Paruthiveeran Soundtrack

I think a lot of village based Tamil films are going to get released in near future. After Veyyil and Sivapathigaram, here is “Paruthiveeran” which is also a village based movie. Paruthiveeran set in a village of Madurai has got a soundtrack that would be apt for the movie than stand alone audio. There are totally 6 songs in which three of them are Yuvan’s kind of folk melodies and the other three folk songs are very authentic to the place in which the movie is set in. It is pretty clear that though it is a village based movie, Yuvan has tried hard to bring a new sound in the first three songs, be it in the minimal orchestration or the catchy tune or song structure or the choice of rhythm and percussions and the use of synth, Yuvan has done a commendable job in bringing native flavour and also giving it a new colour.

Yuvan should be lauded for the choice of singers. Illayaraja is just apt for “Ariyatha Vayasu” and he sounds very enthusiastic whenever he sings for Yuvan. Krishnaraj who sung some of the hits of Deva in the late 90’s is back in “Ayyayyo”. He is always good in folk songs be it “Thanjavooru Manneduthu” or “Eechi Elumuchi (the only song he sung for A.R.Rahman), he has been doing a great job but somehow didn’t get the recognition he deserved. Madhumitha started her singing career with Yuvan’s “Kalli Adi kalli’ from Nanda. She is one of the rare talents who are under utilized in Tamil film music. She could easily have done justice to any Tamil song that Shreya Ghosal has sung so far. Listen to her sweet voice in “Sa ri ga ma”.

In 80’s, when Illayaraja was composing for village based movies, no movie director cared for the authenticity in the sound of the music, they just wanted a hit song and that is why Illayaraja was able to do folk songs that is both authentic and catchy. But now directors prefer the raw sound of the folk songs and they want it as it is. Even Illayaraja did a song like this in “Devadai” and more recently in “Virumandi”. I don’t think he did this kind of folk songs in 80’s. You can also see other directors using such raw folk songs in “Veyyil” and “Sivapathigaram”. So we can’t blame composers for this, infact I don’t consider these songs as their own compositions. Actually, these songs are really catchy, just their format and the sound stops it from reaching a wider audience. But what a composer can do, with all these restrictions is that he can bring new melodies and new rhythms for such songs and that would bring some difference otherwise often heard folk songs like how IR did in so many songs, one which comes to my mind immediately is “Oththa Rooba Tharaen”.

Guru Soundtrack

Those who have come here to search for a review on Guru soundtrack, you guys can actually listen to my opinion on Guru soundtrack here.

Chennai Kadhal Soundtrack

Vikraman for the second time comes out of his in-house composers like S.A.Rajkumar and Sirpi but not wholeheartedly. His first break-up happened when Rahman scored for Puthiya Mannargal. Though it was not Rahman’s best, it had one of my all time favourite preludes in a Rahman song in “Eduda Antha Sooriya Melam”. Other than that Vikraman made even Rahman to compose tunes in S.A.Rajkumar way. “Chennai Kadhal” also falls in the same category; the combination with Joshua Sridhar just doesn’t work. This could be Joshua’s first bad soundtrack.

Vikraman seems to have interfered a lot in Joshua’s work. Almost all the songs have forgettable tunes. Earlier in Kadhal, Uyir and Aran, I didn’t complain about his composition sounding very Rahmanish, because it sounded very good but in this album, it goes to unbearable limits especially in the song “Silu Silukkum” which is a poor imitation of Rahman’s “Eguri Kudhithaen” from Boys. I thought may be just the first two lines sounds the same, but when I heard the two interludes, I thought Joshua disappointed big time in this song.

I think Vikraman asked S.A.Rajkumar to compose tune for the song “Thimirae” and asked Joshua to setup modern arrangements for the tune. It is that bad. It is high time, Joshua stops writing theme music for every other movie, the way he uses the title ‘Chennai Kadhal’ in the theme tune with techno-sounds and beats in the background is as bad as it can get. “Enjoy Ithu Irubathu” is a typical hero introduction song with insane Tanglish lyrics also it has Blaaze’s rap. “Salladai Salladai” and “Rendamjaamam” are typical Vikraman style of folks songs and has nothing much to offer, you can easily press the skip button for these two songs, you won’t miss anything. Rhythm and tune of “Angel angel Kannil pattadhu” sounds very much like “Chumma Chumma” song from Charlie Chaplin movie.

On the whole, it is a soundtrack you can stay away from.

Guru Fever Catches up

So, finally Sony BMG has launched the Guru album without actually releasing the audio. This is a strange trend that is catching up but sure enough to create more hype and expectations. They is no information about the release date of the actual audio uet. But the event spill little beans about the movie and the music. Catch the spilled beans here and here. From what A.R.Rahman says, Gujarati-turkish, north indian, symphonic opera stuffs to expect in the album, it sure must be an unique soundtrack like that of Iruvar. And here is the track details of the album

1. Barso Re – Shreya Ghoshal & Uday Mazumdar

It is good to see Shreya again in ARR's composition as ARR don't chooses her often and from the 15 secs clip of the song here, it sure sounds like a good song with catchy beats which mayl go down well with the masses.

