விண்ணைத்தாண்டி வருவாயா - Music Review

Expectations were sky high (at least for me) since this is Rahman's first tamil album since Oscar and he teams up with Gautham for the first time. There was some pre-release talks and interviews from Rahman on his unconventional approach to songs on this album and you will realize what he was talking about after hearing the album.

Omana Pennae - Benny Dayal excels and once again came up with nice variations within a song that has some interesting and subtle musical notes like the nathaswaram in the background that comes and goes right through the song. Kalyani Menon's malayalam portion is mixed well in this heavy instrument dominated song.

Anbil Avan - Heavy use of synthesizers in this joyful number sung by Devan and Chinmayi definitely creates the happy mood. Chinmayi's intentional nassaly rendition with thick accent to sound western gels well with Devan's voice. The highlight of the song is the intelligent use of "Anantham Anantham.." instrumentals in the middle to go with the mood of the song.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya - This song is unconventional and the use of electric guitars and keyboards make this song sound like an unplugged jazz. The music is quite loud in some places but Karthik's soulful singing with lots of expression is brilliant.

Hosanna - This is my favorite song of the album. Tune is so fresh and Vijay Prakash's voice blends very well with the orchestration that flows like a beautiful stream and Thamarai's lyrics is probably the best of the album. This song is one of those that you will remember and hum after hearing just once. A masterpiece that will become an instant hit with everyone.

Kannukul Kannai - This song starts of with a beautiful violin bit followed by Naresh Iyer 's beautiful voice. There are quite a few intelligent violin interludes right through this westernized song that has shades of Maramkothiye.

Mannipaaya - A melody rendered by Shreya Goshal and Rahman is very good to hear. The Thirukkural in christian style chorus is intelligent. Different styles and types of மன்னிப்பாயா sung by both singers gives you the real feel and mood of the song. This song brings காதல் ஒன்றல்லவா from Taj Anthem to my mind.

Aaromale - This is my another favorite from the album. This song starts slowly with a country style guitar music and hits you at full steam soon. The singer has typical mallu voice and accent and this song is a good fusion of western and south asian music and it is a very new style of song for Tamil films.

No set pallavi, charanam pattern for any of the songs, some interesting western/south asian and Tamil/Malayalam fusion, intelligent use of Thirukkural, marriage songs, nadhaswaram, guitar etc, this album has so many new and good things. It was a long wait to get a Rahman album in Tamil since Sakkarakatti, but it was worth a wait. Hope Gautham Menon does not disappoint with the movie.

and the Oscar goes to...

Congragulations to A R Rahman, Resul Pookutty, Gulzar for winning awards for their performance in the film Slumdog Millionnaire. Great moment for every Indian.

P.S: For the first time in life, I got to the recorded Oprah show in DVR right after I came back from work. A R Rahman (pronounced as Reeman before the song by Oprah) performed the magical "Jai Ho" again at Kodak Theater and gave the meaning for the term after the show at which point Oprah corrected herself and pronounced the name almost correctly.

Sakkarakatti - Music Review

When I saw the promo pictures of the movie, it looked really fresh and youthful. My expectations on the music was very high since this is the first time after "Boys", Rahman is composing for a "much hyped" movie that has a lot of newcomers.

I Miss You is a very different number sung by Chinmayi. She had shown another variation in her voice and I guess ARR likes experimenting with her voice (Like Tere Bina in GURU and Sahana in SIVAJI). The song has some interesting lyrics by Na.Muthukumar that will create fever among youth.

Marudhaani is a very sofy melody that has shades of Sahana Saaral but you will definitely get awed the first time you hear the song. Madhushree has come a long way in terms of tamil pronunciation. Her accent is much better and ARR's interlude in the middle of the song is brilliant. Vaali continues to amaze everyone with his youthful poetry in this song.

Chinnamma is tamil version of ARR's similar song from MEENAXI. This song has a good mix of chorus blended with Benny Dayal's voice that touches some height. The flute notes is reminiscent of old songs, but overall the song has a very good feel.

Taxi Taxi is a typical fast youth number with lots of energy. This song has generous sprinkle of rap & thanglish from Blaaze and Benny once again shows his talent with some bold voice. This will surely be a popular hit in college circles.

Naan Eppodhu is another tamil version of hindi song from MEENAXI and this one is sung by Reena Bharadwaj who also sang the original hindi version. The song sounds very "north indian" due to the heavy use of dholak drum. The lyrics by Pa. Vijay is brilliant and the singer has beautiful voice but she perfectly fills the void that Madhushree has left in terms of awful Tamil accent.

