‘Kushi’ composer Hesham Abdul Wahab: Telugu cinema has given me wings to dream further

Hesham Abdul Wahab, the music composer whose name movie buffs would immediately associate with the Malayalam musical Hridayam, does not limit himself to a recording studio to work. The composer who is making his debut in Telugu cinema with director Shiva Nirvana’s romance drama Kushi starring Vijay Deverakonda and Samantha Ruth Prabhu says, “I tell my assistants that those days of composing in isolation in a recording studio are over; only a small section of composers work that way today.” Hesham, who is also on board for Shouryuv’s debut film starring Nani and Mrunal Thakur and Sriram Adittya’s film with Sharwanand, took time out for an interview during his brief visit to Hyderabad recently. Hesham recalls how he was offered the film: “The production house asked if I can fly down to Hyderabad the very next day and compose a song to confirm my commitment to the film.” He was game, “Music is a God-given gift and I was confident that I could deliver.” Hesham was not aware that Shiva Nirvana also doubled up as a lyricist. I requested him to write the other songs as well.” Hesham sang the Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam versions of ‘Naa roja’ and Javed Ali stepped in for Hindi. If I get free, I spend time with my wife, or catch up on sleep or simply try to be in a zen mode.” Before we end the conversation, I ask him about making singer-composer Anirudh Ravichander sing in Malayalam for the first time for the ‘Tatta tattara’ song from the film Sesham Mike-II Fathima starring Kalyani Priyadarshan.