Amrut Ramnath | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Amritha Ramnath had signed his first film as a music director for a Malayalam film Varshangalakku Shesham In March 2023, when he received the news that his mother, acclaimed singer Bombay Jayshree had suffered an aneurysm during a UK tour. The next few weeks were very challenging for Amrit and his father Ramnath.
“I had thousands of dreams, but I had to face only one reality. This is what inspired me to work on my new EP 100,000 dreams“This album symbolises how people go through different things in life, and still hope for the best,” says the 26-year-old Chennai-based musician, best known for his independent tracks ‘Manase’, ‘Nee Oli’ and ‘Kaatre Vaa’.
The EP will be released on August 23 by Sony Music, and the first single ‘Kanavugal Kanden’ was released on July 25. “I wanted to capture the feeling of liberation. I have a love for classical nylon string guitar, so I started with that. Then I used the Budapest Scoring Orchestra for the strings,” he says. The video is directed by Parizad D.
The album also features two versions of the song ‘Neela’, which Jayshree wrote while she was recovering. Amrit will perform the songs at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai on August 22.
Amrit’s mother Bombay Jayshree’s illness inspired him to create the EP | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Naturally, Amrit has been surrounded by music all his life. While his mother has been a great influence on him, his father has also played a big role in it. He recalls. “He was a chartered accountant, but after I was born and after my mother’s career flourished, she took on the role of a housewife. He has a small business which keeps him happy. But he is an unsung artist, as he also writes poetry in Urdu and has published a book of his own.”
Though Amrith learned Carnatic music, he later turned to Western classical music and played the violin and piano. His independent songs are full of melody and make extensive use of guitar and string arrangements.
Amrit says he grew up with music from all over India. “My mother is from Mumbai and my father is from Kolkata. I was exposed to Hindi film music, Hindustani music, Sufi, Bengali songs, Marathi songs and more. Nowadays, when I watch films I see how the music is used. All of this comes into my music.”
Amrit Ramnath plans to continue his independent music and film work parallelly. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The film break came when Malayalam director Vineeth Sreenivasan approached him Varshangalakku Shesham“I composed most of the songs in the hospital where my mother was admitted. I have written the lyrics for ‘Nyabagam’, which is the only Tamil song in the album that I have sung. It is a song about lost friendship, but it is much more than that,” recalls Amrith.
Whereas Varshangalakku Shesham Despite having different lyricists, Amrith has worked with singers K.S. Chithra, Sreevalsan J. Menon, Balram, Hesham Abdul Wehab and Siddharth Basrur. He has now signed his first Tamil film, which stars Siddharth in the lead role. “I will try to continue my independent music and film work parallelly. I have a few singles and some of them are in Hindi too,” says Amrith.
