Best Background Score – Ranjit Barot
Best Sound Design – Kunal Sharma
Best Cinematography – R. Madhi
Best Debut Director – Bejoy Nambiar

Its Bejoy’s vision to create a film he believed in with zero faces, indie-underground music, and with almost zero money beginning, that makes the movie a cult it is today. He decided to etch a new path in filmmaking in the cliched ‘Bollywood’ industry, and continues to leave a trail for new filmmakers to follow.

A great effort by the entire cast and crew of Shaitan under Bejoy’s vision for making this day happen. Proud to be a part of good cinema, and a cinema that does not want to be in the shadow of  the cliched. (For folks new here, I was part of Shaitan as one of music composers, and had scored 7 of the 14 tracks on the OST of Shaitan.)

Its not that the team strived and starved for awards, but this is the a way to make way for new-age films, film-makers and technicians.

On behalf of Bejoy and the team – thanks guys for making this cinema what it is today !

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Read More about the winners here :
- Ranjit Barot – Wiki | Website
- Kunal Sharma – Imdb
- R. Madhi – Wiki
- Bejoy Nambiar – Wiki | People Jam

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Child, you need to hold your anger. I never would want you to be like this. I never dreamt of you being so ferocious, you’re my blood, you’re my child. My child cannot be this.

Oh Mother, the dream was never there and I existed to be ceased and crushed. I can never ever breath you breath, I can never feel your warmth, I can never love anyone, I can never console anyone. I can’t even console you mother. And we can’t console each other. For that man has chosen to separate us with his love to sin.   Sin did he in the very act of impress you from bliss and drag you into his demonist hole. And I was born within the beautiful soul of yours, in that impious hole. But its your good heart and strong willpower that kept me away from evil energy, that was brewing in there.  Mother for all that you did for me, I would want to do something in return.

Child, its a mothers duty to kiss heaven and shadow the hell. I’ve done nothing great, I’ve been like any other mother in this world would have been to a child. I seek nothing in return, I seek to see you happy and wish to see you …… Oh where am I getting to with this, why am I trying to live in a dream, again. You have no heart, no eyes to see me, no hair that I could caress, no cheeks to kiss you….don’t even have a face, you’re nothing, nothing but only a voice! What can a voice do, nothing at all! I’ve failed you my child!

Oh mother, failed you would have if you didn’t protect me, didn’t shelter me, didn’t feed me. Failed you’d have if you didn’t love all those people who loved you. Failed you would have if  you hadn’t given back love to the one who sinned on you, who hated you, who trampled you to what he believes is nothing.

Failed is he mother. Failed is he because he will chose to commit the same sins again. Failed is he because he is shouting to the world that he is a man with an ocean of kindness. Failed is he because he still exits. Failed is he because he does not realize I exist in him. Failed is he because he doesn’t realize I’m his child. Failed is he, because he is my father!

—-

A short,  inspired from a true story which also connects the harsh reality of life that everyone faces in this world. I pray to the loved. Peace.

One of the kids, had been smothered with talcum and loads of lip colour wrapped in a princess dress and high heels – almost ! The excitement today in parents to get their kids for something related to music, media, television, audition is unbelievable. Its the parents that you end up managing than the kids. That’s exactly what happened at the recording.

The kids did a fantaboulous job in their outing as a choir for a movie project, and the parents did the job of biting their finger nails, and popping their head through the gap to the superheavy studio doors. Its an art to manage the parents, and to get the kids to sing with their heart out rather than standing in with a whip.

All in all it was a very good recording session, and Praveen the engineer had to do a lot of editing post the recording, which he is quite good at. My previous stint in producing a musical play for a school, where in I had to train and manage a 30 piece kids choir came in handy.

Will update you about this project and song soon.

