Afzal Yusuff elated at winning Special Jury Award

Chennai: Visually-challenged music composer Afzal Yusuff is pleased to win the Kerala State Special Jury award for his compositions in the Mammooty starrer `Immanuel` and `God for Sale`. "Awards are always a sort of encouragement. It is a nice feeling when your efforts are appreciated," he said. `Immanuel`, directed by Lal Jose, released last year, was a blockbuster. Yusuff did the background score and music for both movies. "I got the award for music direction. Doing background score is challenging because I am visually challenged," he said. "It takes time as each scene has to be explained. The director explains how the movie and scenes pan out and then a narrator sits with me and details the visuals while I key in the score with technicians keeping track," he said. "It is not easy, but then you feel you have achieved something after it is over and others appreciate it," he said. The 36-year-old, who made his film debut in 2008, is looking forward to the release of Fahad Fazil-starrer `Cartoon`. He has tuned two songs in the movie directed by debutant Shahid Arafat. `Mazhayil nirayum puzhapole` from the recently released Malayalam film `Parankimala`, tuned by me, has registered over 18 lakh hits on youtube," he said. The duet, rendered by Najim Arshad and Mridula Warrier, is a remake of the 1981 critically acclaimed movie by late director Bharathan. "I also did the background score in `Parankimala`."