Bangalore-based singer-songwriter Sahana Naresh draws on the flamboyant villains of 1970s Tamil cinema for her new single 'Pambu Mookan Uncle', a collaboration with Cologne-based band Keshavara that reimagines a classic cinematic archetype through indie pop, Indian classical influences and psychedelic production while exploring humour, masculinity and the unexpected vulnerability behind the villain.
Growing up, Bangalore-based singer-songwriter Sahana Naresh spent a lot of time watching Tamil films with her parents, and villains from 1970s Tamil cinema fascinated her the most. “They weren’t subtle at all,” she says. "They had dramatic entrances, unforgettable laughs, ridiculous costumes, strange mannerisms, and these wonderfully over-the-top personalities. They were scary, but they were also strangely entertaining. Somewhere in my mind, they became larger-than-life characters rather than just 'bad guys'.” Years later, those figures have found a new life in 'Pambu Mookan Uncle', Sahana's latest Tamil single and music video, a playful tribute to the classic gloriously melodramatic villains that once filled the silver screen.
The song follows a moustache-twirling villain who carries all the swagger of a classic Kollywood antagonist but, underneath it all, simply wants to be loved. The accompanying visuals, shot across India and Germany, recreate the exaggerated style of classic Tamil cinema while gently poking fun at ideas of masculinity. The result is an offbeat indie-pop tribute that celebrates Tamil pop culture through a contemporary lens.
“I don’t think ‘Pambu Mookan Uncle’ is inspired by one specific actor or film. It’s more like a love letter to that entire era of Tamil cinema. It’s an amalgamation of all those flamboyant villains I grew up watching.”Sahana Naresh
Sahana is a multilingual, genre-fluid singer-songwriter who makes indie pop with ‘an Indian classical heartbeat '. Born into a musical family, she writes and sings in English, Tamil and Hindi, about womanhood and is also a curator and volunteer with Indie Grrrl India, supporting women in the country's independent music scene.
The idea for 'Pambu Mookan Uncle' came together after Sahana spent some time in Koln with her cousin Keshav, frontman of the Cologne-based band Keshavara known for their transcultural sound of South Indian music, German krautrock, and dub. “We started talking about our shared love for old Tamil cinema and how funny and theatrical those villains were,” shares Sahana. “At some point we asked ourselves, “What if one of those villains had his own indie pop anthem?”
Written between Bangalore and Köln, 'Pambu Mookan Uncle' was born from Sahana’s Tamil lyrics, melodies, and her Indian classical vocabulary, with Keshavara’s psychedelic textures, kraut-pop grooves, vintage synths, and ‘a wonderfully playful production approach’. “Everyone kept adding little ideas until this eccentric character started to feel real,” she notes.
“As I got older, I started thinking about villains differently. Most people aren’t born evil. They’re often lonely, insecure, misunderstood, or simply craving love and validation. That idea became really interesting to me. What if the villain wasn’t actually terrifying? What if he was just… awkward? What if beneath all the dramatic swagger was someone desperately trying to be liked?”Sahana Naresh
In all its tongue-in-cheek interpretations of a cinematic archetype, keeping the song rooted in its Tamil identity wasn’t difficult for Sahana because it runs naturally through her language, melodic phrasing, storytelling and humour. Everything else is a conversation around it. “That’s probably my favourite way to make music,” she tells us. “I love letting different cultures and genres meet each other as equals, without one overpowering the other. That’s where I feel the most exciting music happens.”
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