Jayashri Ramnath’s ‘Life of Pi’ lullaby nominated for the Oscars

Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi: Mumbai-based singer Jayashri Ramnath’s calming voice that was well-used to sing a lullaby in the opening scene as well as the last scene of Ang Lee’s ‘Life of Pi’ has made its way to the coveted Academy Awards 2013 nominations list for Best Music (Original Song) category. The nominations list has credited Jayashri with the song’s lyrics and Mychael Danna for composing it. On Thursday, Jayashri, a noted Carnatic music singer, described the song’s lyrics as “very simple and tender”, but “nothing great”, reports The Indian Express. “The lyrics are something a mother in any part of the world tells her child,” she said. The brief from Danna and Lee to her was to keep the song simple and soft — “A child sleeps not because he is sleepy, but because he feels safe,” Jayashri recalled having been told by Lee during one of their initial interactions. Describing how she landed the job of writing and singing the number, Jayashree said to the daily: “Danna would want to know the meaning of each word that I used. He would prod me to come up with even simpler and soft-sounding words, making me go over all the words in my vocabulary.” She also added that listening to Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle and Md Rafi over the years has helped her a lot with singing. As a result of the nomination, the ecstatic singer has been getting a number of congratulatory calls and messages from all over the globe. ‘Life of Pi’ has been nominated in 11 categories and is touted as one of the best movies of 2012.