'Prithviraj doesn't pick my calls now'

Ramesh Narayan

who got the Best Music Director award for his song in

Ennu Ninte Moideen

, has alleged that Prithviraj's intrusion resulted in two of his songs getting removed from the movie. He says, 'On repeated requests of the movie's director R S Vimal, it was me who called Prithviraj to star in the film. I even christened the film Ennu Ninte Moideen. After listening to the songs I composed, Prithviraj said that some of them sounded too 'academic' and he wouldn't be part of the project unless the songs are changed. Vimal informed me the same over phone. That's when I decided to call up M Jayachandran to compose songs for the movie. However, the song that was retained, Saradambaram, won P Jayachandran (Best Singer) and me the awards. K J Yesudas, who kept aside two days to sing my song Ee Mazhathan for the film, was saddened by its exclusion.'

The composer is also miffed that Vimal did not inform him about scrapping Priyamullavane, which was sung by his daughter Madhushree Narayan. 'He could have had the minimum courtesy to inform us. My daughter had told her friends and teachers about singing in the movie. She realised that it was taken out only while watching the film in the theatre with them.'Incidentally, Madhushree won the Best Female Singer award this year for Edavapathy.
Did he raise the issues with the actor and the director? 'Prithviraj doesn't pick my calls now and I don't know why he and the director are keeping a distance from me, now. My opinion is that actors shouldn't unnecessarily involve themselves in films' segments like music, considering those taking care of it these days are brilliant enough to know what suits a movie the best,' says the musician, who is also the executive producer of the movie.