Sunny M.R. Talks About ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ and Performing Live 

Sunny M.R. is about to get on stage this week for two gigs to perform material from his Unsung Verses song release series, even as the artist keeps gaining major attention for his work with composer Pritam on the soundtracks for Bollywood films Brahmastra and Laal Singh Chaddha, and the show Dr. Arora.  

The producer, composer and occasional singer cut his teeth as a sound engineer starting out in Hyderabad, but there’s been much more along the way. “The good part is I luckily get to work with people who listen to everyone in the room. By that, I mean everyone involved in the project. Everyone has a say, so it’s amazing that sometimes you come up with ideas and people accept them. It’s a different experience altogether. When multiple minds come together to make something, most of the time, it turns out nice,” he says about his projects for films and the small screen so far.  

There’s music for two web series coming up, plus Telugu film soundtracks Sunny will helm as the composer, but more immediately, the artist will perform his independent work in Mumbai and Pune this week for gig series called New World Order. When he started releasing genre-fluid, electronic-leaning songs in 2020 for Unsung Verses, it might have been peak pandemic times, but Sunny wanted to take the songs on stage. “I had thought that at some point, I would be able to perform these songs live in front of people. That dream has been taken ahead by all the people involved and I was just very surprised that people want to listen to this kind of music,” he says. He’s joined by producer Zafar Ansari aka Zia on keys and synth, plus drummer Rahul Muralidhar.  

He’s also looking forward to the diversity on offer at the gigs, sharing the bill with pianist-composer Sahil Vasudeva and producer Riatsu. “It’s going to be a different experience altogether.” For Sunny, the set at New World Order comprises songs from Unsung Verses, unreleased material as well as “Gaaye Ja,” a recent track sung by vocalist-composer Arijit Singh. He adds, “I’m really hoping people like these performances and I get to perform again. I think that’s the biggest thing that an artist looks for – for people to hear their music live. I hope this brings in more opportunities for me to perform.” 

Sunny M.R. performs alongside Riatsu and Sahil Vasudeva at New World Order on August 25th at antiSOCIAL, Mumbai and on August 28th at antiSOCIAL, Pune. Get details here.