Sufiyum Sujatayum score part of Indo-Arabic confluence

Music director M Jayachandran looks back on his 25 years in the industry

Naranipuzha Shanavas’ new film ‘Sufiyum Sujatayum’, which released on Amazon last week, has been one of the biggest OTT releases from Malayalam film industry this lockdown season. It is difficult for an outsider to measure the success of a film on OTT platforms. The response the film got from the critics has been lukewarm, but that often means little to the masses. One good indicator of a good welcome is how well the songs are received, and ‘Sufiyum Sujatayum’ has been getting excellent news on that front.

M Jayachandran, the music director of ‘Sufiyum Sujatayum’, tells Showtime that the film was both a challenge and a gift because music carries many scenes in the film in the absence of dialogue.

But the lockdown has not just been a time of work for Jayachandran. He says he has not spent this much time with his family in a long time. “I did a lot of housework, have been sweeping the house. And I have been listening to music and studying it. When you are busy, you are constantly running – you don’t get to learn anything. I got to explore areas of music that I did not have time to explore before. Most people watch films for entertainment, but I watch them to learn how the background score has been done.”

‘Sufiyum Sujatayum’ uses what a lot of what people generally refer to as Sufi music, but Jayachandran says this is a popular misconception. He says there is no such thing as “Sufi music”.

He says, “What we call ‘Sufi music’ is understood to be a variant of Havali music. I have been listening to the maestros of Havali music, so I had that in mind while composing music for the film. The influence is perhaps best seen in the background score of the movie. We have collaborated by artistes from Istanbul for it.”

“Since it is a very sensitive film, the music in it is also quite sensitive. There are many portions in the film without dialogue. In all those bits, the music is the director’s substitute for what is being said,” he added.

Jayachandran had been planning to work on Indo-Arabic music for a while. “One of my dreams was to create Indo-Arabic confluence music. I have been speaking to people about it for a while. I wanted to bring together the best artistes from both India and the Arabic world. As part of my research, I have been working closely with Arabic music for a while. What I learnt, I have applied in ‘Sufiyum Sujathayum’.”

He completes 25 years in the film industry. Asked how he would describe his journey so far, Jayachandran says, “Catchy tunes are those that enter a person and stay there without even that person’s knowledge. You could say that my musical journey has been a long research into what makes a catchy tune.”