Karthik Subbaraj's first collaboration with composer Ilaiyaraaja was unlike anything he had experienced before in his 15-year-long career as a filmmaker. "There wasn't a single moment where I told him a note or a song didn't work in Dorothy," he told The Hollywood Reporter India, speaking about his latest Tamil drama.
Approaching Ilaiyaraaja for the film was not part of the original plan. The shoot was completed first, and it was only after the first cut was assembled that he felt confident enough to take the film to the composer. "When we started this film, we didn't even think we'd go to him. After the first cut, I was confident enough to go to Raaja sir and show the film. I thought, 'At least if he sees the film and doesn't like it, I'll be happy that I met him.'"
When Subbaraj approached Ilaiyaraaja with the film, the maestro watched the entire first cut in one sitting — which was longer than the final edit by about 15 to 20 minutes. When he finished watching the film, he just told Subbaraj that he enjoyed the film and to come back the next morning at 8 AM. "From that day, the next 20 to 25 days were magic for me," Subbaraj said.
The stories behind two of the film's songs stood out in his account. The first was the creation of the song Muthumani. Subbaraj had shot the sequence in the film using an existing Ilaiyaraaja track as a reference, and asked the composer if he could use the same song. Ilaiyaraaja said the existing track was not quite relevant to the scene and that he would compose a new one instead. "The way he brought out that Muthumani song, I was blown away from that moment," Subbaraj recalled, adding that he has spoken with filmmakers who have collaborated with the maestro before. "Even Mani sir [Mani Ratnam] told me, 'You don't have to do anything, you've just got to pick up stuff from the magic he creates.'"
The second was the film's background score. Subbaraj had been using a track titled 'Do Anything' from the composer's album 'How To Name It', which is over 30 years old. The director explained that it was a track dear to him and he had been listening to it since his college days.
Subbaraj asked whether it could be used for the film. Ilaiyaraaja, as Subbaraj recalls, sat down and wrote out the notes for the track from memory "like a student", and recomposed it with one deliberate alteration. "He asked me, did you notice there is a small note change? I said yes. He told me, see, in the visual there is a movement of the actor, and the music blends to his moment."
Subbaraj said the detail stood out to him more than anything. "He just sees the visuals and then rewrites his own note of a track from 30 years back and alters it according to the visual. What magic! Who can do that?"
Ilaiyaraaja also proposed, after watching the film, that the film's soundtrack be released before the theatrical release in the form of a live symphony concert. "Songs and all you leave," the composer reportedly told them. "The OST of this film should be released before the film." The concert was held in Chennai with Ilaiyaraaja present, featuring a 40-minute live performance of the score.
Producer Guneet Monga Kapoor revisited the moment they met Ilaiyaraaja at his office to sign the agreement. "He said this film needs a full live symphony. He had written a book to present to us because he needed our permission. And I was like, 'Sir, please don't take my permission, do whatever you want!" She described his energy as childlike enthusiasm. "He's in his early 80s and his enthusiasm!"
Dorothy, Subbaraj's tenth feature, stars Keerthy Suresh, Sananth and Rishikanth in the lead roles and had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation. The film is now in theatres.