Composer Simon K King is a unique talent for keeping himself busy both with films and OTT shows. Last seen in Made In Korea, he is returning with the second season of Vadhandhi, Vadhandhi Season 2: The Mystery of Mani, which comes out on Prime Video on August 7. “My association with director Andrew Louis goes back to Kolaigaran (2019). OTT was at its nascent stage when Andrew and I collaborated for the first season of Vadhandhi. Though people were still figuring out how music worked in web series, I wanted to work on the music thinking like a writer,” Simon begins, as he adds, “In Vadhandhi Season 1, I made extensive use of Western Classical music; the sounds of the second season will be cinematic and grittier.”
Elaborating on how he approaches music in Vadhandhi, and broadly in OTT platforms, Simon says that he doesn’t believe in scoring for the landscape or genres. “I like to treat music like one of the characters in the series. It could be tempting to score for the landscapes in Vadhandhi as they are very different and specific, take Kanniyakumari or Madurai. But I never operate like that,” he remarks, to further state that the OTT shows give him a lot to work on the characters, and mapping their moods is the only way to make music interesting. “That is how I make music a character in these shows. A web series offers a lot for a music director that he or she wouldn’t get in films. Like the character’s arcs, even in The Fable of Velonie, Laila mam’s character takes an acute turn as the season progresses. So I need to map their moods. A series takes time to develop characters, so there is a constant demand for surprises with music and silences in these spaces. Also, you have your mini climaxes and cliffhangers in every episode. So I keep myself busy working on these aspects.”
Speaking of his frequent collaborator Andrew Louis, he says both are particular about what the show demands. “For the first season to transport your ears into the Anglo Indian ambience of the 18th Century, Andrew and Andrew went to Budapest to compose the soundtrack. We wanted the authentic sounds,” he recalls. He then goes on to say that the second season has slightly opened up space for songs. “In addition to the theme song, there are two songs in the second season, including the one for a Karuppusamy festival. Both songs are important to understanding the story. The songs aren’t placed the way they are usually done. They were part of the scenes while writing. Andrew and I built those songs from scratch.”