Acclaimed singer Vijay Prakash who has lent his voice to some chartbusters like the Oscar winner 'Jai Ho' for A R Rahman and the recent hit "Kuri kolinuu Somvara Shanvaara" from the film 'Jogayya' has turned music director with Shivarajkumar starrer 'Andar Bahar'.

The song recording for the film was recently started in Bangalore. One song rendered by Vijay Prakash himself has been recorded. 'Andar Bahar' is scheduled to start from January 15 2012. While Shivarajkumar will be playing the main lead in the film, Parvathi Menon who has acted in films like 'Milana' and
'Prithvi' with Puneeth Rajkumar will be the heroine of the heroine. The rest of the star cast and the technicians have to be finalised.

Phaneesh who assisted many directors in the recent films turns independent director through this film. M S Ramesh who has directed Shivarajkumar in many films including 'Valmeeki' and 'Sriram' has penned the screenplay and the dialogues for the film.

His life is proof that music knows no boundaries. Straddling musical genres from classical Carnatic and Hindustani to ad jingles, pop music and singing for films in at least five languages, singer Vijay Prakash is growing to be a name to reckon with in film circles.

Bhagavatula Vijay Prakash has certainly come a long way since he left Mysore, determined to pursue music as a career. In his own words, “My family is familiar with music but of the classical genre. My grandfather and father were Harikatha Bhagavathars who settled in Mysore. So quite naturally I trained in Carnatic music at home. My stint with NCC changed my outlook to music and life — I met so many people from different parts of the country and heard music of different sorts, folk, regional, film songs in Hindi; that not only broadened my view of music but also triggered my passion for music.”

Vijay Prakash dropped out of engineering college to pursue his passion for music. He went to Bombay for that, albeit with his family's encouragement. “They were anxious but my father told me to pursue my passion with firm resolve. I first went to Tirupati, prayed to Lord Venkateswara and headed to Bombay in 1996.”

Ask him why he chose Bombay and not Chennai closer home and he says, “I too wonder about that; but I don't have an answer, I think it was just my destiny.”

Clearly Bombay was good to him. Fifteen years down the line, Vijay Prakash has over 3000 jingles, 10, 000 voiceovers for advertisements and scores of popular film songs in various languages under his belt

In the beginning he turned student to Suresh Wadkar, was a finalist of Zee TV's musical reality show Sa Re Ga Ma and started out by doing jingles for ads. His recent notable voiceovers are Kabhi chatpataa for Knorr Soups and Na sar jhuka ke kabhi for HDFC Life Insurance.

He debuted in films with the Hindi film Baaz in 2002 and first sang for A. R Rahman in Swades.

Since then he has rendered some very popular songs for noted composers — Kandhon se Milte Hain Kandhe for Shankar Ehsaan Loy in Lakshya, title track of Cheeni Kum for Ilayaraaja. 2008 was a landmark year when he was among the four singers who sang the high notes in A R Rahman's Jai Ho in Slumdog Millionaire.

“Meeting Rahman and being part if Jai Ho has been a blessing — it has put me on an elevated platform and opened up a broad spectrum of opportunities; I am so grateful to him for giving me wonderful opportunities and making me a part of his journey.”

He is quick to add, “Every composer presents a new challenge and some want you to follow instructions, some want you to do your own thing, it's challenging to adapt to different styles.” His repertoire also includes dubbing for Telugu and Tamil versions of Hindi films, performances of classical fusion with Zakir Hussain and Selvaganesh and composing music. He has also sung for 25 foreign films including a Chinese film.

“A musician must remain open minded; every form of music is pure, no matter where it comes from; just keep your eyes, heart and mind open. My background in Carnatic music and Hindustani music I learnt later in Bombay help me analyse and execute musical scores. But there is still so much more to learn and absorb; I still have a long way to go,” he signs off.

Select Telugu discography

Ee Hrudyam in Ye Maya Chesave (A R Rahman)

Neelo Valapu in Robo (A R Rahman)

Hello Rammante in Orange (Harris Jayaraj)

Niharika in Oosaravalli ( Devi Sri Prasad)

Bagunde in Chintakayala Ravi (composer Vishal Shekhar)

Aga Nanga in Rangam (Harris Jayaraj)