Godfather Music

An unethical marketing technique (as done for this audio) will never turn a bad product into a good one. It is highly unfair to publicize in papers as “Super Hit Songs” when the audio is not out yet. Anyway, looking at the sales, their cheap technique seems to have paid off.

A.R.Rahman’s albums always get two kinds of rating. One based on the standard that he has set for himself and the based on the overall standards of Tamil Film Music. Commercial success is another criteria. Earlier all the Rahman’s classics were commercial hits too. The failure of some of the best efforts of Rahman (Kangalal Kaithi Sei, Kadhal Virus) in recent past is just another proof of how bad our people’s music tastes have gone. You could say that these movies were flops but in early 90’s most of the Rahman’s movies also were flops (including Thiruda Thiruda) but commercially the music did well. Rahman is now again trying to strike a balance between the two and in the process what we get are the albums like this, which for sure will be a hit but will not satisfy a hard core Rahman fan who always expect Rahman to raise a notch above his own standards in each and every album. But Rahman cannot be completely blamed for this. He should choose some worthy projects from good directors.

Me being a serious Rahman fan, Godfather album is just an average effort though not as bad as “Udaya” or “Parasuram”. Though I wasn’t expecting a classic, I expected an album that is at least as good as “Aa Aah”. Sure, the album has got usual fresh Rahman sound, catchy bits here and there and lot of experimentation but the end product is kind of meshed up. Actually, I am not at all disappointed as the album is very much the way I expected it to be and so my final verdict is that it is a pretty good album.

Kamma Kamma is definitely a delight for frontbenchers with loud percussions and catchy rhythms. Thotapuram has also got a catchy rhythm. I like the way Rahman sidelines the main beats and uses more of synth bass and e-beats in the fore. In “Rang De Basanti” he did it with the bhangra beats and here he does it with familiar Telugu folk rhythms. Next popular ring tone of Tamilnadu is going to be e-tune that we get to hear in the song “Ilamai”. Even while watching the trailer I got hooked to this “Thatham tham tham” bit. It is just too catchy. ‘Theeyil Vizhundhu” is a pathos number with a unique rhythm and bass loops. The strange cry and alaap with shivering vocals of Rahman that closes with a banging beat at the end is the interesting part of the song. ”Kaatril” is an average melody with fine singing by Sadhana Sargam and SPB. Even this song has got catchy bits like “Shahiba” with good strings in the background and ‘nana nana’ rendition of SPB in the second interlude. “Innisai” is a classical song and the pick of the album. It has got a very easy tune with nice orchestration and chorus. If there is one song that may find a place in a playlist of Rahman hits after one year from now, it may be this “Innisai” song. On the whole, let us better wait for “Jillunu Oru Kadhal”.