Tamil filmmaker Elan hit the bullseye in his directorial debut, Pyaar Prema Kaadhal (2018), and is all set to come out with his next big film, the much awaited Star, which has Kavin, Aaditi Pohankar, and Preity Mukhundhan cast in the lead roles. The upcoming film will feature music composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, who previously delivered chart-topping hit songs and a memorable background score in Pyaar Prema Kaadhal. With Yuvan's work in Star already gaining momentum ahead of the film's theatrical release, Elan has now in a candid conversation with National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, opened up on how he and the hit music director work together, while also revealing that they referred to the background score of the British war film 1917 (1919) for the Kavin-starrer.
Speaking about how Yuvan and he worked on the songs and the background score in Star, Elan said, "Personally I have a liberty with him where we do a lot of brainstorming at first and then we share many references. We discuss the mood and he will take the necessary inputs. Especially, for the 'Star In The Making' tune, he gave a tune first called 'Harmony of Hearts'. It was superb and I liked it a lot. But, I felt that it need not be used for the 'Star In The Making' song promo. The only thing he asked me was 'why'? When he asks, all you need to do is answer correctly. So, I said, 'I want it to be a little painful and darker,' and he gave me this song an hour later. However, since that tune was also wonderful, we've used that too."
In regard to an example of a temp track Yuvan has used in Star, Elan informed that they had referred to a background score from the Oscar-winning film, 1917. He explained, "Towards Star's climax, there's one BGM. It's an eight-minute orchestral score and we used 1917 (2019) as a reference. We both watched the film together long back. When we were watching, I asked him whether he could do a background score like the one in the film. I usually speak openly with him. And, he said he can do it provided such a situation presents itself. So, for the climax of Star, I suggested that as a reference and asked him for the score to be in the same mood. If you ask me as a fan, I'll say that he has delivered it."
Watch Elan in conversation with Baradwaj Rangan in the video below:
