Mahanati, the biopic of veteran actor Savitri, is all set to be released on May 9 and two songs have been released from the album so far. The film’s two songs, Mooga Manasulu and Sada Nannu, are reminiscent of the music in the ’60s and have been received well by fans. The composer of the film, Mickey J Meyer, in an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, speaks about his inspiration behind the album and the process of scoring music.
Did composing songs for Mahanati mean that Mickey watched Savitri’s films? The composer confessed that he hasn’t really seen films of the veteran actor. He said, “I have heard a few of her songs. However, I have never really watched any of her films. One movie that I would like to watch, however, is Maya Bazaar. I grew up watching Hindi films of Raj Kapoor and his contemporaries so I had a fair idea about the music from that era. Understanding vintage music really helped while working on Mahanati.”
Mickey also shared the challenges while working on the album. “I could be composing when I am travelling, and I sit down in the studio to finalise the tracks,” he said and added, “The initial composing was easy. What was, however, challenging was to stay within the boundary for this album and not veer away from the genre of the music I was working on.”
{{/usCountry}}Mickey also shared the challenges while working on the album. “I could be composing when I am travelling, and I sit down in the studio to finalise the tracks,” he said and added, “The initial composing was easy. What was, however, challenging was to stay within the boundary for this album and not veer away from the genre of the music I was working on.”
{{/usCountry}}He also pointed out that Mahanati was a challenging project because he had to strike a fine balance. “I had to be true to the genre of music that was composed when Savitri garu was working and also keep in mind the audience who would be watching the film today. It has to be relevant to them as well. I have to take people back in time with the music, and yet cater to people of today,” he said. He also revealed that Mahanati’s title song happens to be the most challenging track that the composer worked on.
Both the songs that have come out are about Savitri; so is there any music around Madhuravani (Samantha Akkineni) and Vijay Antony (Vijay Devarakonda)? “There is a piece that is not part of the jukebox but will be featured in the film that plays for them,” Mickey revealed.
Mahanati, is a bilingual also starring Keerthy Suresh, Dulquer Salmaan, Prakash Raj and Shalini Pandey in pivotal roles. It was shot in Telugu and Tamil and the film is titled Nadigaiyar Thilagam in latter. So was composing music for two languages challenging? “Working with lyricist Madhan Karky made it easy. He wrote the songs for the Tamil version.”
Speaking about the background score, he confessed that when one is working on a great movie, everything flows. “The film is about Savitri’s childhood, her rise to stardom, and her downfall. It is all about her and all of this is felt in the score. The grandness of how she lived her life will come across through the music, the score follows the scenes,” said Mickey.
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