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 An
electrifying musician, an ace director, a versatile actor, he prides
in the fact that he was born for Cinema. He is currently working on
his latest debut Hollywood production AMY, a supernatural thriller
capturing the life of the Amish community. He is a walking, talking
powerhouse of talent. His musical arrangements are breath-taking and
a work of art.
He is R.P.Patnaik – Tollywood’s enigma.
RP Patnaik has carved a place for himself in the Telugu industry
within a short span of his lifetime with consistent hits. Not to
miss, his internationally acclaimed music album – Chakra: the
Signature of Time that catapulted him as a member of the Grammy
academy. The films he has in his repertoire stand witness to his
vibrant treatment of quality musical arrangements. An extremely
simple individual, very down to earth, RP was amicable and
unassuming. His visit to Shirdi Sai Samsthan of Michigan last week
provided moments of soulful ecstasy to devotees as RP rendered some
devotional numbers on Sai.
Here are the excerpts from his short but memorable chat with Anu
Gopalakrishnan on a lovely Sunday afternoon.
 Q:
Ok. You have disappeared from Tollywood for AMY. Tell us about your
Hollywood experience and why Amish community?
(Click here for Trailer)
RP: Well, I always wanted to do
something different. If I do regular themes, then I would not be
able to stand apart. I studied about the Amish community where the
backdrop is different from the regular crop of films. An interesting
community and hence the story was born.
 Q: You have directed a film in Telugu (Andamaina
Manasulo) and now making a debut with a Hollywood venture. What is
the difference in the production environment/working style between
India and LA?
RP: Well, apart from the paper
work I don’t see any kind of major difference. AMY that is currently
in production has more of an Indian experience. The Amish community
does not favor paperwork; they are even against getting clicked. One
major lesson I learned was getting things done in a difficult
situation. Working with the Amish community did not make me forget
India. There are still lots of Indian experience making this film.
Q: Tell us about your first musical
experience with Shirdi Sai Samsthan of Michigan.
(Click here for Video)
RP: I am blessed. I had the
opportunity to visit the Shirdi Sai temple in LA. But, this is the
first time I am singing devotional songs at the Shirdi Sai temple.
This is the most memorable experience for me. The songs I sang today
were composed by me and earlier sung by SP Balasubramaniam for the
private music album Amritavarshini. I can only say that I am lucky.
The temple in Michigan looks really good.
 Q: Tell us something about this whole Remix
strategy that is currently in the works with a lot of composers.
RP: As a professional, let it be
anything, if people like it, it gets accepted and the work is
labeled as good. I have succumbed to this strategy of remixing old
numbers. But, there is a difference – a few musicians do it for
commercial reasons with inappropriate visuals, while some of them
would like to basically use new technologies to make the new
generation aware of some really good classics/songs that were hits
and were popular in the language that they would understand. My
personal opinion is that I always prefer the lyrics to have a
meaning, convey an expression to the listener. But I am not against
remix if crafted well. It is basically old wine in a new bottle
formula.
Q: People in the industry know you as a
multi-talented artist. You are a music composer/director, a film
director, a story writer, a singer etc. Which aspect of cinema does
RP Patnaik like?
 RP: It is true that I have
played with different strokes of cinema and to me film-making is an
art. Honestly, I love cinema. I am passionate on everything about
cinema. I am known as a music director. After doing 25 film albums,
I acted as a blind man in the film Seenu Vasanthi Lakshmi. Several
people told me that the 25 music albums that were released is
equivalent to this one film as an actor. So instantly, my confidence
as a film artist was at its peak.
I won the Nandi for the "Best story writer" award for the Telugu
film "Andamaina Manasulo". This was my debut directorial venture.
So, this was another facet of film making. To me, director is like a
boss. When it comes to direction, I have more creative freedom. I
don’t sense any control from anybody. I can make a call on various
pieces of the film. But it is not the same being a music director.
Whatever role I end up playing behind the screen, I always want to
be original. I want to work for cinema, original cinema and MY
cinema.
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Q: What are your current projects? Your
fans are waiting for those breath-taking music albums.
RP: I have several plans in the
offing. I am planning on two international albums. I am scouting for
a very good singer to deliver the lines in the diction and style I
need. I am also immediately starting a telugu film. (RP maintains
that this is a scoop for Miindia.com). I will be acting after six
years and the working title for the film is called “Broker”.After
which, I am thinking of another English venture – again a different
set up, another different community that has not been explored by
any film maker. |
 Q:
As a music director, who are your favorite musicians? What about the
new breed of musicians?
RP: My favorite musicians are
Ilayaraja and A R Rahman. Ilayaraja and AR Rahman seem to have a
bigger bandwidth of creativity, a huge bandwidth of musical
knowledge and finesse. No. I have not spotted any musician that
would consistently deliver. I am waiting for the right person.
Somehow, all musicians are sounding repetitive. There seems to be a
creative limitation with everyone. It becomes difficult to name one
music director because today, we have so much talent but hardly any
consistency in performance.
From a student of Space Physics to Cinema, RP Patnaik has come a
long way in a short span of time. His talent is his success. His
fans are waiting with anticipation for the release of his Hollywood
flick titled “Amy”. This film stars Blue Lagoon fame Christopher
Atkins, Jessica Digiovanni and Kurt Peterson. Amy is a thriller
focusing on the Amish community of Pennsylvania. It is a known fact
that Amish do not adopt any modern technology which is cleverly
depicted in the film. Much of the film has been shot in Pennsylvania
– home of the predominantly Amish community.
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