ANJALI DAS ‘Cosplay in India has come a long way over the last few years, and people are really starting to appreciate it as an art’ KABALI SETS NEW RECORD IN THE US kerala Singer Najim Arshad has lent voice to his second Hindi song — a lullaby — for the upcoming TV series Tamanna Cinemaya Cinemaya NAJIM IN LULLABY MODE CHRONICLE FRIDAY29 | JANUARY 2016 NITIN SISUPALAN DECCAN CHRONICLE A s the voting for the best cos- players in the country closed earlier this week, Malayalis can be proud of three heavyweights who rammed their way into the list of final- ists, as well as the Indian pop culture scene with their creativ- ity and talent. For Nadir Najumal Hussain, an architect from Kochi, it was not his first time being recognised as a top-tier cosplayer in the country. TURN TO PAGE 19 MEERA MANU DECCAN CHRONICLE T hree years down his Bollywood debut, Najim Arshad is back in Hindi again, this time for mini-screen. The singer croons for a forth- coming television series on Star Plus, Tamanna. In the second- coming, Najim teams up with the same old 'Sawalon ki Godh Mein…' composer Advait Nemlekar of 'Kaafiron ki Namaaz', a song rendered in 2013. His soothing voice puts you to sleep in the quiet of the night. The recording of a four-minute lullaby took place in Kochi a month ago. "A few lines recorded and sent by Advait over WhatsApp was the first invite for me to associ- ate with the project. I tried on the same verses and reverted to him for voice approval. In a short while, I received the go ahead. Advait took a flight to Kochi for a day and we had the recording done overnight," says Najim. No wonder Najim kept himself away from projects outside Malayalam for quite a long time. His discography over the past three years stands testimony with somewhat 60 plus songs he had lent voice to. TURN TO PAGE 19 << 25 << 24 MARIA IS BACK AS SUHARA THE AGE OF MALAYALI Three cosplayers from Kerala have made it big at this year's Bangalore Comic Con by finding a place in the list of finalists COSPLAY The practice of dressing up as a character from a film, book or video game, especially one from the Japanese genres of manga or anime SUPERHEROES Najim Arshad
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AANNJJAALLII DDAASS ‘Cosplay in
India has come a long way over
the last fewyears, and
people are reallystarting to
appreciate it asan art’
KABALI
SETS NEW
RECORD IN
THE US
kerala
Singer Najim Arshad has lent voice tohis second Hindi song — a lullaby —for the upcoming TV series Tamanna
Three years down hisBollywood debut, NajimArshad is back in Hindi
again, this time for mini-screen.The singer croons for a forth-coming television series on StarPlus, Tamanna. In the second-coming, Najim teams up with thesame old 'Sawalon ki GodhMein…' composer AdvaitNemlekar of 'Kaafiron kiNamaaz', a song rendered in2013. His soothing voice puts youto sleep in the quiet of the night.The recording of a four-minutelullaby took place in Kochi amonth ago.
"A few lines recorded and sentby Advait over WhatsApp wasthe first invite for me to associ-ate with the project. I tried on thesame verses and reverted to himfor voice approval. In a shortwhile, I received the go ahead.Advait took a flight to Kochi for aday and we had the recordingdone overnight," says Najim.
No wonder Najim kept himselfaway from projects outsideMalayalam for quite a long time.His discography over the pastthree years stands testimonywith somewhat 60 plus songs hehad lent voice to.
TURN TO PAGE 19
<< 25<<24
MARIA IS
BACK AS
SUHARA
THE AGE OF
MALAYALI
Three cosplayers from Kerala
have made it big at this year's
Bangalore Comic Con by finding
a place in the list of finalists
CCOOSSPPLLAAYY The practice ofdressing up as acharacter from afilm, book or videogame, especiallyone from theJapanese genresof manga or anime
SUPERHEROES
NNaajjiimm AArrsshhaadd
RAMSHANKARUNNIKRISHNAN
II ttooookk tthhee OOppttiimmuussssuuiitt ttoo HHyyddeerraabbaadd iinn aa
rreettuurrnniinngg,, aa ddiiffffeerreennttbbuuss ddrriivveerr cchhaarrggeeddaannootthheerr `̀11,,550000 ffoorrtthhee ssaammee lluuggggaaggee
As he took home last year's Grand Prizeat the Bangalore Comic Con for hisskilfully crafted Bumblebee suit, theBengaluru convention's regular crowdhad already known the Autobot cos-
player as the back-to-back Grand Prize Winner in2013 and 2014. While in 2013, it was his IronmanMark 7 suit from Marvel comics that wonhim the Grand Prize, it was a verydetailed War Machine v1.0 suit from theIronman movie that bagged him the prizein 2014.
