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New Delhi: Following the release of India’s first neo-mythological genre film, “Kalki 2898 AD,” on June 27, the film’s music director, Santosh Narayanan, has left fans disappointed after delaying the scheduled release of the film’s OST (original soundtrack) and jukebox mixes. The Prabhas-starrer film set in a dystopian version of present-day India has been running on silver screens across the globe for the last 13 days and has collected ₹529.45 crore net from India alone.
With nearly 15 tracks in the original OST, the delay in soundtrack release will mean more anticipation from fans all over the world without any known dates for release. Directed by visionary South Indian director Nag Ashwin, the initial visuals and song teasers for the film have raised some serious expectations for audiophiles across the nation. Given the fact that this is India’s first attempt at creating a dystopian cinema set far ahead of our current timelines, the majority of the releases remain high-publicity issues.
The majority of the soundtracks were composed by music director Santosh Narayan, who does an amazing job at imbuing epicness as required by the plotlines. With multiple soulful tracks in multiple Indian languages, the OST highlights the multicultural and distinctively different characters that make up much of the film’s background. Each song has a sense of past and future about it, making audiences visualize the changes with every beat and drop.
Having worked in the south-Indian music scene for over two decades, music director Santosh Narayan is well-known for coming up with thought-provoking BGM’s (background music) that not only complement the hero’s entry scene but also make audiences think about the possible consequences. Nag Ashwin’s “Kalki 2898 AD” came as a golden chance for Narayan to generate musical tributes for the legends of Indian music like Ilaiyaraaja, SS Rajamouli, MSV, and AR Rahman.
Recently, during an interview with The Hindu, Narayan said that the “Bhairava Anthem,” sung by Punjabi popstars Diljit Dosanjh and Vijaynarain, was an ode to Ilaiyaraaja. Lasting at 2 minutes and 37 seconds, the track encapsulates Ilaiyaraaja’s music theme while introducing a smidge of modern dubstep and psytrance. Karthik Vamsi created the Indian percussion music of the track, while Babu, Ben, and Vijay handled the brass instrument segments.
The last track of the film “Veera Dhara” was a tribute to MSV (Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan) for his decades of contributions to Tamil music and the film industry. Voiced by Tamil playback singer ‘Ananthu’, it is one of the few tracks of Kalki OST that has not yet been released on YouTube or any other audio streaming platforms.
Another famed title track from Kalki OST, rumored to be an ode to Bollywood music legend A.R. Rahman, has also been kept secret and is yet to be released on YouTube. The BGM for the “Mahabharata” scenes from Kalki was composed in the style of SS Rajamouli and will likely contain some Tamil lyrics in a few instances.
Narayan also disclosed that the fourth track of the film “Ta Takkara” was by far the most demanding song of the complete OST track. Written by Ramajogaya Sastry, the track gives the film its complex beats and drops that needed to be mulled over by the proper use of individual themes and instrumentations. Narayan said that given the promising visuals and scenes, it became important to coordinate the rise and fall of each lyric, BGM, and tone as required by the pace of the film’s storyline.
In later parts of the song, the music shifts from Indian folk to the traditional psy-trance era, imbued with a distinct Tamil variant of dubstep. Sung by Sanjith Hegde, Dhee, and Sanstosh Narayan, “Ta Takkara” showcases the childlike innocence of Prabhas while maintaining the spirit of innovation and discovery as promised by India’s first attempt at creating an experimental neo-mythological blockbuster.
“As the very genre of the film is experimental at best, it seemed only sensible to add some experimental music to go along with it,” Narayan said. While the next date for the OST release of “Kalki 2898 AD” is yet to be finalized, fans and audiophiles across the nation await new updates from music director Santosh Narayan. The incredible success being witnessed by Prabhas starrer “Kalki 2898 AD” will likely pave the way for more cross-industry projects in the future.
