Chennai: ‘Marana Mass‘ in Petta is topping the audio charts and trending on social media. Fans of Rajinikanth across the country are celebrating the catchy beats of the song. And there is a cute little story behind it. Though composed by Anirudh, the credits for the beats goes to a group of young musicians from Odisha.
These boys belong to Maa Dakhinakali Singha Baja troupe from an interior village in Odisha. Until Petta happened, they were playing for temple fests and marriages in their backyard. Today, they have turned the arc lights on themselves and are flooded with congratulatory messages from all quarters for their exemplary work.
With the beats of an assortment of percussion instruments, Marana Mass with a generous dash of Odisha folk music has grossed over 16 million views on YouTube till now.
Speaking exclusively to News Today, Ribash Naik, a member of Maa Dakhinakali Singha Baja troupe, says, “We hail from a small village called Dhenkanal here. Along with my team mates (Dillu Naik, Bikash Naik, Ashok Naik, Guddu Naik, Ajaya Naik and Subash Naik), we released a few YouTube videos of our performance in public events in our village. It garnered a lot of views.”
Asked how Petta happened, Ribash Naik, a self-trained artiste, says, “When I first received a call from Anirudh, we thought it was a prank. We had no idea about film music. However, repeated calls from them after seeing our YouTube videos made us aware that we are approached for a big venture and it can’t get bigger than playing music for a Thalaivar song. They even promised to pay for our tickets to come to Chennai. We carried our own instruments since we were comfortable playing only on them.”
“An eight-member gang from our Maa Dakhinakali Singha Baja recorded at the studio with Anirudh Ravichander in Chennai in June this year,” he said.
The studio set up was new for us. Anirudh made us feel at ease and extracted the best from our boys, says Ribash, and adds, “We are happy to know that it has become very popular and we are featured in the lyric video of Marana Mass.”
Speaking about Anirudh, he says, “He is a wonderful composer. He liked our work and gave us enough freedom. Given another opportunity, we would love to work with him. We are confident that we can work in films now.”
And, finally, asked a word about Rajinikanth, he says, “We wish Thalaivar all success. We would love to meet him when we go to Chennai again.”
Petta, directed by Karthik Subbaraj, is hitting the screens this Pongal.