Two-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej roped in for Dr Biju’s Adrishya Jalakangal

The Bengaluru-based music man says that he took up the film because of its strong social message

The two-time Grammy Award winner returns to film composition with the Dr Biju project

By his own admission, Ricky Kej is not considered to be a part of mainstream music in India. Although he has composed for a few Kannada films in the past, it’s not something he does or prefers, unless, of course there is a strong social message at its core.

The two-time Grammy Award winner is now set to slip into the role of composer for a Malayalam film called Adrishya Jalakangal, directed by Dr Biju Kumar Damodaran, starring Tovino Thomas, Nimisha Sajayan and Indrans, among others.

Produced by Ellanar Films, Tovino Thomas Productions and Mythri Movie Makers, the suspense thriller will depict war as a man-made disaster. According to the press release that came when the first look of the film was revealed, the movie will explore society’s struggle for existence, love, peace, justice, relations and sanity through its characters.

For Ricky, the lincher was that Adrishya Jalakangal has a social message at its core and, more importantly, that it was being made by “an amazing director, who has won national awards for his films on ecology”. Dr Biju has won the National Award twice for ‘Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation’ for Perariyathavar and Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal.

When we reached out to Ricky about taking up film composition after many years, he was pleasantly surprised that the announcement had been made on the occasion of World Music Day. “I had decided that I would only take up a film if it had a strong social message at its core or was a landmark film with regard to diversity, etc. So, after refusing projects on an everyday basis, I took up this one,” he says.

In the past, Ricky, who has won Grammy’s for his albums Winds of Samsara and Divine Tides, has worked on the Kannada films, Accident, Venkata in Sankata and Crazy Kutumba.

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