Subramaniyapuram Soundtrack

When I posted this, many asked me to listen to the songs of ‘Subramaniyapuram’. Even before writing that post, I had listened to Subramaniyapuram soundtrack but nothing stuck with me on first few listening, not even ‘Kangal Irandal’. I now wonder why I didn’t like them when I listened to it then because now I like it and I like it very much. And the reason is not just the music.

The first song I liked was not ‘Kangal Irandal’ but it was ‘Kaadhal Siluvayil’. The emotional quotient in the melody was so high which is further enhanced by Shankar Mahadevan’s heartfelt singing. As I was listening and I was beginning to like, an amateur orchestration with oddly sounding trumpet piece in the second interlude was totally out of place, and I switched to the next track. But the montage for which this song plays as a background score made it the most endearing song of the soundtrack.

My problem with ‘Kangal Irandal’ was the singers. Instead of sounding fresh, they sounded little odd initially and again the strings in the second interlude reminded me of a Rahman’s piece and as the strings were played on keyboard it sounded too amateurish to my ears. It affected the smooth flow of the melody. But when I saw the visuals of the song in which the rhythm of the montage is exactly matched with the rhythm of the song, I started liking it more. And the then annoying strings in the second interlude beautifully fit the tension that builds as Samuthirakani walks suspiciously towards Sruthi when she is speaking with Jai and the soothing choir that ends this piece makes us feel as relieved as Jai and Sruthi after a brief romantic thrill.

‘Madurai kulunga’ sounded authentic and good when I heard first time, but it sounded more meaningful when I saw that so much happens within this song in the movie. Again, the sudden shifts to strings in the interlude fit to T for Jai’s ecstasy who finally finds his girl in the festival crowd.

Kudos to Sasikumar and James Vasanthan for making a befitting movie soundtrack in days when movie soundtracks hardly have music that is unique to a movie - any song composed (by any composer, sometimes) for any situation from any movie can be used for any other situation in any other movie.