Paal Dabba on Directing and Dancing His Way Through ‘Kaathu Mela’

Paal Dabba’s jaunty new song “Kaathu Mela” opens with a title card that says, “The cops, are your friends.”

With hyper-pop and hip-hop production from composer-producer OfRo, “Kaathu Mela” was created after Paal Dabba says he was “caught by the police” – for riding without a helmet, if the song’s lyrics are an accurate retelling – and spent about two hours in a police station and got delayed for practice. “I thought why not just add it in,” the artist says with a laugh.

Released via Think Indie who put out Paal Dabba’s previous hits like “170CM” last year, “Kaathu Mela” – translating to “Air flows up” in Tamil – has all the makings of a typically energetic, fast-paced song from the artist and dancer. “‘Kaathu Mela’ started ringing in my head when I heard a track from an artist called Boddhi Satva in a dance battle randomly, and I asked the DJ for the track and then once completed, OfRo helped me creating a perfect tune for the song.”

The equally frenetic-paced music video is directed by Paal Dabba, set in a police station with plenty of visual cues about the state of law and order in the present day and how he just wants to upend the entire system. The rapper says there’s “nothing new” in this video, but they did want to create something straight out of films. “The intention when we started writing the script itself is that we should go with the vibe of a cinema, We delivered it with some camera tricks yes, but we didn’t think anything new but at the same time, we wanted it to be different and you can even see it on our post-credits,” he says.

Paal Dabba describes the entire shoot as fun, whether it was dancing with a crew, brandishing a gun for filmy effect and making a commentary on overcrowding in jails. The artist shouts out his choreographer Isaac Naveen and associate director Rohith V.S. and his crewmates Eswar (who is credited for assistant choreography) and Rajaram (credited for the steadicam shots). “[Them] assisting with the dance sequences was so much fun! Personally, I’d just say that it was fun from the start to the end,” the artist adds.

With “Kaathu Mela” out in July, Paal Dabba hasn’t figured out his next release just yet. He adds with a laugh, “We have a few singles and collaborations, whichever gets done first, you’ll see it first.”