Instagrammer Soorya from Thiruvananthapuram visualises lines from popular Malayalam films through digital art

Animated digital art created by PS Soorya for the lines of ‘Alliyaambal kadavil…’, a melodious number sung by KJ Yesudas in the Malayalam film Rosie.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Slender stalks of lotus blooms in a pond sway gracefully in the breeze while a couple watches the picturesque scene. Lines from ‘Alliyaambal kadavil…’, a melodious romantic number sung by KJ Yesudas in the Malayalam film Rosie, plays in the background. An evergreen song cherished by listeners of Malayalam film music, the song, composed by P Bhaskaran and scored by KV Job, is one of the many numbers visualised by PS Soorya on her Instagram account, @mystic_bells.

A student of archaeology in Deccan College, Pune, Soorya, a self-taught artist and music buff, does not stop at merely singing along with the song or humming the evergreen lines. Taking a verse from the song, the 22-year-old combines it with visuals that sync with the meaning of the lines. At present, her animation video for ‘Alliyaambal kadavil…’ has won the hearts of more than 56.5K viewers. She has used Vijay Yesudas’ rendering of the song from Loudspeaker (2009).

Drawn towards art

Speaking over phone from Pune, Soorya says that she has always been sketching and painting during her school days. “I used to do flip books in which an action can be animated by flipping pages with drawings or paintings on them,” she says.

She started visualising the lines of popular Malayalam films during the lockdown. “I was at home in Thiruvananthapuram and that was when I learned digital art and began to add bits of my favourite songs to go with my some paintings,” she says.

However, she began animating lyrics in 2023. “The first one was during my semester exam and that was ‘Poomkattinodum kilikalodum…’ [from Poomukhappadiyil Ninneyum Kaathu]. It was liked by many. That gave me the confidence and support to do more,” she says.

PS Soorya’s animated art for a Baburaj number, ‘Oru pushpam…’
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Her latest one, showcasing two lines of a Baburaj classic, ‘Oru pushpam…’ sung by Yesudas in Pareeksha, shows an overcast sky and the silhouette of a man gazing into the horizon, waiting for his love, while poet-lyricist P Bhaskaran’s lines come alive in the background ‘Manatharil maarikkar moodikkazhinhallo mamasakhi neeyennu vannu cherum….’ (the mind is overcast, when will you come, my love)

Initially, she used to post bits of music to accompany her works in acrylics on canvas. The visual would have Soorya’s fingers fluently bringing to life paintings, including copies of Ravi Varma’s classics and Kerala murals, that resonated with the poetic lyrics of the song.

Soorya PS
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Soorya says most of the songs are those that her parents used to listen to but it is the lyrics that motivate her to animate certain lines. “Once, I learned digital art, I began to sketch or paint to combine my art with the lyrics. It is my own interpretation of the lines and not what the song is picturised on in the movie,” she points out.

Lyrical interpretation

For instance, ‘Pookkalum puzhakalum, pookinavin lahiriyum bhoomi sundaram…’, are lines of a popular song of the eighties written by Mullanezhi Neelakandan Namboothiri and picturised on actors Sreenivasan and Karthika in Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam. It has a different flavour in Soorya’s interpretation. Staying true to the meaning of the lyrics in the song, she has sketched a young girl soaking in nature’s gifts.

One of her early works depicts a pencil sketch of actor Shobhana’s visage as Nagavalli, a woman with a past in Fazil’s film Manichitrathazhu. She composed a collage of the portrait along with an anklet, a key and scattered manjadikkuru (Lucky red seeds) juxtaposed with the famous background score of Manichitrathazhu.

“I like to create digital art showing the daily life and landscape of people who live in different places, especially of people in villages and their lifestyle. I make little snaps with simple animation and a colour palette that the viewers can relate to,” she says.