Prem Anand

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 27: He began his musical journey as a composer in an obscure opera in Odisha. Ten years down the line, with as many as 1,000 songs in his kitty, the one-time opera composer is now heralded as one of the most esteemed music directors in Odisha film industry.

Meet the down-to-earth and humble music director, Prem Anand, whose latest musical hit Something Something is creating waves among Odia film and music lovers. All the six songs of the film and especially Akhi sathe akhi jebe misi jaye re, Tu thile sathire, Kukuda kukuda ku are topping musical chartbusters.

But the music director is completely unperturbed by the rage his music has been creating.

Turning a blind eye to the madness, the music director sits in his quaint studio and gets ready to compose more soulful music for upcoming films, Chaanda Naa Tume Taara, Prema Kebe Mare Na, Krishna and Mr. Bachelor.

“I do not want this craze to get into my head. I want to concentrate on my music and only music as I am very much aware that even a single mediocre composition will pull me down,” said the musician.

Prem Anand also has the tag of being one of the very few music directors of the state to have composed music for a Bollywood film.

He had composed recently for a film Dekh Bhai Dekh. Talking about the experience, Anand says: “I hail from a small village in Kendrapara district. I will always cherish the memories of my journey from that little-known land to Mumbai. I got to work with singers like Udit Narayan, Kavita Krishnamurthy and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. It was a true learning experience.”

Back home, Anand has worked with almost all the celebrated singers from the state — Sailabhama Mohapatra, Shri Charana, Jhumki Rath, Ira Mohanty, Gobinda Chandra, Kumar Bapi, Geeta Pattanayak and Shiba Rath.

Inspired by musicians such as Prafulla Kar, Akshaya Mohanty, Balakrishna Das and Saroj Pattanaik, Anand wants to follow in the legends’ footsteps.

“I was composing music for Love dot com and Abhimanyu at the same time. Those were some challenging times as the music of the two films were completely different and I had to keep tuning my mind simultaneously for these two films,” said Anand.

So what makes Prem Anand such a rave among music lovers? For some it is the director’s adept sense of music and rhythm and for some it’s Anand’s keen perception of the latest musical trends.

Be it Nida asena bhala lagena, Jadi barasara rati, laage eka eka sathi to bina, Anand’s music has mesmerised one and all.

From a little-known composer at an opera to becoming Odisha film industry’s top-notch music director, the musical journey of Anand has definitely been an eventful one.