The workshop in Bangalore on Sun 08 Jan 2012 was a good touchpoint for me to interact with musicians, music lovers, fans and non fans of my music. I got to revisit the same ‘junction’ where these folks were stuck with themselves, their music. In the end of a six hour informal one-to-one session they got tipped with how they need to setbase in music and look at music and its commercial and financial aspect from a different point of view. I’m happy I could share and un-jinx  the ever confusing mindset and suggest them ways to cut through the clutter. This is what the participants had to say.

And this is a blog ( http://new.happysing.com/prashant-pillai-music-workshop-bangalore) that the editor of the indie music review site happysing.com had to pen down about the workshop.

I would like to thank Ricky Kej for providing the studio in such a short notice, and Charan for organizing the venue. I’m kicked about my Chennai, Trivandrum and Pune workshop session.

If you are keen, or know someone who is interested, direct them here : bit.ly/prashantworkshop

There are so many newbies and baby step starters who want to get into music, there’s so much of excitement in them, so much of desire, passion and urge to make a mark for themselves in music. At the same time there are negative force that stops us, like the worries of our parents, family members, the money in music, and the eternally looming question ‘can I make a full time career in music?’ .
Get to know how to sail through these phases, and I’d love to share what I’ve learnt being into music all these years.

What you get

The ‘One day FREE Workshop  in Music and Music Production’  is a 6 hours intensive  session where you would get to know
- what music is today and its future
- whats in store for a  musician/singer/artist in India
- music and money, and ways to survive
- music production – Sound, Production, Identity
- what it takes to be a musician/singer/ artist – The Fears, Passions, Struggles, Networking and more.

The session will be honest, practical and will be sprinkled with ‘in your face’ facts.

Guarantee

By the end of the session, you’d be on ground-zero, and will get a direction to move on and kickstart the right way.

When and Where

The workshop will be held in

How Much

FREE!

How to Signup

That’s pretty simple, fill in this form here, and I’ll let you know when and where. The applications are processed first-come, first-reviewed, and I do not intend to have too many people.  Feel free to share this invite with anyone whom you know who might benefit from this workshop.

I’m all kicked about this workshop, I love teaching, and meeting up with raw energies like you’ll. Lets catchup !

There are 2 more tracks to be released, which has been delayed due to a combo offer of Laziness + Bad Time Management. It should be out soon(read December 1st week)

Musician +  Artist Auditions
I would love to jam with new musicians, singers and artists and produce music with you’ll for my productions for film scores, commercials and more.

Though not any genre / instrument specific, I’d be more happy to meet musicians who are good  saxophonists, clarinetists, trumpetists, (or any other brass instruments), violinists, accordionists, drummers, bassists, traditional ethno-classical instrumentalists like sitar, sarod, santoor, veena, violin etc.

Singers who jam up on any kinda music or are just plain, simple conventional  and classical in their tastes are more than welcome. But then you’ll make my day if you’re  a rapper, beatboxer, or are heavily influenced by jazz and blues, and  if you know to sing in a foreign language..viola.

Fill up the form. Send in your demos.
So if you are  a musician, singer, lyricist, sound engineer, or know someone amongst your friends, send in the online links of your demos.

[contact-form-7]

The Audition Form
Note :
- All the artists who have sent their demos/productions earlier, it’ll be nice if you send in your latest work through this form.
- Filling in this form does not assure you of a recording, but yes, you’re sure to get a response.
- Individuals who are serious and confident about their music only apply.
- To reach me for anything apart from these auditions you can contact me here

Catch You’ll Soon !

Groove Loves Company..whats with the name?
By now you should be knowing that I’m a fanatic of Ray Charles and am deeply inspired by his raw and earthy songs and sounds. The band/group/ensemble name draws its influence from Ray Charles’ last studio album titled “Genius Loves Company” which was posthumously released. The album performed by Charles features  several guest musicians, such as Natalie Cole, Elton John, James Taylor, Norah Jones, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Diana Krall, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt. Genius Loves Company was the last album recorded and completed by Charles before his death in June 2004.

