'I wasn’t willing to make any compromises:' Aksomaniac on 'Amsham' success

Aron Kollassani Selestin, who goes by the moniker Aksomaniac, is someone who believes deeply in the power of verse and music shaped by his personal experiences. His latest track, Amsham, featuring vocals by Aksomaniac, hip-hop artist Mohammed Hussain Rahman, and Bhumika, with production by Circle Tone, surged to No 4 on the Global Viral Charts last month, marking a rare and significant breakthrough for a non-English Indian-language song on the global stage.

Speaking to Onmanorama, Aksomaniac revealed that he was particularly stubborn during the creative process, as the project was deeply personal to him.

‘Amsham’ has been widely appreciated for beauty of its lyrics, visuals and the presence of artists and its editing style. Were you equally particular in shaping these aspects for the video?
This project was deeply personal to me, which is why I decided to direct the video along with my two friends. This is my debut as a director. I wrote the script with my friends, and because of that, I became very particular about how everything should come together. That’s also why I took on the role of primary editor. I had a very specific vision for the project, and I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied if it turned out differently. In many ways, the final form of the video comes from my stubbornness as a creative person. I do hope to become more collaborative in the future, but with ‘Amsham,’ I found it difficult to let go. The project meant too much to me for that.

Okay. The video song has also sparked conversations around the representation of dark skinned people on screen. Was the conscious creative choice or also where was the entire video shot?
Most of the video was shot in SoBo (South Bombay) though a few scenes were filmed at my home. Casting a dark-skinned person in the video was very intentional because I am dark-skinned myself, and with a Tamil verse in the middle of the song, I felt it was important to represent certain identities and experiences authentically. Tamil representation in the video mattered a lot to me and my team because it’s something we rarely get to see, especially when it comes to feminine Tamil characters. We’ve been receiving a lot of appreciation for that, and I’m really happy people are connecting with it. There’s also a strong queer presence in the video because the music itself speaks about these themes and experiences.

You have mentioned that the song draws inspiration from the Malayalam film ‘Njan Gandharvan’ and the story of Manmadhan. Would you describe ‘Amsham’ as a modern musical reinterpretation of those influences?
I see it as an adaptation of that screenplay. I took the parts that resonated with me, kept what I loved, and let go of the things that didn’t connect with me personally. That’s the beauty of storytelling, you can retell a story in your own way and make it entirely your own. In this case, I took a film and reinterpreted it through music and a music video, and I think the freedom that comes with changing mediums is really beautiful. At the same time, it’s not entirely based on the film. There are many other influences woven into it, including characters like Cupid, a jinn, Aladdin, and other playful trickster, jester, and clown-like figures. I’ve always been drawn to those kinds of characters because they reflect a part of who I am as a person. So in many ways, the video feels like a fantastical representation of myself.
Amsham is being celebrated as a beautiful infusion of Malayalam and Tamil sensibilities. What inspired that creative decision and what do you think connected most strongly with audiences?
I think a lot of it happened very organically. When we were making the music, bringing Bhumika onto the track was a very instinctive decision. We just felt like reaching out to her and seeing if she’d be interested in doing a verse with us. Once her verse came in, it gave us something tangible to build from, and that naturally led us to incorporate more Tamil sensibilities into the music video.
We took the emotions and textures from her verse and began expanding the world of the project around it. I think some creative decisions begin in a very ad hoc or intuitive way, and only later, when you sit with them and reflect on them, do you start discovering deeper meanings and possibilities within them.
Similarly, I think what people are connecting with most is the emotion in the music, the yearning the character feels for their lover, and the playful, intimate way they speak to them throughout the song. People seem to have taken those feelings and related them to their own relationships and loved ones, and I think that emotional connection is what has really worked for us.

The lyrics have been well received with the song topping third in the Spotify Viral 50. Do you anticipate such reception from this music?
I did not expect Amsham to receive this kind of response at all. Because while it is a fantastical representation of me and centered around this character, Manmadhan, the song is still deeply personal. I originally wrote it for my partner, and many of the descriptions in it are things only my partner and I would truly understand.
So I was genuinely surprised by how receptive people were to the lyrics. But I think that personal nature is exactly why the song connected with listeners. It felt intimate, almost like their own partners were speaking directly to them.

How long did it take lyrics to shape?
Two months for me, actually.

Okay. Could you speak bit more about your collaborations, your collaborators MHR, Bhumi and Circle Tone?
Circle Tone has been a constant part of my music-making process. Like I said, it’s always been present in the way I create music. Even now, we talk often and remain very close friends. I had wanted to work with MHR ever since he released Naalu Vattam. That song explored reluctance and shyness in a very unique way, and I was really drawn to that sensibility. So for this song, I wanted him to approach a similar feeling of shyness, but from an adjacent emotional space and theme.
A lot of what made the song feel celebratory came from MHR. The way he expresses love, happiness, and joy is very outward, expressive, and emotionally open, and I find that incredibly beautiful. It’s something I personally struggle to do in the same way. Bhumika, on the other hand, brought out the conflict within the character in a much sadder and more vulnerable way than I could have. My own playfulness kept getting in the way because I was being very flirty throughout the song. So I couldn’t fully tap into the emotional conflict of the character the way Bhumika could, and that contrast really completed the song for me.