Ayutha Ezhuthu

This is a much-awaited album. Mani Ratnam and ARR together have given some of the best musical hits in the Tamil industry and this album carries with it those expectations. The movie itself is being made simultaneously in Hindi (Yuva) and Tamil.

First of all, Mani Ratnam has been quoted as saying that he originally intended to have no songs at all in this movie. But ARR came up with a great BGM that they decided to include as a song. Somehow, the other songs too followed.

Ok. down to the album. My opinions first. This is one of the best work of Rahman in recent times. I think this album shows why he is some levels above Harris Jayaraj and the rest of the industry. I love atleast four of the songs a lot. And I don’t think these are anything like fleeting songs - if your idea of a lasting song is a slow melody with almost zero instruments and great lyrics, think again - there are a lot of people who just love good instrumentation.

Ok. Most of my opinions done with. Now it’s time for the actual songs. In the order I (after all, this is my review) like them. ’’I like all of them’’ goes without saying. What follows is the details.

1. Fanaa : Rahman, Sunitha
This is almost a whole song out of just good (Western) instrumental music. Lyrics are at a bare minimum. The beat is almost classic western trance (atleast in the beginning). But the way everything gels is awesome. The first few times you listen to the song, you can’t place the beginning, the middle, it just sounds like a lot of music. But on hearing, things settle and you begin to appreciate the music.

The reason this song is so great is that Rahman effectively shows his talent at layering multiple instruments so well (which is what this title is about). In the end, the tune is really fundamentally simple. But the instruments and the chant ’Fanaa’ and the way Rahman puts in his ’Anbe’ just after the chant of ’Yakkai Thiri’ makes it too great. Vairamuthu adds some mystic-sounding lyrics including words like ’Adwaitham’ to add to the effect.

On second thoughts, maybe this whole review should come with a standard disclaimer. If you are looking for songs of the usual melody-romantic type, this album is not for you.

2. Hey Goodbye Nanbha : Shankar Mahadevan, Sunitha :

This song keeps swapping between the almost-tantalisingly-slow female lines and the rocky catchy (digitally modulated) voice of Shankar Mahadevan screaming ’Nee Yaaaroooo’. Great. The basic idea is that the female hums a slow tune and at the end, Shankar launches into a highly infectiously catchy ’Neee Yaaroooo .. ’ and all the beats and drums begin (not to mention a host of electronic synthesisers?).

The highlight of this song (apart from the fact that it is absolutely catchy, especially when listened to at high volumes) is the interplay between the male and the female voices in the first interlude. If you are not doing something else while listening to this song and if you just allow yourself to follow these two voices till they reach the crescendo, you can achieve some kind of a musical high.

Again, the charanam (is that what they call the middle of the song?) is a small one. Suits me - I want to hear Shankar Mahadevan (scream) as much as possible. In the whole album, Rahman gives the feel that he wants to do minimal singing and as much music as possible. Which, if you ask me, is his real strength.

3. Jana Gana Mana : Rahman, Karthik(?)
This is classic Rahman. A bit like Dil Se Re in Dil Se. The beat sounds great and in most places, the guitar adds greatly to the effect. The whole song has a kind of tense terse feeling all along (except in the middle). I never really understand how Rahman manages to come up with such truly complicated beats all the time. The song feels like some patriotic exhortation.

This is closer to a traditional song. But the layering continues to be Next-Generation. Rahman’s vocals sound great, mainly because we have never heard enough of him. The ’O Yuva Yuva O Yuva’ refrain is catchy. Another must-like.

4. Nenjam Ellam: Adnan Sami(!), Sujatha

Adnan Sami is not really the right choice for this song. If you don’t agree, just listen to the first charanam and the second charanam and I leave it to you to figure out how infinitely better (and sweeter) Sujatha sounds.

But the song is still good. I get the feeling of an Ilayaraja melody (with alternate lines switching between the male and female singers) layered over an innovatively synthesized beat (sounds like hip-hop). The guitar does a good supporting job.

5. Dol Dol : Shaheen

This isn’t really a song at all. It’s a proper instrumental piece. The only thing I don’t understand is why it is as long as it is. The beat (and its accompanying refrain) is good and the fusion of the female singer’s voice and the shehnai-like instrument (I’m sure it’s synthesized) is something that strikes you immediately. But there’s not much to keep you hooked for 4 minutes or so. And that’s why it’s down here.

6. Sanda Kozhi : Madhusree

This is a ’’normal’’ song. The beats are kind of folk. The song has a lot of melody. Overall, it is a good piece to listen to but it doesn’t have anything catchy. I suspect that it’ll improve on repeated listening.

OK. This is the end of the review, I guess. Oh! I forgot! One is supposed to be sum up. Ok, first of all, I’ll admit something. This review sounds like that of a hardcore ARR fan or something. But I am not. I wasn’t that major a fan of some of his latest releases and I was really trying to figure out what made him the craze he was (with Roja and all). And I decided it was his ability to use instruments well - especially to layer them over and over to create really good-sounding songs out of simple tunes. But then, almost every music director now has picked up on to that. In fact, Harris Jayaraj does it routinely.

But this album showed me some kind of an answer. It is his ability to innovate. Most people do like traditional melody songs but after some time, there is really a limit. Rahman has delivered by creating a different kind of a music most of the time (he has had his share of conventional albums). This is a totally Western-sounding album with more music than lyrics and it sounds very fresh. I mean, come on, there’s only this many ways you can do a duet. And if Rahman can sound new after so many films by using a rock-kind of format (Hey Goodbye Nanbha) and by digitally modulating the voices, why not? Way to go, in my opinion.

Best time to play this is when:

Hanging out with friends