In a delightful Valentine’s Day surprise, the much-loved Tamil film ’96,’ starring Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha, made a triumphant return to theaters, receiving an overwhelming response from audiences. Notably, popular singer and dubbing artist Chinmayi, who lent her voice to Trisha’s character, recently shared an intriguing tidbit about a memorable singing scene in the movie.
Trisha portrayed the character Janaki, also known as Jaanu, and in a pivotal moment, she sings the charanam of Vijay Sethupathi’s character Ramachandran’s favorite song, ‘Thenral Vandhu.’ Chinmayi revealed a unique aspect of the scene, stating, “I didn’t record it first for Trisha to lip sync during the shoot, as is the norm with song shoots. I sang over Trisha’s performance, matching to lip sync to her singing, in this scene.”
The acclaimed singer elaborated on the challenges she faced in syncing her performance with Trisha’s, ensuring precision in timing and maintaining the musical rhythm. Chinmayi explained, “It was challenging to me, at least on one count – How to Lip sync to her performance and simultaneously maintain the Thaalam somehow so that I don’t sound offbeat for the edit cuts; Take a breath where she does – and make sure ‘Evarum sollamaley kuyilellam thena paadudhu’ (all the close-up shots) matched as much as I could.”
Directed by Prem Kumar, ’96’ revolves around the reunion of a school batch, delving into the complex emotions of a couple who shared a connection during their school days. With Aadithya Bhaskar and Gouri G. Kishan reprising their younger versions, the 2018 Tamil release, featuring music by Govind Vasantha, emerged as a blockbuster romantic drama, captivating audiences with its poignant narrative.