Singer Kapil Kapilan is on a musical high with hit songs in multiple languages

Singer Kapil Kapilan has hits in all South Indian languages

2023 is winding up on a high note for Kapil Kapilan — he won the Kerala State Film Award for best singer, has chartbusters in all the South Indian languages, and is one of the artistes chosen for the new season of Coke Studio Tamil, Idhu Semma Vibe.

“It is a huge thing for a singer to get noticeable songs in multiple languages at the same time. Even if a song is good, we singers know that it will reach the audience only if the film does well. In my case, the films have been appreciated. So it is a blessing,” says Kapil over the phone, from Chennai.

He has sung in over 25 films this year and had trending songs in Malayalam (‘Neela nilave’, RDX), Kannada (title track of Sapta Sagaradaache Ello – Side A), Telugu (‘Nuvvu Navvukuntu’, MAD) and Tamil (‘Yaarum kaanadha’, Fight Club).

Kapil, who belongs to Kottarakkara in Kollam district, says that the win at the State Film Awards for the track, ‘Kanave’ from Pallotty 90s’ Kids has given him more opportunities in Malayalam. “The composer [Manikandan Ayyappa] and director [Jithin Raj] wanted to associate with me and that’s how this song happened. I sang the track by watching the trailer,” says Kapil. The film has not been released yet.  

The humungous hit in his filmography is ‘Neela nilave’ composed by Sam CS. The video of the vibrant number has clocked over 75 million views on YouTube. “RDX had a great run at the box office and that helped the video to get noticed. I had gone to record a song for Sam in his studio a couple of years ago. Since his studio was being renovated, we worked in my home studio and this was one of the many songs we recorded back then,” he says.

Another hit in his kitty has been the title song of the critically-acclaimed romantic drama, Sagaradaache Ello – Side A composed by Charan Raj. Although he has sung in Kannada before, this track has been the most loved of the lot. Besides the original, he has sung its dubbed versions in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi.

Kapil adds that he was confident about the song being loved while recording it. “One reason was that Rakshit Shetty [who played the lead] has fans across the languages, including Malayalam, and therefore the film was expected to get a better reach. Charan has used modern synth wave production, which is popular with the listeners thesedays. It has a beautiful blend of semi-classical and pop flavour,” he points out.