Mamta: I want to be the bridge between new talents and ideas, and mainstream

This year, one of the first projects that Mamta Mohandas worked on was an independent single titled Thedal, which she had sung and acted in. In subsequent conversations with Kochi Times, the actress has been vocal about her love for independent music. So, it’s kind of a no-brainer that she would choose to begin a new innings in her career after 15 years in the film industry, by backing in an indie artiste – Ekalavyan – through his single, Lokame.Excerpts from the interview:

It wasn’t part of our plan. We were planning a movie that was to go on floors in May but we had the pandemic interfere with it. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because if we had begun the pre-production, we wouldn’t have been able to see through the lockdown. So, we have decided to shelf the project for now as it wouldn’t be practical to do that movie right now with all the restrictions in place.
Also, during the lockdown, some sort of laziness crept in and everyone was taking their own sweet time with things. We wanted some content that would represent the output that we want back. That was when something simple like Lokame landed on our laps. After that we wanted to give everything to it so that it looked like a song that would be part of a mainstream feature film and that’s what we have done.

I am someone who really looks up to independent artistes and the kind of budget they work with overseas. Here, that scene is there probably only in Punjabi music. When I was attending the Dabangg show in LA, the other main artiste they had was a huge Punjabi popstar. I was thinking if these guys can make content with such big production, why can’t we do that in our independent music industry as well? Cinema music is dying; there is no space for music in films anymore. So, what are our aspiring singers going to do? There are many of them who are in the mainstream but are unfortunately lost in cinema. So, there is no growth for them.
At the same time, there are other artistes who aren’t just playback singers but are also good writers. One such person was Ekalavyan. What interested me in his rap was apart from the content and the expression in his writing, it had already garnered a lot of interest online after he posted a video on his social media page. So, people were already asking for a full version of the song and that’s how it came to me. I think Lokame set the right tone for the content I want to back. I am happy that I invested in a new artiste, someone with a lot of talent and comes from a humble background. The whole process is very beautiful.

Being in the industry for 15 years, I have my network and with my request I might be able to move mountains along the way. The idea is to use that and create a bridge between new talent, concepts and writers, and mainstream. The moment that gap is bridged, mainstream is also trying to foray into independent thoughts. Right now, digital media is also opening up and giving artistes a lot of freedom for the first time. We are in an extremely exciting transition phase in cinema and how people consume content.

I am definitely enjoying my post Two Countries phase, for the very fact that I am hale and hearty now. I would attribute the longevity of my career to two things. One is not having easy or early success; I didn’t have any hits in the beginning. The other was my constant and rather consistent intervals from the industry due to my own personal reasons. I think that’s what has kept me wanting more and kept the industry wanting more of me, I guess.