Elay Neram by Krish and Naresh Iyer is very soothing and the highlight of the song is the wonderful orchestration. This song reminds a lot of Roobaroo from RANG DE BASANTI since it has the same youthful chorus and very serene flow. Na. Muthukumar is very impressive with lines like "காற்றின் மூஞ்சியில் கரி பூசவேண்டாம்" and "டௌரி மாப்பிள்ளைக்கு காதல் சொல்லி தருவோம்"

Overall, ARR did not disappoint by delivering a fresh breath of highly energetic youthful music.

Jodhaa Akbar - Movie Review

Ashutosh Gowarikar's "Jodhaa Akbar" is a well made movie by a technician, with very strong star cast and ably assisted by some excellent music.


Hrithik is brilliant and his on screen chemistry with Aishwarya is very good. His composed yet powerful performance shows his maturity as an actor. Aishwarya is good and she gives the feeling that seems to know what she is doing. There is a whole gang of other stars in the movie that support the main cast well.

Khwaja mere Khwaja and Shehensha songs are not only good but were picturized quite brilliantly. The directors attention to details, from sets to costume, lights and colors etc is commendable in this very long three and a half hour movie.

My problem is not so much so about the movie itself but about the history behind this historical movie. The director himself admits that the movie itself is only 30% original, our censor board only cares about explicit obscene and not willing to scissor any fact that is distorted. The fact is Akbar is an emperor who had at least seven wives and the whole Jodhaa marriage is nothing but a transaction to strenghten political tie. Just google AKBAR and you will have truck full of actual facts and not just someone's imagination or interpretation.

I don't believe in "history is open for everyone's own interpretation". Imagine making Lagaan with "Vaanjinathan" or "Bhagat Singh" as hero who played cricket match against British to get independence. Are we ready to talk rubbish or create stories about our own grand father or great grand father?

Our film makers have a social responsibility when they are delivering something historical. Any message that is delivered is as sensitive as "no smoking" or "anti corruption" campaign. Jodhaa Akbar is an imaginary love story delivered using Akbar as marketing catalyst.

Pictures Courtesy: www.jodhaaakbar.com

ARR's Jodhaa Akbar

Jodhaa Akbar - A R Rahman's musical has been released and there are 5 songs and 2 additional instrumentals. With most of the ARR music, your initial reaction will be that the album had good music but there's just one or two catchy numbers. IMHO, this one falls in that category too. You will instantly hum "Khwaja Mere Khwaja", very catchy number, as soon as you hear first time. This one is sung by ARR. The voice mixing in this song is breath-taking. "Is Lamhon" sung by Sonu Nigam & Madhushree is another catchy number. There are other 2 solo songs by Javed Ali and Bela Shende (both the singers not so familiar to me) which will take 2-3 times listenings to get additional details. "Shehansha" song is a fast number and a good one too.

ARR has done so many periodical/historical before, so his effort in giving something new and in the process also maintaining the feel and mood of the century that this film was set is commendable. There is only so much you can do as a musician when it comes to historical, so it will be interesting to see how the songs are picturized.

*****

Pictures Courtesy: http://www.jodhaaakbar.com/

Sivaji - The Boss (Review)

Almost all of the websites has almost posted the entire Sivajistory in the name of review. My 2 cents:

Spectacular is what you fell when you watch the movie. There was no slack moment in the entire movie (barring a lengthy car fight at drive-in in the second half) that runs a little over 3 hours. Super Star is outstanding (especially in the second half) and some of the different styles, costumes and comedy that he has tried in this movie is commendable.

The songs in the movie - combination of extraordinary sets, camera work, music and picturization - is truly amazing. It is difficult to rank a #1 song for the movie, but personally "Oru Koodai Sunlight" was really a surprise number for the way it was picturized.
Sujata's punchy and witty dialogues is excellent and Vivek, who delivers most of them, is almost second hero in the movie. Suman, the villian, is very impressive and plays his part with real ease. Shriya is like a doll who looks great in songs but has little scope for acting.

Shankar has tried his level best to come up with a mega entertainer and I personally think he has come up with a winner. The effort and hardwork that has gone in to this project really shows up in every frame.

Verdict: This is a total Shankar movie acted by Rajini and you have to give credit to both of them for their courage to comeout with a movie with no inhibitions.