Nadir is a well-known name in cosplaycircles, being part of both the IndianCosplay Community as well as theBangalore Anime Club.
But Nadir's trip to superstardom (literal-ly) came with its share of struggles. Ifmaking his well-detailed suits took timeand effort, carrying them to Bengalurufrom Kochi every time, made the creationseem like the easier bit. "I took the trainfor the first two times and it was reallyhard... the third time, I had to rent a car."
"Carrying six big boxes to the railway stations, itwas just a friend and I. We had to jump in before thetrain left the station," Nadir recounted his secondtrip. The same could be said about Nadir's friendand another Kochi-based cosplayer RamshankarUnnikrishnan. From cosplaying Kerala's ownsuperhero Odayan in the 2014 Bangalore Con, theComputer Science Engineer from Angamaly sweptthe 2015 Hyderabad Comic Con by winning theGrand Prize with his aesthetically-made OptimusPrime suit from Transformers. It took him threemonths to craft the suit to such perfection that itwon him the Grand Prize. The suit was craftedusing a material called Eva form. However, he alsohad his share of transportation woes, "I took theOptimus suit to Hyderabad in a bus, and the drivercharged an extra ` 1,000. And while returning, adifferent bus driver charged another `1,500 for thesame luggage. I spent more on transportation thanto make the entire costume."
When the boys were making ripples in the cos-play scene in the South, Anjali Dasfrom Thiruvananthapuramexploded into the scene with hergorgeously fiery and daringWonder Woman (warrior)cosplay at the New DelhiComic Con by the end of2015. Anjali, by then, hadalready made a namefor herself in the
Bangalore Comic Con with her flawlessHarley Quinn cosplay from theBatman Animated Series back in 2014,and then her very memorable FemaleLoki from Marvel Comics earlier lastyear. As she prepares to go to Italynext month for her PhD in Chemistry
at Parma, she pondersover the future of cos-play in Kerala. "Cosplayin India has come a longway over the last fewyears, and people arereally starting to appre-ciate it as an art."However, Ramsankarpoints out the diffi-culties of it reach-ing Kerala,"There're only ahandful ofMalayali cos-
players and most ofthem live outside
Kerala. When I started cosplay-ing, it was only Nadir and I whoactually went for Comic Cons to cos-play from Kerala. In fact, most peoplehere don't even know what cosplayis.”
Nadir, with a glint of hope in hiseyes and the determination tobring about change in Kerala,weighs in, "With the help of someof my friends, I'm planning topromote cosplay in Kerala.We'd love to see this culturegrow in my home state..."
However, he acknowledgesthat the first step is thehardest, "First, we'llhave to make the peo-ple see the differ-ence between cos-play and fancy
Najim had his kittyfilled to the brim inthe past two-three
years with songs inMollywood cinema togetherwith contributions to a cou-ple of music albums. The former reality starmade his mark as a play-back singer in the 2007 flickMission 90 Days. The bigbreak came exactly a yearlater in Chembada where heshot to fame with a soul-stir-ring duet. The latest fromNajim was in Malgudi Days.Tamanna, a Ramesh Deoproduction, is a fictional talespun around womenempowerment. The plotrevolves around a young girlbound by obstacles andsocial orthodoxy, who stillaspires to become a crick-eter. The Najim song 'OhNindya Ki Rani…' appearsin one of the sequences."I consider this a real hon-our. What I came to knowwas that there were a fewmore singers who wereauditioned for this particu-lar song. Happy for myname getting selected," hesmiles. In 2016, Najim hasalready got into his usualbusyness. He has songs inM u t t a y i k a l l a n u mMammaliyum and anotheryet-to-be-announced movie.
‘ What I came toknow was thatthere were a fewmore singers whowere auditioned.Happy for myname gettingselected’