Loved Tamil track ‘Manase’? Amrit Ramnath, son of Bombay Jayashree, is the voice behind it

Amrit Ramnath talks about recent hit Tamil independent track ‘Manase’ and his approach to music

Amrit Ramnath does not fall asleep easily. He lies down — at about 11.30 every night — but does not doze off immediately.

With the events of the day behind him, it’s just him and the universe, and the piercing silence of the darkness outside. It’s this golden hour that yields many musical ideas for Amrit.

“I have this habit of keeping a recording device next to me when I’m about to sleep. Sometimes, I even have a musical instrument nearby,” says the 24-year-old Chennai musician.

His latest hit independent Tamil track, ‘Manase’, is the result of one such night a few years back, and so are his next three tracks.

‘Manase’, written by lyricist Madhuranthaki and celebrating the idea of self-love, is a simple melody with myriad musical detours that has appealed to many, including celebrities from the music fraternity like Yuvan Shankar Raja, Pradeep Kumar and Sean Roldan.

“’Manase’ is about a conversation between the various voices inside your head that create a lot of chaos, making you lose the ability to see your vision clearly. It is about accepting these voices and embracing it. It’s not a musicians’ song, it’s for everyone,” says Amrit.

While the 24-year-old musician has been doing independent tracks for a few years now, ‘Manase’ will be his first full-scale independent music video; the film has been directed by Ken Royson and choreographed by the team at The Dancer’s Club. Set in an alternate universe, the stage represents the mind, with the protagonist (Amrit Ramnath) surrounded by several voices who engage with him. “This journey is captured in the music video,” says Amrit about ‘Manase’, which was mixed and mastered by popular film composer Santhosh Narayanan.