Pranaay started his journey as a music composer with the song ‘Kaisa Yeh Raaz Hai’ from the Emraan Hashmi –Kangana Ranaut – Adhyayan Suman starrer ‘Raaz: The Mystery Continues’ (2008). In these 17 years, Pranaay has composed for films like ‘Blood Money’ (2012), 3 A.M. (2014), ‘Ragini MMS 2’ (2014), ‘Baaghi’ (2016) and ‘OMG 2’ (2023). He has scored for shows like ‘Broken But Beautiful’ (2019-21), ‘Call My Agent Bollywood’ (2021), ‘Never Kiss Your Best Friend’ (2020-22), ‘Yeh Meri Family’ (2023-24) and ‘Search: The Naina Murder Case’ (2025). His music has also contributed greatly towards making several advertising commercials, including the Nissan Micra commercial featuring Ranbir Kapoor, memorable.
Though Pranaay’s work as a composer for films, shows and advertisements keeps him extremely busy, he now makes it a point to keep some time aside to create the kind of music that comes straight from his heart, is not driven by any brief and not restricted by any narrative-based limitations.
In the year 2021, Pranaay launched Thriver Entertainment, a label through which he releases music independently. In the last few years, one has seen him collaborate with several artists and come up with songs of different genres. One of the latest songs to have been released under this label is ‘Solladhe’. The song has been composed by Pranaay, written by Madhan Karky and sung by Kapil Kapilan.
In this interview, Pranaay talks about Thriver Entertainment, the importance of creating music independently, the joy of collaborating with artists from different industries and regions, upcoming projects and more.
When one listens to ‘Solladhe’, one feels it was made for Tamil poetry or words.
It was actually made as a Tamil song. After Madhan (Karky) and I did ‘Eva’, I was playing around with different chords on a new software instrument which was something like a guitar. I made something that sounded interesting. I recorded the tune quickly and sent it to Madhan. He loved it. I told him that while composing the tune, I could instantly feel that it needed Tamil lyrics. I said that he could take it in any direction and write whatever he wishes to. Along with the original lyrics, he sent me the translation and I was bowled over by what I read. The song is about asking questions to life and then, comes a point where it says, it’s okay if life does not provide those answers to you.
‘Eva’ was also a beautifully written song. Vivek, the Tamil lyricist, called Madhan and asked for my number. He spoke to me and had some wonderful things to say about the song. He also said that it is very different from what Madhan usually writes. Neither of us had the pressure of any label or external force while making these songs.
The music video of ‘Solladhe’ has shaped up very well. It takes one a while to realize these are AI-generated visuals.
The video has been created by Madhan’s team. They worked very hard on it and ensured the video complements the song well. The mix and master of the audio track was ready three months ago. A lot of people do not realize this but creating an AI video properly takes up a lot of time. Everybody who worked on it did a great job. Madhan has this label called Paa Music. They make a lot of AI videos and have good experience in this space.
A couple of weeks ago, you released a Hindi single titled ‘O Saaware’. Apart from composing it, you were credited as a lyricist on the song. Wasn’t ‘Teri Adaaon Mein’ from ‘3 A.M.’ the first song you wrote as a lyricist?
Yes! It was my first credit as a lyricist. Most composers come up with hook lines for the songs and the lyricist writes a song around it. I have contributed to many of my songs in that capacity. However, I wrote a full song myself after a long time.
The song has some good guitar pieces.
Veljon Noronha is the guitarist. He does a lot of ads. We had worked on a few projects in the past. It was wonderful collaborating with him on this song. What I like the most about Veljon is that he plays clean. I have always admired such players. Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits has been one of my favourite guitarists. When you listen to him, you feel as if the guitar is singing. The guitar solos by Slash, the lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses, would have strong melodies. These are players who don’t just riff through scales. Their pieces would have a strong melodic foundation. I would put Veljon in that bracket. He is extremely talented and one of the best guitarists we have today. Working with him is always a pleasure.
Kapil Kapilan has sung ‘Solladhe’ and ‘O Saaware’. He is one of the leading voices in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam cinema. He has sung Hindi songs for films that were dubbed in the language. ‘O Saaware’, however, seems to be the first original Hindi non-film song sung by him.
Yes, that’s right! Kapil and I had earlier collaborated on ‘Eva’. He is a brilliant singer. I like to throw challenges at singers and see what they do with it. One day, I told him about this Hindi song I had made and if he would like to try it out. He immediately said he had been wanting do a Hindi song for a while and he would love to sing it. While I was quite excited at the prospect of Kapil singing it, I was a little concerned as well. Non-native Hindi speakers tend to have pronunciation issues while singing a song in the language. Kapil asked me to send him the song and assured me that he will do full justice to it. His first draft itself was brilliant! He surprised me tremendously with the ease with which he sang it. We have collaborated on another Hindi song which will come out a little later. As far as ‘Solladhe’ is concerned, he did a brilliant job with it as well. He sent me the track and no revisions were required.
Thriver Entertainment was launched in the year 2021. The first track to be released by the label was ‘Ganesh Aarti’. It was sung by Shashaa Tirupathi. What made you decide to have a label of your own?
I have been in this industry for more than 15 years now. I have been working on briefs given by directors, producers and music companies. You would make a song based on the brief given by them and it would go through several alterations before being approved. We had to cater to the requirement of the project. For the longest time, I had this urge to speak directly to the audience. I wanted to have this pure, unfiltered form of conversation with them. That led me towards launching Thriver Entertainment. Through this platform, I can create the kind of music I want to without any brief or restriction. Creating and releasing music independently is a liberating experience.
You are making songs in different languages.
Language should never be a barrier for an artist. It is a medium to share the music. When I composed a tune and realized the sound of a South Indian language would complement it well, I thought of having Tamil lyrics in it. Shashaa (Tirupati) connected me to Madhan. We ended up making ‘Eva’ Now, we have made ‘Solladhe’. I hope to collaborate with many more artists in the near future.
Artificial Intelligence has brought in a kind of revolution in the content industry in the last few years. Among other things, it has made it possible for independent musicians to create music videos with a lot of ease. The music videos of ‘Eva’ and ‘Solladhe’ were created using AI. What are your thoughts on this technology?
Both these videos were made by Madhan’s team. There has been a lot of chatter around AI lately. Technology is going to move forward. Whether we want to move ahead with the times or not is something we have to decide. If we resist the change, we are going to be left behind. Whether we like it or not, it is going to be a big part of our future. Personally, I think we should embrace AI. Technology does not stop evolving. So, why should we?
What kind of plans do you have for Thriver Entertainment?
I will be releasing another single next week. It is called ‘Beqarar’ and has been written, composed and sung by me. In a way, it would mark my debut as a singer. In the past, I had done backing vocals for many of my songs. But, this would be my first song as a lead vocalist. Last year, we launched a devotional channel called Ekant Collective. We have released around twenty-five songs under the label so far. We have done both original songs and existing bhajans. Two Tamil songs are in the pipeline. I plan to do twelve songs this year. Most of these songs will revolve around love and heartbreak. As an independent artist, I want to work around certain genres that resonate very deeply with me.