Double century
B.V. SHIVA SHANKAR
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Music director B.R. Hemanth Kumar has composed for over 200 serials and some Kannada films
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COMPARING NOTES B. R. Hemanth dreams of a music-dance academy of international standards
There are two Hemanths in Kannada entertainment industry. One is a singer and the other is a music director. Quite often one is paid credit for the other's work. But never mind, because it is always mutual. The music director is more generous. If a singer takes credit, he retorts, it is double benefit to the music director.
Meet the talented Hemanth Kumar B.R., a low profile music director. He is the darling of small producers and a favourite of great masters, hence ubiquitous in small screen industry with more than 200 tele-serials in his kitty. Kannugalu, Sankranti, Jeevanmukhi, Moodala Mane, Anna Basavanna, Attige, Abhimaana to name a few. T.S. Nagabharana's Appa is what he is currently working on.
He is there in the industry since Doordarshan started airing Kannada programmes in 1981. Apart from serials, he has scored music for in-house programmes of various channels including drama, skits and gameshows. There was a joke about Hemanth doing all kinds of music programmes except providing the background music for news. He recalls days when he camped in Doordarshan for days and nights.
He has scored for the big screen as well. Kollura Mukambike, Mahashakthi Maaye, Seetanjaneya are the films with Hemanth's musical score. Sudeep-Rakshitha starrer Hubballi is his latest film. His dancer wife Padma has written some songs for the film. Her "Innu Yaake Baralillavva Hubballiyava... " is quite a popular number. Padma, a multi-faceted person, is running a music-dance school in the residence apart from assisting her husband in music composing. Script writing is yet another forte of Padma. "She is a good lyricist," says Hemanth. "She has a good music sense and her lyrics so easily sync with the tune." She has written title songs for the big directors such as Nagabharana, P.H. Viswanath, Vaishali Kasaravalli, K.V. Jayaram. And Hemanth composed them. She has worked as associate director with several film directors.
The versatile couple is now dreaming of a music-dance academy of international standards.
"We are planning to expand our school," says Hemanth, "Teachers of merit will give quality education in dance and music." He has an innovative idea to train budding singers. He has named it as Styles of singing. It is a crash course where a trainee will learn studio culture and finer points of singing.
Hemanth is basically a violinist. He inherited music from his father Revanaradhya, a renowned musician. Revanaradhaya was blessed with a son the day Hindi film Bees Saal Baad was released. Hemanth Kumar was the music director and had composed splendid songs. Aradhya named his son after the legend and dreamt of his future in music. Though he says his dream has come true, the modest Hemath tries to clarify that he is still striving hard.
Hemanth is happy with Kannada TV industry as he is getting a handful of work as other technicians do. But due to the advent of mega serials, while technicians and artists are enjoying a windfall of revenue, music directors are being exploited, he laments. There is no re-recording for serials unlike cinema. A producer gets background music recorded for a particular duration and uses it as stock for the entire serial, which runs through hundreds of episodes. Payment for the music director is a pittance. For a particular serial, which ran through more than a 1,000 episodes, the payment Hemanth got was only Rs. 10,000. Unless royalty system comes on the lines of western countries, exploitation of music directors will continue in today's insanely commercial era, he insists. It applies for title songs also.
Amidst nerve-racking sessions some memorable moments come as respite to him. He recalls the day when he met thespian Dr. Rajkumar at his residence just months before his demise. It was when Dr. Raj's grand children recorded their songs in his studio. He went to deliver the CD. Dr. Raj was so impressed by Hemanth's work that he discussed music with him for hours. He desired to record old theatre songs in his own voice in Hemanth's studio. It was Hemanth's desire too. Sadly, it remained unfulfilled.
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