Groove Loves Company was born!
Over the years I have built a circle of musician friends who with their simplicity, sheer passion, impromptu talent with a dash of extreme eccentrism or oceanic serenity have bowled me over time and again. I have learnt the little of music that I know today from them, their humility keeps me grounded and focused. I really wanted to do something for them, with them – a collaboration maybe…and then was born the idea of Groove Loves Company. So the idea was, I am good at rhythm and percussions and would love to have someone adding a voice, playing a few notes, and jam and jam for hours or maybe just a few minutes and make a track for ourselves. And I let the idea grow over me for years and then came a point where I called these friends in the middle of the night and said, I’m doing this stuff, and having your names on them..and they obliged.

Groove Loves Company – Season I
 I decided to release albums season wise featuring a set of musicians who would collaborate together on the tracks for the album. And mind you, these are not musicians, artists and singers who are in the circuit – they are fresh, raw, unsigned and have so much of passion in them when they perform, you feel the void when they’re not around. So Season I it was and I decided to collaborate with my friends, Shriram Sampath on flutes, Charan Raj on vocals and synths, Preeti Pillai(my sweet little sister) on vocals and lyrics, K. S. Krishnan on vocals and lyrics, and Rajendra Vallury on guitars. Though I had to shift from the orginal lineup as there were some technical difficulties in getting Rajendra recorded. So I had to replace him with Alok Kulkarni who has also done a fab job in the Season I productions.

Season I album “debut” opens to a fabulous response.
Season I album  was titled “debut” - plain and simple.
I also decided to put to up the album for free downloads.
The album was released under the label of Madras Blues ReChords – an offspring of Madras Blues, a company founded by me. The tracks in the album were planned for a weekly release that was spread across the month of August.

I had a ball of a time recording these artists and producing these tracks which really shows in the final output of the album. There’s a lot  of soul and passion that’s  gone into making these tracks special.  The album has been doing fabulously well with each of the released tracks crossing its download limit with my inbox flooded with mails on how people liked and hated the tracks .

I’m glad that this album is working out well and people have accepted the uncanny, non-formulatic sounds and arrangements. Till date the album has 4 songs released with 2 tracks more to be released. Give it a listen and share it and let me know how you liked it. If you like it, share it – spread it.

For those who have missed out on Groove Loves Company, check the link library given below.
Official Website :
www.groovelovescompany.com

Official Online Music Partner and Bandpage :
www.groovelovescompany.bandcamp.com

Official Youtube Profile :
http://www.youtube.com/user/groovelovescompany

Last.fm Profile :
www.last.fm/music/Groove+Loves+Company/Debut

Soundcloud Profile :
www.soundcloud.com/groovelovescompany

Myspace Profile :
www.myspace.com/groovelovescompany

Reverbnation Profile :
www.reverbnation.com/groovelovescompany

It allows me to be zero and look at what this life has offered me -  Birth, parents, emotions, love, failure, success, hate, dreams, silence, talent, ambition, creativity,  violence,  and more leading its way right unto death.

Getting in the death hole lets me go beyond life, it teaches me, guides me, wrongs me, and rights me. The heart that otherwise offers itself to be explored and exploited, vacuums itself to zero  -  unscathed and untouched by the vicious society.  My minds’ stronger, thoughts  clearer and vision unblurred, as I look up through the death hole.

Death is an experience when someone whom you loved, or who has touched your life decides to embark on the chartered celestial abode. Its like they know where they are heading to.

I pulled over the blanket of death over me inch by inch as they departed. Deaths made me cozy and has given me that solace through sleepless nights and weird dreams. I’ve got my few answers for the countless questions that exist in my head. I’d love to clear them all, as I live to die.

Die Pillai Die. Crazy !

Every sip that he takes with a numb feeling, his thoughts cut back to a silent abandoned street lit with a single flickering street light, under which he is being beaten up by a local goon. The goon is on a rampage aimlessly pounding his feet all over Namdeo’s unmoving body. Namdeo has given up on the fight like the deer that goes lifeless and falls in super slow motion when the fiery cheetah grabs it by the neck for a meal that it’s going to have after months. As Namdeo sips his drink, his numb eyes again cut back to that eerie street, where the goon is having a laugh, with his hand armed with Namdeo’s service revolver that he grabbed after a fist fight.

