Yaaradi Nee Moghini and Udit Narayan

When I heard the Telugu version of ‘Yaaradi Nee Moghini’, initially I thought it was simple and good but lacked the usual punch of Yuvan + Selva soundtrack. But after watching the movie, I started liking the songs more. Filled with pleasant melodies, minimal yet elegant orchestration and familiar rhythms, ‘Yaaradi Nee Moghini’ soundtrack is an easy winner.

Udit Narayan

Though I understand that one cannot stop composers from using non-Tamil singers for Tamil songs, I couldn’t stop complaining. In an interview, when Pepsi Uma asked Rahman about using Udit Narayan for the ‘Sahana’ song in Sivaji, Rahman told that the singer shouldn’t be blamed for it, as it is the director and the composer who have the final say about which singer to choose for a particular song. And Rahman justified his choice by saying that, Udit’s voice added an extra charm to the melody and brought in the right emotions to the song. True, the melody carries an emotion but what about the emotion that a lyricist brings in through his words, whose responsibility is it to maintain the purity of those emotions? Isn’t that a duty of a composer? If I were there in that interview, I would have asked Rahman to elaborate on his justification. I saw a subtle arrogance in Rahman’s statement in that interview. Don’t we have good enough singers who know Tamil and who could have brought in the same charm to the melody?

Like Rahman, Yuvan also continues to give some of very good melodies to Udit. He used him for the songs of “Aadavari Mattalukku Ardhaalu verulae” and is repeating the same in its Tamil version ‘Yaaradi Nee Moghini’. Just because the songs sung by non-Tamil singers become a hit, it doesn’t mean that people are accepting and enjoying it. We only have learned to tolerate it.

It is okay if they use Udit for mindless kuthu songs in which nobody is going to care about what they are singing. But why for songs which is strong on melody with minimal orchestration, where it is just the vocal that has to carry the song throughout? The songs Udit has sung in ‘Yaaradi Nee Moghini’ are of this type and hence it is so annoying to listen.