Suraj Santosh in the music video, ‘Jaan’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The simple yet poignant love story of Kesavan Nair and Saramma, characters from Vaikom Muhammad Basheer love writing, is timeless. A music video ‘Jaan’, composed by Adi Manvin, is celebrating the story and the author. Singer-composer Suraj Santosh has sung and acted in the video.
Aadi calls it an ‘Ode’ to his favorite author ‘Basheer’. “I have been a great admirer of his language and writing style. during my re-reading love writing, I thought of this scenario where a song enters Keshavan Nair’s thoughts as he expresses his feelings for Saramma. That eventually became the music video. ‘Jaan’, an Urdu word, means one’s dear,” says Aadi.
Composer Adi Manvin | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
This is the second song from Adi’s debut album, the root notes, “It has seven songs, each of them exploring a specific emotion,” he says. Swayam, the first song sung by Sithara Krishnakumar and Pradeep Kumar, is about how two women find their happiness. “In ‘Jaan’, the protagonist (Suraj) comes across Basheer’s works in a library and once he starts reading love writinghe becomes Kesavan Nair,” explains Adi. The song Ardra VS.
A trained Carnatic vocalist and keyboard player, Adi is working as an audio engineer in Chennai. “I was back home in Palakkad during the pandemic and started working on the album,” he says. Next up from the album is a Tamil track, i saySung by Pradeep. Meanwhile, Aadi hopes to work in films despite remaining an independent musician.
‘Jaan’ is streaming on YouTube.