Prashant Pillai
| Prashant Pillai | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 September 1981 |
| Origin | Pune, Maharashtra, India |
| Genres | Film music, film score, soundtrack, sonic branding, soul, new-age, electronic, world, soul, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Music producer, music programmer, musician, bandleader, composer, arranger, film score writer |
| Instruments | Percussions, piano |
| Years active | 2000 – Present |
| Labels | Madras Blues Records (present) |
| Website | PrashantPillai.com |
Prashant Pillai (born 8 September 1981) is a music producer and composer from India.
Contents
Early career
After completing his Sound engineering in Chennai, he went on to work with A.R.Rahman. After a short stint with him, he moved on and settled in Pune, where he started scoring for ad jingles, web sonics, and short films. Pillai considers A.R.Rahman to be his professional guide and mentor.
In early 2004, Pillai got his first break to compose a radio jingle and then went on to compose jingles, for both radio and television consumption.
In the year 2007, Prashant scored music for Bejoy Nambiar's, critically acclaimed short film Rahu where he teamed with singer K. S. Krishnan. Bejoy's uncanny knack of selecting unusual and experimental sounds, resulted in Prashant working on a soundtrack, which he still claims to be his best. Rahu soundtrack features Murtaza and Qadir Khan, sons of the Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. They feature in the soundtrack for the Sufi song, "Betaabi". This song was later used in a Malayalam film City of God.
Film scoring and soundtracks
Prashant's first break in feature films came when debutant Lijo Jose Pellissery roped him for the Malayalam film Nayakan, in March 2010. The film featured actors like Indrajith, Thilakan, Siddique and Jagathy Sreekumar in pivotal roles. Academy Award winner A. R. Rahman released the music of the movie[1][2]
Prashant's mentor A.R.Rahman released the soundtrack of Nayakan on 16 March 2010, at Rahman's Panchathan Studios in Chennai.[3][4][5] The Nayakan soundtrack features, 6 songs, one of which is sung by Indrajith (the lead of the film) himself. Prashant worked on this project for over one and a half years, and has fused in elements that is new to the Malayali audience.
In 2011, Prashant collaborated with Lijo once again for City of God[6] which opened to mixed reviews.[7][8][9] The movie stars Prithviraj and Indrajith as pivotal characters, along with Parvathi, Rima Kallingal and Shwetha Menon.
In 2011, he made his debut into commercial cinema with the Bollywood film Shaitan,[10] directed by his now close friend, mentor and director Bejoy Nambiar, for which Pillai has scored majority of the songs. The film, produced by Anurag Kashyap has a unique soundscape to it; co-composed by eminent composers like Ranjit Barot, Amar Mohile and Anupam Roy.In the same year Prashant scored the original background music for the Malayalam film Bombay March 12 starring National Award winner Mammootty directed by awardwinning screenwriter Babu Janardhan.
2012 saw Prashant scoring the background music for Siddarth Bharathan's Nidra a remake of his father Bharathan's 1981 film also titled Nidra. The film wasn't a commercial hit, but the film and its score was appreciated for its definitive style.[11] Prashant also scored background music for MTV Rush, a series of 12 short stories on the leading music and entertainment television channel MTV, directed by Bejoy Nambiar of Shaitan fame.
Jan 2013 saw the release of Prashant's third soundtrack for Bejoy Nambiar, in his upcoming film, David. The soundtrack, which was supervised and co-produced by Prashant, is a compilation of various bands like Bram Fatura, Light Years Explode, MaatiBaani as also artists like Remo Fernandes, Anirudh Ravichander and Mikey McCleary. Apart from sound design, Prashant's tracks in the film feature eminent singers like Lucky Ali, Karthik, Shweta Pandit and Naresh Iyer. The film stars Vikram, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Jiiva, Isha Sharvani and Tabu among others, released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. He also composed the background score for the Hindi film Issaq directed by Manish Tiwary.
Post City of God[6] Prashant composed the music for Lijo Jose Pellissery's Malayalam musical film titled Amen. The music become very popular and the film subsequently became a major blockbuster. The album featured artists like Ramya Nambeesan, Alyssa Mendonsa and Lucky Ali This is a romantic comedy featuring actors Indrajith Sukumaran, Fahadh Faasil, Swati of Subramaniapuram fame and Kalabhavan Mani among others. Prashant was subsequently roped in by veteran filmmaker Lal Jose for Ezhu Sundara Rathrikal.
