Composer Sai Abhyankkar's debut project, the LCU film Benz, starring Raghavendra Lawrence and Nivin Pauly as well as directed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan, is still in production. Despite being young in the realm of film composition, Sai has managed to land multiple projects across industries. Sai Abhyankkar's upcoming projects include Suriya's Karuppu, Silambarasan TR's 49th film, Pradeep Ranganathan and Mamitha Baiju's Dude, the Allu Arjun-Atlee film, the Shane Nigam starrer Balti, and Karthi's Marshal. This has prompted netizens to react with outrageous memes about how filmmakers in the South are jumping on the Sai Abhyankkar bandwagon.
Some posts humorously link the composer with James Cameron's under-production film Avatar 4, whereas others say that an announcement about his 50th project will come out before his debut even hits the screens. A minority claims that Sai is here to rule Tamil cinema for years to come. According to one particular post, Quentin Tarantino would reverse his decision to retire as a director provided that Sai also signs up for it as a composer.
The contention of the internet users stems from the fact that Sai is yet to prove himself as a composer. Shortly after CE put out a story about Sai's upcoming projects, the makers of Marshal announced that he has been roped in to compose music for the Karthi starrer. Sai is yet to respond to all the comments on the internet about his lack of experience as a composer.
For the uninitiated, Sai Abhyankkar is the son of Tippu and Harini, who are singers themselves. He shot to fame with independent singles 'Aasa Kooda' and 'Katchi Sera'. His latest independent composition 'Vizhi Veekura' is described as a "soulful" song. Featuring lyrics by Adesh Krishna, the song has vocals by composer Sai himself and Sai Smriti, with Arjun, John, Vasks credited for additional vocals.
After the announcement of his debut with Benz, Sai said exclusively to CE that he started listening to music by Rashid Ali, Amir Khan, and Ghulam Ali Khan in childhood and that it contributed to shaping his journey before learning vocals under Sriram Parthasarathy.