Thaikkudam Bridge's ‘Neeli’ is a celebration of the free spirit called Woman | Watch the video

Thaikkudam Bridge, known for their rustic and rock blend of compositions, has come out with a music video of ‘Neeli’, from the band's second album 'Namah'. The real treat in the anthem is how the band visualises Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt's 'mohan veena'. The delicate strings mohan veena reverberates Kalliyankatt Neeli's wrath and vengeance in the song. 

'Namah', Thaikkudam Bridge's tribute to musical maestros, has seven anthems that celebrate Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Anandraj Benjamin Paul, Jordan Rudess, Macro Minnemann, Pandit Ram Narayan, Rakesh Chaurasia, Niladri Kumar, Ustad Rashid Khan, Guthrie Govan, Chris Adler and Umayalpuram K Sivaraman.

The album epitomises Kalliyankatt Neeli, the haunting and eerily beautiful spirit from Kerala folklore, as a symbol of female empowerment in a patriarchal society.

Speaking to Onmanorama, the band's rhythm guitarist Ashok Betty Nelson explains the reason why they decided to come out with a music video, three years after the song's initial release in 2019. “Though we had plans to release a video soon after, it got delayed due to the pandemic,” he said.

He adds that the reception to the song, post the release of the musical video, has been very welcoming. “Though we received some good response after the song got released in 2019, many of our listeners were a niche audience. However, post the release of the video, the reception has been huge,” he said.

Ashok adds that Thaikkudam Bridge has always ensured that they highlight social issues that are relevant to that particular time period. “You will notice this in 'Navarasam' and in 'Namah'. We decided to focus on Neeli because it was important to discuss the issues faced by women and the need to make their voices heard,” he said.

In the six-minute 10-second long video, directed by Naren Ajith, Neeli exacts vengeance on those who wrong her. The beautifully penned lyrics by Dhanya Suresh narrate Neeli's journey from an innocent girl to her rebirth as a raging ember and then as a free spirit.

Dancer Simran Sivakumar captures the nuances of the spirit of Neeli beautifully in the music video through her rhythmic and frenzied dance movements and the strong emotions in her eyes. Vaishak Menon, Sanvi S Shankar, Bhadra, Mukesh and Shanum were also part of the video. 

The vocals are by Govind Vasantha. Janamejaya Daroz is the DOP of the video edited by Siddharth Kapoor.