Prashant Pillai

Prashant Pillai
Born (1981-09-08) 8 September 1981 (age 43)
OriginPune, Maharashtra, India
Genres
Occupations
Instruments
  • Percussions
  • piano
Years active2000–present
LabelsMadras Blues Records (present)
WebsitePrashantPillai.com

Prashant Pillai (born 8 September 1981) is a music producer and composer from India.

Early career

After completing his Sound engineering in Chennai, he went on to work with A.R.Rahman. After a short stint with him, he moved on and settled in Pune, where he started scoring for ad jingles, web sonics, and short films. Pillai considers A.R.Rahman to be his professional guide and mentor.

In early 2004, Pillai got his first break to compose a radio jingle and then went on to compose jingles, for both radio and television consumption.

In the year 2007, Prashant scored music for Bejoy Nambiar's, critically acclaimed short film Rahu where he teamed with singer K. S. Krishnan. Bejoy's uncanny knack of selecting unusual and experimental sounds, resulted in Prashant working on a soundtrack, which he still claims to be his best. Rahu soundtrack features Murtaza and Qadir Khan, sons of the Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. They feature in the soundtrack for the Sufi song, "Betaabi". This song was later used in a Malayalam film City of God.

Film scoring and soundtracks

Prashant's first break in feature films came when debutant Lijo Jose Pellissery roped him for the Malayalam film Nayakan, in March 2010. The film featured actors like Indrajith, Thilakan, Siddique and Jagathy Sreekumar in pivotal roles. Academy Award winner A. R. Rahman released the music of the movie.[1][2]

A.R.Rahman releasing Prashant Pillai's music – Nayakan OST

Prashant's mentor A.R.Rahman released the soundtrack of Nayakan on 16 March 2010, at Rahman's Panchathan Studios in Chennai.[3][4][5] The Nayakan soundtrack features, 6 songs, one of which is sung by Indrajith (the lead of the film) himself. Prashant worked on this project for over one and a half years, and has fused in elements that is new to the Malayali audience.

In 2011, Prashant collaborated with Lijo once again for City of God[6] which opened to mixed reviews.[7][8] The movie stars Prithviraj and Indrajith as pivotal characters, along with Parvathi, Rima Kallingal and Shwetha Menon.

In 2011, he made his debut into commercial cinema with the Bollywood film Shaitan,[9] directed by his now close friend, mentor and director Bejoy Nambiar, for which Pillai has scored majority of the songs. The film, produced by Anurag Kashyap has a unique soundscape to it; co-composed by eminent composers like Ranjit Barot, Amar Mohile and Anupam Roy. In the same year Prashant scored the original background music for the Malayalam film Bombay March 12 starring National Award winner Mammootty directed by screenwriter Babu Janardhan.

2012 saw Prashant scoring the background music for Siddarth Bharathan's Nidra a remake of his father Bharathan's 1981 film also titled Nidra. The film wasn't a commercial hit, but the film and its score was appreciated for its definitive style.Prashant also scored background music for MTV Rush, a series of 12 short stories on the leading music and entertainment television channel MTV, directed by Bejoy Nambiar of Shaitan fame.

Jan 2013 saw the release of Prashant's third soundtrack for Bejoy Nambiar, in his film, David. The soundtrack, which was supervised and co-produced by Prashant, is a compilation of various bands like Bram Fatura, Light Years Explode, MaatiBaani as also artists like Remo Fernandes, Anirudh Ravichander and Mikey McCleary. Apart from sound design, Prashant's tracks in the film feature eminent singers like Lucky Ali, Karthik, Shweta Pandit and Naresh Iyer. The film stars Vikram, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Jiiva, Isha Sharvani and Tabu among others, released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. He also composed the background score for the Hindi film Issaq directed by Manish Tiwary.

Post City of God[6] Prashant composed the music for Lijo Jose Pellissery's Malayalam musical film titled Amen. The music became very popular and the film subsequently became a major blockbuster. The album featured artists like Ramya Nambeesan, Alyssa Mendonsa and Lucky Ali. This is a romantic comedy featuring actors Indrajith Sukumaran, Fahadh Faasil, Swati of Subramaniapuram fame and Kalabhavan Mani among others. Prashant was subsequently roped in by veteran filmmaker Lal Jose for Ezhu Sundara Rathrikal.

