The last time ace singers KJ Yesudas and SP Balasubramaniam came together to render a number was for the Mani Ratnam blockbuster Thalapathy.
After 27 long years, the two icons have come together again to render a song for a bilingual film directed by MA Nishad.
While the Malayalam version has been titled Keni, the Tamil version of the film is titled Kinar.
The song, called ‘Ayya Sami’, has been written by BK Harinarayanan and Palani Bharathi, who have penned the Malayalam and Tamil lyrics respectively. And it goes without saying that the Malayalam lyrics have been rendered by KJ Yesudas while the Tamil lyrics have been sung by SPB.
The duo had come together to sing the song ‘Kaatukkuyilu Manasukkula’, a chartbuster that was scored by maestro Ilayaraja, which had featured two superstars – Rajinikanth and Mammootty. The film released in the year 1991 and remains a cult hit till date.
The video of the making of ‘Ayya Sami’ has been released and there is ample evidence the legendary singers had a good time recording it.
In an interview to the Times of India, Nishad said, "SPB sir and Yesudas sir have sung the song ‘Ayya Sami’, which talks about brotherhood between Tamilians and Malayalis. The film's plot revolves around a dispute over a well in the border between these two states, and I wanted to stress on the fact that nature has no boundaries and it is only man who creates these borders.”
The movie boasts of an impressive star cast with Revathy, Jayapradha, Parthiban, Pasupathy, Nasser, Parvathy Nambiar, Indrans, Renji Panicker, Joy Mathew and Anu Hasan playing pivotal roles.
Kinar/Keni is set in the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border deals with the timely subject of water scarcity.
The technical crew of the movie includes the veteran music composer M Jayachandran, with Kallara Gopalan composing one song. Noushad Sharif has been roped in for the cinematography and the editing is being done by Sreekumar.
The background score of the movie has been done by Bijibal.
The movie has been bankrolled by Sajeev PK and Anne Sajeev under the banner Fragrant Nature Film Creations.