Anniyan Music Review. Review on Anniyan Songs

A Shankar movie always creates a lot of expectation. All his previous movies had great music. Thanks to A R Rahman and also for Shankar’s creativity in cinematography and choreography. After his successful odyssey with the maestro, now Shankar has opted for Harris Jeyaraj which many of us feel, a wrong decision by one of India’s best director. ‘Gentleman’, ‘Kaadalan’, ’Indian’, ‘Jeans’, ‘Mudhalvan’, ‘Boys’ - O, I feel sorry for Harris. It is going to be very hard for him to maintain the same quality and momentum that Rahman has given in Shankar’s earlier movies. I still remember Kaadalan Cassette sold nearly 5 lakhs copies in the first two days of its release.

So I will request all the readers not to compare (But comparison is inevitable) Harris’s work with the maestro’s. It will be too much on Harris and it will be inappropriate as Rahman is a better composer than Harris. I think everyone will agree on this. Now I will try to review the songs in this album ‘Anniyan’ and I will say to myself that I won’t compare it with Rahman’s work while reviewing.

Adangkaka (Singers: JassieGift-KK-ShreyaGoshal-Saindhavi)

Sorry. First word, in my review, itself is a negative word. Now everyone can guess as what I think about this song. Really a bad song. It resembles ‘Gopala Gopala’ song from Kaadalan (oops! Now I am comparing with ARR’s) in the initial part but looses it’s way after that. This song, unlike the Kaadalan song which had good voice from two legends - SPB and S Janaki, is sung by upcoming singers who need more training (KK, one of my favorite singer, has not been used properly by Harris).

IyengaaruVeetuAzhage (Singers: Hariharan-Harini)

This song begins with the famous ‘Pancha Ratna Keerthanai’ (PRK) sung by a set of singers. It brings a Thyagaraja Aradhana ambience. But these entire good thing last only for 90 seconds. After that the real song commences. I won’t say this song is bad song, but not a great song either. This song may become hit, if it has been picturized well. Lyrics and the tune could have been blended in a better manner.

KannumKannumNokia (Lesle-Andre-VasundraDas)

This song has been aimed at youths. But I doubt whether this kind of song will suit Vikram. To describe this song in one line, a techno peppy number with some catchy lyrics, which will suit some young 'boy-in-the-next-door' heroes, like Siddharth. We have to wait and see how people accept this song. Even this song is not that much catchy. Again all depends upon Shankar’s skill.

KathalYaanai (Singer: Nakul-Melwyn-G.V.Prakash)

Another western peppy number but with a better result. Again will this song suit Vikram?

This song has some inspiration from the famous Bee Gees number ‘Staying Alive’. Has the potential to become a hit song.

Kumari (Singers: ShankarMahadevan-Harini)

A Remix from 1940s superstar of Tamil film industry M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar’s film. Remixing or retuning a song from MGR’s or Sivaji’s film is completely different from MKT’s film. MGR’s or Sivaji’s songs have less carnatic music influence and a layman can enjoy their song, while MKT is a complete carnatic vocalist and his songs will have a strong carnatic influence. Also MKT’s songs are too obsolete to remix. Selection for remixing a song has gone wrong in this case. This song will test the patience of the audience in the cinema hall. A good time for the viewers to answer their nature’s call and to get some popcorn.

StrangerInBlack (Singers: SunithaSarathy-ChennaiChorale)

Sounds good and we have to wait for the film. Then only we can judge this instrumental.

After listening to the 6 tracks, I can surely tell that this album won’t create the same impact that was created by Shankar’s previous album. An average album from Harris Jeyaraj. But it becomes bad when you consider that the director of this album is Shankar, which will increase the expectation of the audience. Another question is whether these songs will suit Vikram? First time Harris has tried some thing new, but his effort is in vain. Now all depends upon Shankar’s skill to make this album hit. Information about cassette sales from all the leading music stores in Chennai is not at all encouraging.