Shrikanth Shriram Interview
A high after Life Of Pi
The multi-talented and multi-instrumentalist Shri, who composed the theme track of Ang Lee’s Life Of Pi, talks about his experience of working with the director, his upcoming project and rendering music for the award-winning Google Chrome commercial
From being a multi-instrumentalist and inventor of his instrument—the fretless guitar—to creating a unique musical project, ShriLektric, by blending Indian classical music, electronica, jazz, and rock, the ever-talented artiste Shrikanth Shriram (Shri) has done it all. Not to mention collaborating with skilled musicians from across the globe and composing music for Bollywood movies like Striker and Barrah Anna. Yet another feather to Shri’s cap is the theme track of the much-awaited film Life Of Pi.
Directed by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Ang Lee, the movie is based on the best-selling novel of the same name. It follows the journey of an Indian zookeeper’s son named Pi, who is stranded in the Pacific Ocean along with a hyena, zebra, and a Bengal tiger after their shipwreck caused by a bad storm.
Shri, known to create a distinctive style of music by drawing many cross-cultural musical influences in his compositions, was approached by Sony Music and Fox Star Studios India to make the theme track. “It’s an honour to be a part of such an esteemed project. Ang Lee is a humble man despite having reached such great heights in his career. Working with him and everyone associated with the movie has been an absolute pleasure. I have been given the space to create my own music while considering the film’s aesthetics.”
Apart from this, the virtuoso has also won accolades for his soundtrack for the award-winning Google Chrome commercial based on the Tanjore painting revival project. Shri elaborates, “Whenever I give the nod to any project, I’m particular about two things: first, the person who approaches me should know exactly what they want. Secondly, they should give me the creative freedom to compose my own kind of music. Creating the music for this commercial has been a great experience, mainly because the creative team of the ad agency (BBH) was extremely supportive of my ideas and composition. I used Carnatic music, juxtaposed with some of my own samples.”
Currently, the artiste is busy with his tours and stage performance and is happy with how things are going. About his future plans, he says, “You may have several plans, but things seldom turn out the way you want. I wanted to be a scientist, working for NASA, but I became a musician instead. Right now, I’m really enjoying what I am doing. All I can say is that I am excited for the launch of Life Of Pi’s pro-mo track and hope people across the globe like my work,” he says.
ishani.bose@dnaindia.net