I’m a visual-driven music composer: Devi Sri Prasad

PTI, Nov 21, 2022, 12:37 PM IST

Image Courtesy: Instagram/@thisisdsp

New Delhi: If a film has good visuals, the music automatically falls into place, says composer Devi Sri Prasad, better known by his initials DSP.

It is only fitting that Prasad, who shot to nationwide fame with last year’s mega success “Pushpa: The Rise”, came to score music for the Hindi sequel of “Drishyam”, which means ‘visual’.

For someone who veers towards experimentation, the Abhishek Pathak directorial — a crime thriller — was a step in the right direction, said the 43-year-old composer.

“This is a kind of genre that I haven’t done before. It was experimental songs wise as well. The tracks had to be catchy, but also intense and according to the situation. I was able to understand the depth of the film through the making

“The director Abhishek Pathak, cinematographer Sudhir K Chaudhary and editor Sandeep Francis did such a great job. Visuals inspire my music. I’m a visual-driven music composer. If you have good visuals and story, the music automatically falls into place,” Prasad told PTI in an interview.

He boarded the Ajay Devgn-starrer at the time when it was already under production.

“‘Drishyam 2’ came to me when the film was almost shot. They wanted me to do the background score as well as the songs. Whatever they had shot and edited, they showed that to me. I immediately fell in love with it,” he added.

The first part of “Drishyam”, which was released in 2015, centred on a family of four whose lives turn upside down following an unfortunate incident that happens to their older daughter

The second installment sees the past come back to haunt the Salgaonkar family as former IG Meera Deshmukh (Tabu) returns to avenge her son’s murder with the help of her colleague IG Tarun Ahlawat, played by Akshaye Khanna.

Besides the three songs, penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya, “Drishyam 2” has separate musical themes for its main characters

Prasad said he used a solo voice as background score only for Tabu’s character. To add to Khanna’s clever character, he took the help of a single French horn. For Devgn’s protagonist, he used the cello.

“I used instruments that are not widely used nowadays. Like, the cello and a double bass that too as a solo instrument. The main theme of ‘Drishyam 2’ is on the cello.

“But we keep changing the instruments in the score according to the mood of the film. Sometimes, it goes like bells or very orchestral,” he added.

About the background score, the composer said he tried to design the music in a way that the viewer is able to tell which character was on screen even if they closed their eyes.

“The entire background score of the film should have one colour and within that there has to be three different colours for the three characters. The background in this film couldn’t be loud. It had to be intriguing, it should raise curiosity.” Prasad also said he was blessed to work with veteran singer Usha Uthup, who lent her voice to the title track along with Vijay Prakash.

“Usha ma’am and I always wanted to work on the song. She loves me, I love her. Finally, we got a chance to do a track together,” he said.

With the Ranveer Singh-starrer “Cirkus”, “Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan” with Salman Khan, Nitesh Tiwari’s “Bawaal”, “Waltair Veerayya” fronted by Chiranjeevi, ‘Suriya 42’ and “Pushpa: The Rule”, Prasad has a busy year ahead.

He recently released his non-album single “O Pilla” in Telugu as well as its versions in Tamil and Hindi.

No points for guessing “Pushpa: The Rule”, starring Allu Arjun, is his most anticipated project, and the music director said the work on the sequel is underway.

“‘Pushpa 2’ is going really well. We have composed a few of the songs, the lyrics are being done now. (Director) Sukumar sir has written a brilliant script.

“We are on video calls alternate days wherever we are. They call me to tell me whatever next scene they are going to shoot.” The work is only going to “increase”, said Prasad, sharing the songs of “Pushpa 2” will be recorded in many languages other than Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi.

“The biggest exercise is that we are going to record the songs in all the languages. They are planning to dub songs into more languages than before,” he added.

The music director, who said the team never expected “Pushpa: The Rise” to be such a big hit, is working on the second part with full sincerity.

“During ‘Pushpa 1’, we were just working and gave our 100 per cent. We should never take the stress of that and carry it forward.

“We have to be sincere about what we are doing. We should enjoy whatever we are doing and then things will fall into place. That way ‘Pushpa 2’ is shaping up great.” “Drishyam 2” released in theatres last week.