Singing for ‘Indian 2’: How singer Abby V got his big breakthrough

Abby V, an Indian-origin Canadian singer, impresses with a track for composer Anirudh in Kamal Haasan’s ‘Indian 2’’, directed by Shankar.

In front of about 8,000 people at Chennai’s Nehru Stadium, Abby V sang.

At the recent audio launch of the much-awaited Indian 2, starring Kamal Haasan, this young singer – who grew up in a Tamilian household in Toronto, Canada – impressed the who’s who of the Tamil film fraternity.

Watching his performance with awe and happiness were his parents who had flown in from Canada for the big day; his father, Venky V, someone who was instrumental in his initiation into music, was present as well.

“It was my first experience of performing live at an audio launch and it was brilliant experience,” says Abby.

The singer crooned ‘Neelorpam’, the only melody in the Shankar-directed Indian 2, which has music by Anirudh. While he has sung a couple of tracks in other films previously, this is his first major breakthrough. “It was a couple of months ago when I got a call from Anirudh’s studio, and everything happened so quickly. I absolutely loved the scratch, especially the ‘Maara’ hookline.” Luckily, Abby was in Mumbai that time and boarded the next flight to Chennai, where he recorded it.

‘Neelorpam’, which also has vocals by Shruthika Samudhrala and lyrics from Thamarai, will stand the test of time, he believes. “Due to many song algorithms, composers usually go for the three-minute mark for their tracks, but with ‘Neelorpam’, we went for more than five minutes, a rarity in film songs today. Singers are usually told to keep it simple but this track has some intricate vocal nuances, for which Anirudh gave me complete freedom.”

On a high note