The goon points the revolver on Namdeo’s temple and says, “Namdeo, this bullet will not do anything to you, coz the state you are in, you won’t know the pain”. As he throws down the revolver he continues, “I want you in your full senses, only then will I shoot you with this very gun. I want you to live to see that day, until then let these wounds heal faster than your ashamed and shattered soul.” …….the story goes on.

A film maker in India has an adjective associated with him that gets into his blood the day he steps into the world of films and filmmaking. One such guy is Sunil 34, who was glued to the idea of being a filmmaker right from the time his dad started a VHS Tape rental service of Malayalam movies in his confectionary/bakery. Like the story of Ram Gopal Varma, Sunil used to watch all the movies that used to be imported from Kerala. The viewing used to be whilst making duplicated tape copies in real time, or with friends who used to come over for a free packet of banana chips. Over the years many films both good and bad went under Sunil’s scanner where he learnt the art of film-making, editing, story writing and everything that goes into film making. He later decided to get into the direction category of film-making, not to make a living, but to live his passion. Much against the will of his middle-class parents and his settled brothers and cousins, who looked down on him for not earning enough to buy a chocolate for their kids.

Sunil struggled to get into the mainstream commercial cinema as an intern, asst director under various established filmmakers one of them being Ashutosh Gowarikar. He missed being on Gowarikar’s team as an asst. Director for the magnum opus Lagaan, as there was someone better than him. His struggle to make it big inched towards the ten year mark, with Sunil showing no signs of giving up. During this phase he directed a lot of commercials and corporate films for clients ranging from a local Marwadi jewellery shop to a Malaysian MLM company. It’s also during this phase that he wrote many stories and used to narrate them to a select few friends that he had made during the course of his struggle. His to-the-point, no-nonsense and sly look nature made him prone to making more enemies than friends. Well Sunil was my friend for sure.

The story that had a start on paper has a climax in real life, with the near end of Sunil. The story snippet was from one of the many films Sunil wanted to direct so desperately. He wanted to get out of this stingy world of commercial film-making for the clients who would offer discounts on services and products rather than paying him his fee. Like Namdeo (a character from the second story) Sunil has given up his life to a dreaded illness that has paralysed him and that is taking his life away in super slow motion. His aged parents are by his side and are being told it could be any day that he will stop breathing.

I wonder what will be going through his head now that he has nothing to worry about, with him being taken care of as a newborn. By now he would have made a thousand films in his head, with the most scenic visuals and gripping stories. The never ending reel in his head might be beaming out his dreams that he wanted to live to cherish and die for. Today, the life for him is like that goon, who would be staring at his face and saying let these wounds heal faster than your ashamed and shattered soul.

As Sunil fades into the black sheen of death, this story if written by him will have the most silent climax ever.

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How I know Sunil

I first met Sunil for a ad-jingle work for a housing project back in 2003. It was the first work that I had ever done. I got paid Rs. 6000 for the jingle which was sung by my friend Krishnan and my sister Preeti. That kick-started my foray into the world of ad-jingles, music for commercials, short films, documentaries, corporate films and more. Sunil, too shares the credit with all those people who have helped me shape my dreams and what I’m today. I so very desperately want to meet him, but his parents warn that when he sees people he knows he gets violent and he is uncontrollable. It would be his frustration of not being able to talk, to share his thoughts, or maybe he’s just too ashamed of himself for being in this dead torpid state.

I believe Sunil is the face of the many aspiring filmmakers who die a silent death, and go unnoticed for the talent they have hidden in those outdated diaries where countless heart-warming stories, scripts, and screenplays have been penned that would have been neglected and discarded by some freaking money-minded producer.

Sunil will live on forever and will come to life in the form of a neighbour, a friend, a daydreamer who would want to make the best film of his life. Sunil, my prayers are with you and your family.