1.15.2010

Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya Audio Release Function

Tamil film Audio release functions have become most boring events with loads of film personalities singing praises of popular faces of the cast and crew of the film – the audio of which is being released. “Kandasamy” audio release had Shriya shaking legs and “Aayirathil Oruvan” audio release had singers turning into actors who lip synced the songs on stage. The film makers were so sure about the dumbness of the audience that they made Vijay Yesudass lip sync the Telugu portions of a song, while what we could clearly hear Sri Krishna’s voice from the original song while Vijay was showing singing the lines. Then there is another type where the audio is released live on Sun Music or Isaiaruvi music channels where there would be a dumbest of the dumb anchor having conversations with cast and crew of the film. Long back, “Thiruttu Payalae” audio was released in Sun TV with director, composer and lyricist introducing each song followed by the video clips of the actual song. Then there are audio releases where music would be the last thing to be spoken about, example – Chandramukhi.

Amidst such release functions, it was heartening to watch an audio release function, where the spotlight is only on music and not on anything else, not even on the film. Probably it is because the composer is “Academy Award Winner” A.R.Rahman as Gautam Vasudev Menon welcomed him onstage. The singers performed unplugged versions of the songs that they originally sang in the film, with the Stephen Devassy accompanying them on an acoustic Piano. Singers did a brilliant job and it was a treat to watch. I wish that they release the unplugged versions of the songs in an audio CD.

I had goose bumps watching Alphonse sing “Aaromalae”. His performance got a thundering applause from the live audience. Karthik is one of the very few contemporary singers who sound as good in his live performances as that of the recording. Chinmayi, in her blog, always wondered why the singers are not being formally invited for audio release functions and now god has satisfied her by making her the only female singer in this group. To know how better a song would sound if Rahman doesn’t drown the voices in a sound machine - listen to Benny Dayal’s unplugged version of the song ‘Omana Penne’. Srinivas was effortless with ‘Hosanna’. The camaraderie of the singers, their synergy, coordination, harmony and the soul in their live singing made the songs sound better than it is in the CD. But why didn’t they perform ‘Mannippaya’ or did I miss it. Chinmayi could have easily filled in for Shreya Ghosal and Srinivas could have sung Rahman’s portions. Gautam Menon did a fine job as a no-nonsense anchor of the event. I want to see more such audio release functions. Not to mention that I like VTV music even more now.

Here is the video of the VTV audio release function. Vinnai Thandi Varuvaaya Music Review.

10 comments:

Shaneem said...

They performed mannipaya...as anticipated Chinmayi&Srinivas did it..

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Shaneem - Oh! I missed it.

Unknown said...

Mannipaya was performed by Chinmayi and Karthik (not Sreenivas). Suresh, probably you missed the portion after the News. 2 songs were performed after the news (Anbil Avan, I think, and Mannipaaya). The whole function was just awesome. After they performed all songs, they called celebrities like Kamal, ARR and Simbu on stage and they spoke a couple of lines each. Then the whole cast and crew was called on stage and that was the end.

Maverick said...

Audio launch video on Youtube - Link for Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HgdX2VKR7M

In the right side panel, expand More from arrahmanworld and you will find the links for the remaining 14 parts as well.

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Ramesh - Oh! yes I missed 'Mannippaaya' in between. They have nicely edited the footage from London and Chennai functions but there were so many commercial breaks in Kalaignar TV.

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Maverick - Thanks for the link.

Muthuvel said...

Must agree that the performance in live made the songs definitely more beautiful than they are in CD. Couldn't watch the entire function though. But whatever I saw, as you said its the perfect example of how an audio release function should really be held.

And regarding functions where music is the last word spoken 'Dasavatharam' comes to my mind. As much as the music ended up being bad, Himesh deserved to be there and the music deserved to be talked about because that was the one getting released that day. But none even cared until the film's heroine Asin in her speech mentioned "music romba nalla vandhurukku, Himesh Reshammiyya nnu Hindi Music director panni irukaaru" (am paraphrasing, but something to the effect). The rest of the time everyone behaved that the only purpose they ever had in their life is to sing hosannas on how great Kamal is, can understand at least if it a function related to the movie but on music release it just grated. Lastly Kamal gave some unconvincing reason that Himesh missed his flight.

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Muthuvel - Oh. Yes. Dasavatharam is another classic example. It also depends on how proud a film maker is about his film's music.

Arun said...

Enjoyed watching it. Srinivas was brilliant in his rendition of Hosanna - especially the 'Yen Idhayam...' part. He's got one of the cleanest voices in the industry. Wonder why Rahman doesn't use him more often.

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Arun - True. Rahman uses Srinivas in a different way, he has been working for quite sometime as the voice trainer to teach the songs to the singers who comes to sing Rahman's songs. In a way, he has a daily job with Rahman.