Songs of many kinds

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While penning the very hummable lines of ‘Mazhayathum Veyilathum’, the theme song of Club FM, Venugopal Ramachandran had little realised that he was brushing up an old habit; of scribbling poems. Back in the good old days at Kothamangalam engineering college, he would write English lyrics and poems that borrowed the sound and feel of the hard rock that filled the 80s. The lines were also inspired by the wisp of freshness induced by Ilayaraja in South Indian film music.“Yet, poetry writing was somehow forgotten as a hobby or even a time-pass as life took a somersault and I landed in the advertisement industry. The thrust is more on simple communication as a solution for marketing problems,” says Venugopal. The ‘Ton Kanakkinu Fun’ author was however at ease with the metrics of song writing while penning the lyrics for the recently-released Dileep starrer ‘Spanish Masala’. The melody ‘Aarezhuthiyavo’ and the peppy number ‘Aiyo aiyayyo’, composed by Vidyasagar, were playing on the charts even before the movie hit the theatres.“It was the Club FM theme song that paved the way for the lyricist stint,” says Venugopal. “The song which pictured the FM as a constant companion had caught the fancy of Lal Jose. He wanted me to work with him on a film and thought that ‘Spanish Masala’, set in an exotic locale, was the right project for us to team up.” He had earlier penned the lyrics for a rap number in the Mammootty-starrer ‘Daddy Cool’.Vidyasagar had wanted a fun-filled number which had simple and catchy wordings for the song sequence involving Kunjacko Boban and the Spanish actress Daniela Zacherl, he remembers. “There are very few words in Malayalam with two syllables and finding the right pace for the lyrics for ‘Aiyo ayyayyo’ was the hardest part of the whole outing,” he laughs. He is however all praise for Vidyasagar and insists that the ace music director is “essentially a poet”. “When you read lines to him, he inspires you to write better with suggestions that are spot on.”Venugopal, creative director of Mythri, the Kochi-based advertising agency, has quite a few popular taglines to his credit. ‘Vaikittentha paripadi’, a surrogate ad for Original Choice featuring Mohanlal, ‘Yadhartha pathrathinte shakthi’ for Mathrubhumi daily and the like were instantly appealing for their word play and focus.“Copywriting is an entirely different ball game,” says Venugopal. “One has to nail the marketing problem at hand and once you chalk out the creative brief, you arrive at a solution accordingly. It is the concept that you work out first and the tagline is designed to give it that extra push.”Having worked with major brands, he says that the one way to hit the bull’s eye in admaking is to have a sure shot brand ambassador. “Almost 60 percent of your job is done if you have a popular face to endorse your product which was the magic that worked behind the ‘Vaikittentha paripadi’ ad. The other fool-proof trick is to have a cute child in the story. It connects instantly with every segment of the audience.” he says.Wife Mini, a trained singer and dancer, chips in with helpful suggestions while planning ads and taglines, he says. “And so do my sons Nikhil and Nithin. They have a taste for music and are learning vocals, keyboard and guitar’’. Venugopal is currently working on the lyrics of a movie directed by Anoop Kannan with Mammootty in the lead.