2. Tere Bina – AR Rahman, Chinmayee, Additional Voices – Murtaza, Qadir

It is great to see Chinmayee in the credits. I hope this time she has got something more to do in this song than she did in Mangal Pandey. And one can never guess the kind of track from Murtaza and Qadir in the credits, because these duo sang in 'Theekuruvi' also which has nothing to do with hindustani alaaps.

3. Ek Lo Ek Muft – Bappi Lahiri, Chitra Additional Voices – Tanvi, Saloni,
Boney, Jaidev

After Rang De Basanti, ARR uses Chitra again for a title track of the movie. This time too in an odd combination with Bappi Lahiri.

4. Baazi Laga – Udit Narayan, Madhushree, Swetha, Bhargavee Additional
Programming – Pravin
Mani

Pravin Mani and Ranjit Barot are back with A.R.Rahman.

5. Mayya – Maryem Toller, Chinmayee, Keerthi Programming & Additional
Arrangements Ranjit
Barot

Here is the song sung by the Toronto based singer and I think this is the song which ARR hums in the video clip. Humming sounds catchy on the very first especially the way he ended is too good.

6. Ey Hairathe – Hariharan, Alka Yagnik Additional Voices – AR Rahman, Aslam
Mohammed

Even Hariharan has not sung many song for ARR in the recent past and here he is again and we have Alka Yagnik, a regular in ARR's albums.

7. Jaage Hain – Chitra , AR Rahman and Madras Choral Group

So this is the song about which he said Symphonic opera stuff. Let us see.

2006 started with a bang for A.R.Rahman with the release of Rang De Basanti (which was the most successful album of ARR in recent past) and i hope it ends in the same way with Guru.

Can't wait for the audio.

Iruvar Background Score

Here is a detailed write-up on background score of Iruvar by A.R.Rahman, that I wrote for forumhub magazine. The write-up also includes high quality audio samples. It is one of my favourite scores.

Hello World

As I said in my previous post, Finally I have started an audio blog and posted one of my compositions in it. Hello World is the title of the track. It runs for just 100 seconds. Do listen to the track here and let me know your opinion.

Blogswara - Ver.2

Blogswara, a unique attempt on blogosphere, has just released the Version 2 of it. I really liked the first album and was eagerly waiting for the next release. Considering the constraints, the quality achieved in each of the songs is admirable. This opinion of mine on the songs may be harsh at times but I hope the people involved in creating the music will take it in the right sense. By this time they would have got bored of all accolades and praises and what they really want is an honest and real feedback with a neutral view, which will help them to improve further. Having tried composing music myself (composed just one piece of 2 minutes length so far which I will post sometime soon in my blog), I know how difficult it is to write even a few seconds of music.

Mallu flavour is not just in the language but also in the sweet vocals of Preethy and the tune of “Ente Manasilum”. I liked the way the Keralite beats are mixed with Nadhaswaram like instrument. It gives a unique sound. The rhythm and the strings passage in the background are good.

“Hey Mera Dil” is my pick of the album. Beauty is simplicity and this song proves it again. The song starts beautifully with two violins one of higher and the other on lower octave playing the same tune. It is very unique to hear a Hindi song with a carnatic based tune on Violin in the start. The chords on piano all through the song punctuate the vocals with right emotions. The song devoid of any rhythm backing and simple orchestration just elevates the romantic feel of the song. Kudos to Pradip and Swathi for their expressive rendition of the song.

“Hai Junoon” could well be a Himesh’s next hit number. It sounds very Bollywoodish with thumping beats, synth sounds, guitar riffs and rough and tough singing. Nice layering and arrangements all through the song.

“Melle Melle” song instantly reminded me “Enna Idhu Enna Idhu” song composed by Bharadwaj for the movie Rojavanam. The tune almost has the same feel. But if you forget the sounds-like feel it is very enjoyable track with a semi classical tune layered with modern beats. The knocking song that is repeated through out the song is just perfect for the lyrics and is perfectly in synch with the rhythm of the song. The “Vazhvu Selikka” Jo gives yet another impressive performance and so is Vidyu.

“Ooyaladunni” has got an Enigma kind of starting but soon becomes familiar, too slow, repetitive and boring. Basically, I think it is the mixing where the song misses its flavour, especially the voice which carries the main tune is too low. The rhythm is different for such a slow melody. This song could be an example for how the beauty of the song can be hampered by poor mixing especially there is too much usage of wind chimes sound which is too loud too.

“Thoduvanam” is a song where the music doesn’t reflect what lyrics intended to say. Actually I liked the tune in the starting of the song. The lyrics are good but for a song with optimism as theme, frequent change in rhythm patterns doesn’t really work. "Ennachu" song is good. I liked the charanam better than the pallavi and especially the bass lines are very good in the charanam.

Anyway, here is saluting Blogswara for their unique effort. I wish they come up with more classic stuff in future offerings.

