Santhosh Narayanan interview: On the music of ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ and understanding Nag Ashwin’s vision

Composer Santhosh Narayanan talks about creating different themes for characters in ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ and how it was made to be an auditory experience, as well as a homage to veteran composers

The road leading to Santhosh Narayanan’s studio might be a rough one, but the experience inside the space is anything but. An empty patch of land opposite his house is turned into a parking spot for his boat which he got during the floods, and those who step into his studio are welcomed by his two puppers as we sit down next to his audio console to talk about Kalki 2898 AD, arguably his biggest project in terms of scale.

Excerpts from a conversation:

“I think they had shot Kalki for almost seven to eight months before I got on board. When they got in touch, my first question was ‘Why me?’ and director Nag Ashwin told me he loved the album of Cuckoo; I was very happy to hear that. He told me he needed a soulful album and there’s space for the epic-ness given the film’s story. While I was given a free hand with the epic aspects of the film, the soulful parts are something that will also carry over to the sequels. The ideation process involved creating different worlds; like Kasi, Shambhala, the Lab and the Complex. I have a folder called World Boxes, and as we came up with tracks, we segregated them based on these categories.”

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“Sumathi (played by Deepika Padukone) is the central character and her theme was the first one we tried to crack. It had to share the film’s epic nature while also showcasing her loneliness. Then we built a few more themes around her; like one for the extraction process, one for her escape, and another for how she is important to other communities left in that world.”

“I usually ask for references to use as a cue on what the director expects, but with Kalki, I had no references. Nag would send me working CGI images and that’s when I understood the actual scale of the film. It’s made at a magnitude that I thought was not possible from India. He wanted me to match the music’s feel with his vision. Nag seldom reacts and I didn’t know this initially. When I gave him the theme song, he just said “cool” and I thought he didn’t like it. When I met the producer and said he said so, they were ecstatic. That’s when I realised he doesn’t use superlatives; he’s a sage in a way (laughs).”

“I personally wanted to add the sounds of Eighties and Nineties in Kalki’s album. I’m a huge fan of Ilaiyaraaja sir, MSV sir and AR Rahman sir and I wanted this to be a tribute to the,. ‘Bhairava Anthem’ is an ode to Raja sir, the ‘Veera Dheera’ track you hear at the end during the big reveal is my ode to MSV sir, and it’s voiced by Ananthu who did Vada Chennai’s ‘Rajan Theme’. The treatment of the Mother in the lab is my ode to Rahman sir. There are a lot of personal touches I’ve left in the film. The whole ‘Mahabharata’ area is also my tribute to the amazing duo of SS Rajamouli gaaru and MM Keeravani garu.”