Why Stephen Devassy is not in the movie limelight

Musician Stephen Devassy is touted as the superstar on stage as he mesmerises the audience with his incredible talent. Despite being a successful keyboardist, Stephen isn’t offered many opportunities to compose music for movies. In the programme 'Nere Chovve' aired on Manorama News, the young musician opens up about why he couldn’t deliver many hits in film music.

Self-analysis

Stephen confessed that he believes whatever he does in music is not enough. So, the musician would make others listen to his musical creations and values their opinions very much. “I would never try to evaluate myself. If I do that everything would seem imperfect to me. After every performance, I feel a bit incomplete and believe that I could have made it better. So I usually won’t evaluate my own creations,” noted Stephen.

Destiny matters

The musician who thrills the audience with his magical performances on the keyboard, however, has not had a great run in the movies so far. Stephen does not think that his career in composing music for the movies didn’t take off as he had expected because he didn’t get opportunities to work with leading filmmakers. “Many new composers have created history with their songs becoming superhits. May be that movie itself was destined to become successful. When I receive calls from radio programmes, they tell me that a lot of people request to play my song. I feel happy when lots of people ask for my song. It is true that I become a bit upset when my movies don’t get appreciated. However, I believe that cinema has a destiny,” Stephen made his stand clear.

Elusive break

After making his debut as a composer through the 2003 Mohanlal-starrer 'Hariharan Pillai Happy Aanu', Stephen headed to Chennai to work on a few projects there. However, the young musician became popular as a keyboard player rather than a composer. Stephen said that he would have stayed back in Kochi if he had opportunities to compose music for movies. “When I ask a few directors to give me a chance to work in their movies, they would say, ‘Aren’t you doing lots of stage programmes? We really love your performances’. That is when I realise that they are not going to give me a chance,” smiled Stephen.

Stephen said that many filmmakers see him as an artist who performs on stage rather than a music composer. He admited that he had made a few directors listen to his original compositions hoping that he would land an offer to do music for movies. However, Stephen would only take that liberty with the filmmakers whom he really admires. “I tell them that I wish to do music for a film. They say that they would consider me when a musical movie comes up. Sometimes a movie would happen suddenly. That is how the opportunity to compose music for 'Neerali' came my way. I grabbed the opportunity quickly especially after I learned that Mohanlal was playing the lead role in it,” Stephen revealed.