Vadhandhi Season 2 author Simon K King: I deal with music like a character

Author Simon K King is a distinct skill for keeping himself hectic both with movies and OTT programs. Last seen in Made In Koreahe is returning with the 2nd season of Vadhandhi Vadhandhi Season 2: The Mystery of Maniwhich comes out on Prime Video on August 7. “My association with director Andrew Louis goes back to Kolaigaran (2019). OTT was at its nascent stage when Andrew and I collaborated for the first season of Vadhandhi. Though people were still figuring out how music worked in web series, I wanted to work on the music thinking like a writer,” Simon starts, as he includes, “In Vadhandhi Season 1, I made extensive use of Western Classical music; the sounds of the second season will be cinematic and grittier.”

Elaborating on how he approaches music in Vadhandhi, and broadly in OTT platforms, Simon states that he does not think in scoring for the landscape or categories. “I like to treat music like one of the characters in the series. It could be tempting to score for the landscapes in Vadhandhi as they are very different and specific, take Kanniyakumari or Madurai. But I never operate like that,” he says, to additional state that the OTT reveals offer him a lot to deal with the characters, and mapping their state of minds is the only method to make music fascinating. “That is how I make music a character in these shows. A web series offers a lot for a music director that he or she wouldn’t get in films. Like the character’s arcs, even in The Fable of Velonie, Laila mam’s character takes an acute turn as the season progresses. So I need to map their moods. A series takes time to develop characters, so there is a constant demand for surprises with music and silences in these spaces. Also, you have your mini climaxes and cliffhangers in every episode. So I keep myself busy working on these aspects.”

Mentioning his regular partner Andrew Louis, he states both are specific about what the program needs. “For the first season to transport your ears into the Anglo Indian ambience of the 18th Century, Andrew and Andrew went to Budapest to compose the soundtrack. We wanted the authentic sounds,” he remembers. He then goes on to state that the 2nd season has actually somewhat opened area for tunes. “In addition to the theme song, there are two songs in the second season, including the one for a Karuppusamy festival. Both songs are important to understanding the story. The songs aren’t placed the way they are usually done. They were part of the scenes while writing. Andrew and I built those songs from scratch.”