Modhi Vilayadu, Angaadi Theru, Azhagar Malai, Vaamanan

I have been listening to a lot of music in last one week - “Modhi vilayadu”, “Azhagar Malai”, “Angaadi Theru”, “Vaamanan”, “Pokkisham” and after watching the movie a lot of “Pasanga” again.

Azhaghar Malai is a standard Raaja soundtrack with his vintage elements - simple melodies, elegant orchestration and less of synth is a bonus. There is nothing here that you haven’t heard before and nothing that you don’t want to hear again. What I particularly was contemplating while listening to this soundtrack is on Raaja’s use of Bhavatharini’s voice. "Unnai Enakku” is definitely one of those songs in which Bhavatharini’s voice sounds honey sweet, exquisite and everything in her singing is so right.

I always felt about Bhavatharini as a reluctant singer and to some extent she still is. If not for Raaja’s family, she would have never made it into film music and it is so evident from the fact that she has sung only one song outside that is “Thudikindra kaadhal” in ‘Nerukku Ner’ for Deva. Even Gangai Amaran commented that she doesn’t practice enough and about how much Raaja’s family struggles to make her sing. We ourselves saw how much she was struggling while recording a song for ‘Mayilu’. But, she really has come a long way from her ‘Mastaana Mastaana’ days.

“Mayil Pola” from Bharathi, “Ninaithadhum varuvaal” from Amma Paamalai, “Manase Manasae” from Kaathal Jaathi, “Pooveru konum” from Thirvasagam, “Ithu Sangeetha thirunaalo” from Kaadhalukku Mariyaathai and above all “Alai meedhu vilayadum” from Kaadhal Kavithai are my favourite Raaja-Bhavatharini songs.

Given the fact that the music of “Veyil” was such a big hit, I am really surprised why there are two composers G.V.Prakash and Vijay Antony for Vasantha Balan’s “Angaadi Theru”. I am sure G.V.Prakash is not overloaded and if it is a rift between the composer and the director due to so called creative differences, I feel it is too early for G.V.Prakash to get into any of that. But anyway, what is important is that the soundtrack as a whole is interesting with Vijay Antony and G.V.Prakash each contributing one great melody to the soundtrack.

“Aval Appadi ondrum” by Vijay Antony is such a simple melody with restrained orchestration that you start liking the moment you listen to it. “Un Peria sollum” by G.V.prakash is equally beautiful romantic melody that has a lingering longing feel that catches on instantly to a listener and stays on listeners mind long after listening to the song. Vijay Antony’s other song “Yenge Povenao” starts with a lot of promise but ends up predictable and to an extent boring. M.K.Balaji who has participated in most of talent hunt shows in all TV channels has finally got his break in film music. But if a composer is truly impressed by a singer and wants to introduce him then why use him a song that has two male voices which makes it difficult for the listener to distinguish the voices.

“Kadhaigalai pesum” instantly reminded me “Mundhinam paarthaenae” from Vaaranam Aayiram for the reason that here is a song that could sound belonging to a particular era of film music without someone telling the listener that it is made to sound like that. With high quality sound design, clever layering of sounds and instrumentations, the melody of the song walks elegantly on the thin line between old and contemporary sound.

“Modhi Vilayadu” is the soundtrack that I have been listening the most to. To enjoy this soundtrack, first thing one must understand is that, in film music we cannot expect Hariharan to do a ‘Waqt par bolna’. It is music for a Saran film which obviously is going to be a masala entertainer and what we should look forward to is the amount of freshness they bring to same collection of songs that one gets to listen in such movies.

Colonial cousins (Hariharan and Leslie Lewis) have succeeded with flying colours in bringing a fresh and youthful energy to otherwise routine romantic songs (and of course with great help from Vairamuthu). The genuine melody that prevails in each and every song irrespective of its genre and pace, the unique blend of various genres of music, orchestration, layering all make this soundtrack a big winner. A must buy. But contrary to what I thought, Saran hasn’t split up with Bharadwaj; they are again coming together for Saran next movie “Asal” starring Ajith.

I can’t stop humming the lines “Yennai yenna seithai pennae, neram kaalam maranthanae” in ‘Oru Devathai’ song from “Vaamanan”. The emotional depth of the melody in those lines proves what Yuvan Shankar Raja is really capable of.