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- By Ramakrishna Achanta
A rainy evening, damp roads and weather drove us to the infamous Ramanaidu Studios in the picturesque location at Jubilee hills.We climbed the steep stairs that lead to the recording theatre at the studios, looking out for someone whom I had never seen or met before. But, I had heard about him a lot and did hear some of his quality music too. As we entered the long corridor that portrayed framed photographs of various well known artists of yester years in the field of music, I started recognizing….........aah.........…Ghantasala Venkateshwara Rao.........................….SP Balasubramaniam…......Illayaraja......."And that's RP" exclaimed my friend!
A man in his early 30's, well built, short hair, smiling face with a French beard was in the photograph. By the very first looks of his photograph, one would never even think of, that this man has carved a niche for himself in a short span of his lifetime, in the film industry and stands witness to some vibrant and quality music in Tollywood. As we entered the recording area, we were escorted to a seating area and then entered the man who looked extremely simple in his dressing, style and his talks. He was in midst of a recording and hence it was a quick but a memorable chat.
The following are excerpts from an exclusive interview with the leading Music Director of Tollywood - R P Patnaik.
RK: Tell me more about yourself
RP: I am R P Patnaik! What else do you want to know?
RK: I heard that you are a 'scientist' by qualification? Is that right?
RP: Yes, more or less; I am an MSc - Space Physics by qualification.
RK: How come? From astronomics to music??
RP: Not really?? Let me ask you a question. Have you done your Journalism (which I incidentally did not)?
RK: No I did not!?!
RP: That's the answer. Everybody is what he is. Qualifications do not matter. I understood that immediately.
RK: Who is your favourite music director?
RP: (Instantly) Illayaraja
RK: What is your personal preference of music? Rock, Jazz, Disco….
RP: See, I like music which has depth in it. If you notice, that is what differentiates my music with others. You see a certain degree of depth in all my songs.
RK: Have you worked in any other language movies till date?
RP: No, I haven't. But I have a couple of offers on hand and I am working on them too. So, hopefully there should be a couple of other language movies with my music released by the year end.
RK: Lot of producers insist (especially in dubbed or remake movies) that the originally hit tune from the other language be retained as it was a major hit. I such case, don't you feel that your imagination is being tampered with. You are being limited to something?
RP: You are right. We have lot of such situations. But you see, producer is the God for us. He is the one who is paying all of us here. So we go by what he wants. And then, no producer would want a tune if it is not good!!
RK: RP, did you undergo any formal training in music?
RP: Not really, I can't say I underwent a formal training but since childhood, I was always interested in music and the major plus point with me is, I learn things fast. Technology is the in thing and I adapt to it fast. Sometimes I understand things faster than my sound engineer! That's what sees me on the top.
RK: Lastly RP, what is your message to the upcoming artists?
RP: Work hard and the world is open for you.
With this, the master was back in his recording room where he was creating some wonderful background score for "Jayam", a Telugu film which was then yet to be released.
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