SJ Jananiy: Turning every musical challenge into a record-breaking feat

CHENNAI: SJ Jananiy's love for music began at a young age. As a child, she would compose tunes for hymns from her school diary, unaware that it would one day lead her to a career in film music.

Today, the city-based composer, vocalist and music producer has added another milestone to her journey.

She has been recognised by both the Asia Book of Records and the India Book of Records for holding the maximum number of music credits by an individual in a Tamil feature film.

The recognition comes for her work in the Tamil film Rail, which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. For the film, Jananiy took on 10 different musical roles, something usually shared by an entire music department. "I did not plan to set a record.

I simply wanted to do justice to the film and its music. Over the years, I have always been interested not just in composing music, but also in music production, arrangements and singing. That naturally helped me take on different responsibilities for the film," she says.

For Rail, she worked as the film composer, music producer, music arranger, orchestrator, vocal producer, conductor, recording engineer, mixing engineer, playback singer and multi-instrumentalist. Jananiy's association with the film began when director Bhaskar Sakthi approached her to compose its music. The two have collaborated on several projects over the years. The film, which was initially titled Vadakkan, was later renamed Rail.

The soundtrack features five songs across different genres. One of them, Poo Pookudhu, is a Tamil folk melody that Jananiy herself sang. “One of the biggest challenges was adapting to the dialect and folk nuances of Theni. Another track, Olagam Kadaisi Vara, is a philosophical number sung by veteran singer Deva. Oliyadadhu is based on the Carnatic raga Anandabhairavi and was composed during the film's recording stage. The soundtrack also includes a folk song sung by Antony Dasan and an oppari song, for which I altered my voice to resemble that of an elderly grandmother.”

One of the highlights of the project was recording with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Sofia. Jananiy travelled to Bulgaria to conduct and record the orchestral sessions live, while the songs were mastered in London. "It was a wonderful experience working with musicians from another country. Music has no language and it was exciting to see a Tamil independent film bring together talent from different parts of the world," she tells us.

A national award recipient and a voting member of the Recording Academy for the Grammy Awards, Jananiy continues to explore both Indian and Western classical traditions in her work.

She says her openness to learning has helped her grow as a musician over the years. “I am in talks for several film projects as a music director and am also working on a multi-genre Tamil music album featuring 10 songs in collaboration with internationally acclaimed musicians, orchestras and Indian playback singers,” she concludes.