In 2014, composed flop songs for Ajith Pillai's Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal and debutant Santhosh Nair's Money Ratnam. His upcoming releases are Double Barrel, his fourth collaboration with filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery and the Tamil film Andhra Mess.
Awards
- 2013 -16th Asianet Film Awards 2014 – Best Music Director – Amen[12]
- 2013 – TTK Prestige-Vanitha Film Awards – Best Music Director – Amen[13]
Discography
A selected discography of Prashant's music albums
| Year | Title | Genre | Group | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Om Ganeshaya Namaha (as Prashant Pillai) | Devotional | – | Independent |
| 2005 | Amhi Puneri (as Prashant Pillai) | Pop | – | Independent |
| 2011 | debut (as Prashant Pillai) | World/Fusion/Lounge | Groove Loves Company | Madras Blues Rechords |
Filmography
A complete list of films done by Prashant Pillai
Short Film
| No | Year | Title | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2007 | Rahu | Malayalam | Co-composed with Krishnan. Credited as Prashant-Krishnan Songs and Background Score |
Feature Films
| No | Year | Title | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2010 | Nayakan | Malayalam | Songs and Background Score |
| 2 | 2011 | City of God | Malayalam | Songs and Background Score |
| 3 | 2011 | Shaitan | Hindi | 7 of 14 songs from the OST |
| 4 | 2011 | Bombay March 12 | Malayalam | Background Score |
| 5 | 2012 | Nidra | Malayalam | Background Score |
| 6 | 2012 | Nee Ko Njaa Cha | Malayalam | Songs |
| 7 | 2013 | David / David | Hindi / Tamil | 3 Songs |
| 8 | 2013 | Amen | Malayalam | Songs and Background Score |
| 9 | 2013 | 5 Sundarikal | Malayalam | Song and Background Score for Esha |
| 10 | 2013 | Sixteen | Hindi | 3 Songs and Background Score |
| 11 | 2013 | Issaq | Hindi | Background Score |
| 12 | 2013 | Zachariayude Garbhinikal | Malayalam | Background Score |
| 13 | 2013 | Ezhu Sundara Rathrikal | Malayalam | Songs and Background Score |
| 14 | 2014 | Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal | Malayalam | Songs and Background Score |
| 15 | 2014 | Money Ratnam | Malayalam | Songs and Background Score |
| 16 | 2014 | Mamachya Gavala Jaaoo Yaa | Marathi | Songs and Background Score |
| 17 | 2015 | Chandrettan Evideya | Malayalam | Songs and Background Score |
| 18 | 2015 | Double Barrel | Malayalam | Songs and Background Score |
| 19 | 2015 | Andhra Mess | Tamil | Songs and Background Score |
| 19 | 2015 | Rockstar | Malayalam | Songs and Background Score |
| 20 | 2016 | Wazir | Hindi | 1 song only. |
| 21 | 2016 | Untitled Sidhartha Siva film | Malayalam | Songs and Background Score |
References
- ↑ enotes: Sify reviews Malayalam film Nayakan
- ↑ enotes: Rediff reviews Malayalam film Nayakan
- ↑ enotes: Yahoo News on A.R.Rahman releasing Nayakan
- ↑ enotes: Prashant Pillai's Blog on A.R.Rahman releasing Nayakan
- ↑ enotes: YouTube Video of A.R.Rahman releasing Nayakan
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 enotes: IMDB Page of City of God
- ↑ enotes: Rediff reviews City of God
- ↑ enotes: Now Running reviews City of God
- ↑ enotes: IndiaGlitz reviews City of God
- ↑ enotes: IMDB Page of Shaitan
- ↑ http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/8368/malayalam/nidra/3595/review.htm
- ↑ http://www.filmelon.com/posts/16th-ujala-asianet-film-awards-2014-winners-list
- ↑ http://kerala9.com/news-category/news/movie-news/ttk-prestige-vanitha-film-awards-shobhana-prithviraj-win-best-actor-actress-awards
