Since the 2018 Academy Awards shortlists for the Best Original Song and Score were announced, musicians from Qutub-E-Kripa have become the talk of the town!
The team, an ensemble of student musicians from A.R. Rahman’s school, KM Music Conservatory, is now over the moon as three of their songs — I’ll be Gone, Have you Ever Wondered and We’ll Party All Night — from Raj Thiruselvan’s Lake of Fire, are among the ones shortlisted.
Jerry Silvester Vin-cent, from the group reveals how they were surprised when the shortlist was announced. “I didn’t know about it until A.R. Rahman sir sent us a congratulatory email! Only then, did I check the official website. The team is pumped up with this recognition,” he states, adding, “None of us expected this. Even while submitting the songs to the Academy, we didn’t have expectations and did it just to see how it pans out.”
As for the response to the songs, he says, “Since it release only on Google Play and iTunes so far, we’re waiting to see how the reception would be after a bigger release — probably once it’s on YouTube.” The recognition from the Oscars also has much to do with the persistence of the director, who made it a priority to enter the songs to the Grammy and Academy Awards.
In an earlier interview with us, the Hollywood filmmaker remarked, “We want to show that Indian talent is equal to that of Hollywood. Qutub-E-Kripa worked for almost nine months on the project and the output is of international standards.”
