baby Jean, who hail from North Kerala, are factors that have mainstreamed the dialect and slang of the region.