Villager, Visionary, Winner

Finally, the most awaited promo of the year has come out. From the promo of 'Guru', it seems the movie has a serious Iruvar hang over. May be because of lot of stages, speeches, mikes, period look and crowd noises. The background score of the teaser travels with the feel of the visuals starting with a rustic rhythms to a grand heroic theme. It doesn't say when the audio is going to be released though it says the movie will out in December which means the audio may hit the market anytime this month. Take a look at the trailer here

Kaaka Kaaka and Gautam Menon

I got a chance to watch the overseas DVD version of Kaaka Kaaka which has commentary of Gautam Menon. Though I have seen lot of English movies with the commentaries of directors, it was a new experience to watch a Tamil movie like that and I really enjoyed it. As far as I know no other Indian director has done that before. In a recent interview on some 24X7 news channel, while asked about Tamil cinema, Gautam Menon replied, “Go International” and though that doesn’t show up in the quality of the content in his movies, it shows up in something else like such DVD releases which go Hollywood way.

My immediate thought after watching the DVD was that the commentary could have been in Tamil. Not that Gautam’s English was bad but just to avoid the odd factor in watching a Tamil movie with an English commentary. Mostly he was praising one of the cast or crew for every other scene and talked about the technicalities involved in each scene especially he praised Editor Antony a lot. He said a lot about how he shot exactly the way he had written the scenes in paper.

If you want to know why such a horrible character called Pandiya (Jeevan) was conceived, you can watch this DVD. All the explanations he gives in Pandia’s scenes about how he wanted the character to be and what was the intention of having each scene involving him clearly tell us what went wrong in Gautam’s script. Thank God, Gautam took out the love angle between Maya and Pandiya; it would have made things even worse. I should laud Gautam for being very frank and honest at some places when he says about how badly he executed some of the scenes, for example the Maya love proposing scene. Of course, there is an alternate climax and the reasons for choosing the one that is there now.

Though, I don’t think it was a great movie, I liked the sweet love story between Maya and Anbu Selvan, and it is one of those rare movies where we love the lovers and their love. From his commentary, it was evident that Gautam has put in a lot of effort in making this movie and I really like his intentions to go international and it would be better if his real intentions get converted into reality well with a good script. For now eagerly waiting for the release of “Pachaikili Muthucharam” which Gautam said is a bound script initially written for Kamal Haasan.

Sivapathigaram Music

Vidhyasagar was out of music scene for sometime in this year and made a strong come back with surprising all melody soundtrack for Thambi. And now he is at it again with “Sivapathigaram”. Karu Palaniappan and Vidhyasagar combo is the next in the long queue of Tamil movie and music directors’ combo which triumphs with every other soundtrack. I would like to call this a good soundtrack than a good music album.

Parthiban Kanavu had one of my favourite folk songs “Vadi Machiniyae”. The same combo comes up with authentic folk numbers in this soundtrack. The traditional rhythms, melody, Urumi melam, strings, flute, the vocals, lyrics are all so earthy and rustic which we heard only in Illayaraja’s folk numbers before. Good melodies come so easily to Vidhyasagar and so are the folk numbers. By saying folk numbers, I didn’t mean the dappanguthu numbers; it is literally traditional folk numbers. After a long time it was Vidhyasagar who came up with an authentic folk number “Putham Pudhu Pattu Vandha Thandavakonae”. In my opinion, it is one of the master pieces of his in the lines of “Malarae Mounamaa”. Everything fell in place in that song. Similarly, there is a song in this album which instantly made me go crazy. Interesting lyrics and catchy beats makes “Mannarkudi” song instantly likeable. In the second interlude when the percussions lead us to the Shehnai theme bit, it just pushes up our energy level. Equally good are the other situational folk numbers which brings the shots from some Bharathiraja’s movies to our mind.

One more USP of the album is the choice of the singers. He has used some real folk singers which add to the authenticity of the song. Besides, in the romantic melodies, we have got Swarnalatha and Sujatha two rare talents whom almost every other composer has forgot. Though Swarnalatha struggles at higher ranges, she has a magnetic voice and her expressions are too good in “Chithirayil” song. Sujatha in lower ranges is equally great in “Attrai Thingal”. No need to mention about the beautiful orchestration and haunting melodies in both the duets. Sainthavi is one new talent who has got great potential to make it big. I think it is again Vidhyasagar who uses her regularly. Listen for her voice in “Poranthiruchu Kaalam”. T.K.Kala, a regular in Rahman's folk numbers is here again leaving quite an impression in a folk song.

There are two other songs which add to the variety in the sound track. “Kalloori” though sounds pretty ordinary, has got nice melodic lines in between. Vidhyasagar has been often trying to do something in the symphony format (tried to some extent in Chandramukhhi background score) but his symphonic style of orchestration is meaningful, brilliant and befitting for the Bharathidasan song “Kolaivaalai Edada”.

The lyrics by Pa.Vijay and Yugabharathy for this movie prove that there is no point in blaming the lyricists for the insanity of the lyrics in Tamil songs. On the whole, this album with its variety and earthy sounds must be an appropriate soundtrack for the movie.