Some of the horrors perpetrated on the Tamils is beyond imagination: Dr L Subramaniam

With Gour Hari Dastaan, you're returning to composing for a Hindi film after a really long time...
Yes. It's been several years. Hansal Mehta's Jayate was made in 1997 but never got commercially released. In that sense, it seems like a long time since I composed for a film. But this has little to do with me. I was very taken by the fact that Gour Hari Dastaan (GHD) is not the typical run of the mill film. It is after all the eponymous film on the real life and struggle of a freedom fighter who has to struggle for recognition and respect.

Whether with Mira Nair (Kama Sutra, Mississippi Masala, Salaam Bombay), Bernardo Bertolucci (Little Buddha) or Merchant Ivory (Cotton Mary) in the past or GHD now, I've always chosen to associate with projects which go out of the standard escapist template of love songs and item numbers. It's not like I do not want to do films but I'm away travelling so often on my concert tours that I just don't have the time.

Among the current lot of composers in Indian cinema anyone whose work you think stands out?
Several. One has to mention Rahman, who along with Gulzar and Resool have brought India Oscar glory. By the way, Resool has done the sound for GHD. I am a huge fan of Lakshmikant-Pyarelal for their sheer range. I think Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, too, do some great work despite working within the format of escapist mainstream cinema.

Many classical musicians distance themselves from mainstream cinema and its music because they see it as lowly...
That's wrong. Film music and classical music have had an association which dates back to the birth of cinema. Many like Pt Jasraj have sung equally well for films as their own albums and concerts. I don't think there should be any such divide in the world of music.

You've been called the 'Paganini of Indian classical music' and even 'God of Indian violin'. What do these sobriquets feel like?
You know my father was one of the finest violin maestros. Yet, he was consigned to being an accompanist and depended on other musicians for survival. As part of an orchestra, he'd be forced to subdue his craft. If, as a violinist, you got more claps, praise or response, you wouldn't be called to accompany again. Also one couldn't play solo and support oneself financially. He always knew that the Indian violin style belonged up there with the global greats and encouraged us. These titles that people bestow aren't really mine. I'm only a representative of my late father to who they actually belong.

Many felt your concert with your wife and son during PM Narendra Modi's US visit at the Madison Square Garden wasn't exactly in keeping with the high bar you've set for yourself?
I disagree. Never before has an Indian premiere drawn this kind of a crowd. When Kavita and I performed the national anthem we had a 20,000 strong chorus joining in. What can be more special than that?

What do you enjoy more – composing or performing live?
Playing in the traditional format of classical music always helps me find inner peace and a higher level of tranquility.

My compositions are an extension of my thought to propagate the living heritage of our classical music. There was a time when the West thought only they have classical music. All our classical traditions were relegated to the genre of 'ethnic' or 'world' music. My compositions are focused on showcasing the classicism of our tradition.

Many found striking similarities between the interlude music for Tu Mere Saamne in Yash Chopra's Darr with the title track you composed for Surabhi, the TV show.
I haven't heard this. If anyone wants to lift something, the least they can do is tell me about it. Now that you say, I will go back and hear this carefully.

You've been playing the violin since early childhood. How did you get inspired?
As a child, my violinist father Prof V. Lakshminarayana was my hero. I wanted to be like him. He was self-taught. He learnt to accompany his vocal students and improvised on existing playing techniques and introducing his own, allowing more dexterity and intricacy while playing.

In doing so, he could bring Carnatic violin to the forefront - the technical mastery that his technique could help achieve played a major role in developing the role of the violin as a solo instrument in Carnatic music. Although I did initially learn singing, I soon switched over to playing the violin after being inspired by him.

You grew up in Sri Lanka which has been at the epicentre of several major upheavals like the genocide by Sri Lankan forces...
It was state-sponsored terror. Some of the horrors perpetrated on the Tamils is beyond imagination. People were butchered in the hundreds. Women were raped and burnt to death in front of their children.

Our houses would be marked and mobs would descend in the night to ransack, burn, rape and kill. I still remember that awful night in 1958 when we had to flee at a half-hour notice. We ran through the rubber estates with my father's violin and the clothes on our back and somehow managed to cross over in a boat to India.

Anywhere else world powers would've fallen over themselves to intercede against the human rights excesses. Unfortunately, there's no oil in Sri Lanka.

There's some effort at reconstruction and peace since. In 2012, artistes like Bharatanatyam exponent Alarmel Valli, and Carnatic vocalists TM Krishna and Unnikrishnan performed at Jaffna. Would you consider performing there?
I'd like to do that only if I see justice being done first and the perpetrators of the human rights violations brought to book - flying down artistes and using those visuals and photographs to convey the return of calm and peace amounts to little more than a cosmetic photo-op otherwise.

Not many know that the title 'Dr' in your name refers to your background in medicine...
Given the fate of accompanists in India, my father was insistent on a parallel education. I pursued medicine which I really love. In the first year, a German who saw my talent with the violin asked me to give up medicine and take up the former full time. But it was unthinkable for my parents that I give up medicine mid-way. They insisted and I persevered.

Who do you consider as your musical or creative influences?
Apart from my father who was one of my greatest influences, I was also greatly inspired by Muthuswammy Dikshitar's compositions and the sheer devotional appeal of Thyagaraja's kritis. Every time you revisit them you find newer nuances and layers.

You've collaborated with the who's who among all the great names in music. Yet, is there anyone, living or not you'd have loved to work with?
I've been fortunate to collaborate with almost all the artistes I've wanted to – from Lord Yehudi Menuhin and Stephane Grappelli to Herbie Hancock, George Duke and Stanley Clarke. One person I'd have loved to collaborate with but never got the chance was one of the all-time great violinists, Jascha Heifetz. or even the late Russian maestro David Oistrakh.

Will we get to see you and you brother L Shenkar in a concert together soon?
It could have happened if my late elder brother L Vaidyanathan (senior music director of the South who composed the iconic Malgudi Days title track) was alive. Shenkar and I are too different in style.

Where in the world do you feel most inspired while performing?
I enjoy performing in different venues since each audience is different, and my playing is influenced by their energy. Paris and St Petersburg come to mind first. There people are so well exposed to the violin and its technique that they are quick to pick on the minutest thing I do.
It has been memorable being the first Indian to perform in Iceland and Romania. Playing at venues like the Lincoln Center in New York, Royal Albert Hall in London, Esplanade in Singapore or even Adelaide in Australia is also dear to my heart. I can walk in there, play an alaapi and people will sit down and listen.