In 2014, composed for Ajith Pillai's Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal and debutant Santhosh Nair's Money Ratnam. 2015 saw four of his films release one of which was Double Barrel, his fourth collaboration with filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery and his debut Tamil film Andhra Mess.

Awards

Selected discography

Year Title Genre Group Label
2003 Om Ganeshaya Namaha (as Prashant Pillai) Devotional Independent
2005 Amhi Puneri (as Prashant Pillai) Pop Independent
2011 debut (as Prashant Pillai) World/Fusion/Lounge Groove Loves Company Madras Blues Rechords

Filmography

Feature films

Year Title Language Notes
2010 Nayakan Malayalam Songs and Background Score
2011 City of God
Shaitan Hindi 7 of 14 songs featured the film
Bombay March 12 Malayalam Background Score only.
2012 Nidra
Nee Ko Njaa Cha Songs only.
2013 David Hindi / Tamil 3 Songs
Amen Malayalam Songs and Background Score
5 Sundarikal Song and Background Score for Isha
Sixteen Hindi 3 Songs and Background Score
Issaq Background Score only.
Zachariayude Garbhinikal Malayalam
Ezhu Sundara Rathrikal Malayalam Songs and Background Score
2014 Mosayile Kuthira Meenukal
Money Ratnam
Mamachya Gavala Jaaoo Yaa Marathi
2015 Chandrettan Evideya Malayalam
Double Barrel
Rockstar
2016 Wazir Hindi 1 song only.
Anuraga Karikkin Vellam Malayalam Songs and Background Score
2017 Angamaly Diaries Malayalam Songs and Background Score
Sakhavu
Keshava Telugu Background Score only
Varnyathil Ashanka Malayalam Songs and Background Score
Solo Malayalam / Tamil 1 Song + Background Score ( for Blind )
2018 Mukkabaaz Hindi Background Score only
Ee.Ma.Yau Malayalam Songs and Background Score
Andhra Mess Tamil
Padayottam (2018 film) Malayalam
French Viplavam
2019 Unda
Jallikattu
Ranarangam Telugu Background score, 2 songs only
Mariyam Vannu Vilakkoothi Malayalam Additional songs only.
Sayanna Varthakal Songs and Background Score
Chappad Phaad Ke Hindi Independent film directly released on OTT platform, Hotstar.Songs and Background Score
2020 Bamfaad Background Score only.Directly released on OTT platform, ZEE5
Saajan Bakery Malayalam Songs and Background Score
Taish Hindi 2 songs only
2021 Chathuram Malayalam
2022 Kathir Tamil
2023 Malaikottai Vaaliban Malayalam

Short films

Year Title Language Notes
2007 Rahu Malayalam
Co-composed with Krishnan.
Credited as Prashant-Krishnan
Songs and Background Score
2012 Kaun Kamleshwar Hindi Songs and Background Score
2017 LAFS Hindi Background Score

References

  1. ^ "Movie Review:Nayakan". Sify. 25 March 2010. Archived from the original on 25 March 2010.
  2. ^ Palicha, Paresh C. "Review: Nayakan is interesting". Rediff.
  3. ^ "Yahoo Search - Web Search". in.search.yahoo.com.
  4. ^ "enotes: Prashant Pillai's Blog on A.R.Rahman releasing Nayakan". Archived from the original on 23 March 2010.
  5. ^ "- YouTube". www.youtube.com.
  6. ^ a b "City of God". 23 March 2011 – via IMDb.
  7. ^ Palicha, Paresh C. "Review: City Of God is worth a watch". Rediff.
  8. ^ "City Of God Malayalam Movie Review - cinema preview stills gallery trailer video clips showtimes - IndiaGlitz.com". 7 December 2010. Archived from the original on 7 December 2010.
  9. ^ "Shaitan". 10 June 2011 – via IMDb.
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ "TTK Prestige-Vanitha Film Awards: Shobhana, Prithviraj win best actor, actress awards - Kerala9.com". Archived from the original on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.