Music unplugged - Gem. Review on Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya Album

One of the most highly anticipated album in Tamil in recent times, 'Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya' has been composed by the Oscar winning composer, AR Rahman and is directed by Gautham Menon. Here is the audio review

1. Omana Penne - Rocking start ever to an album! Benny Dayal is slowly fine tuning himself into one helluva singer. Rahman gives him the best platform to showcase his skills. The lyrics are a beast(Thamarai has done a wonderful job). "Oru Paarvai Siru Paarvai Udhirthal Udhirthal." - WOW! The beats in the song are just so international class and Kalyani Menon gives a perfect touch in the middle of the song with some Malayalam tinged lines. The more you listen to it, the more you want to live with it. Omana Penne might get Rahman that Filmfare award again for this year, just like "Munbe Vaa" from SOK got him the award.

Rating: 5/5

1. Anbil Avan - Marriage song! A new dimension of Chinmayi. She is very well known for melody and soulful numbers but here she goes full throttle on a peppy song. Well backed by Devan Ekambaram(the selection of singers in this album is spotless). The christian marriage style music is incorporated here and also the nadashwaram bit is top class. Even the peppy numbers have a certain Rahman class associated to it and that differentiates it from the rest. With the picturisation, this song should hit great levels

Rating: 4/5

1. Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya - Unusual song! Hard to decipher a certain flow to it. Karthik handles a very complex song beautifully. Still this song takes the most amount of time to register an impact in you. The pitch goes up and down, and takes a completely different route at a few places. Completely situation dependent.

Rating: 3.5/5

1. Hosanaa - "EN ITHAYAM, UDAITHAL NORUNGAVE". Enna lyrics da. Blaaze's rap is magnificient. I am big fan of Blaaze and he is a rocker with Rahman. The leaked version didnt have the bells and whistles(the layers and the background instruments) and so hearing this full version is much better and more enhanced. A fun filled romantic song that should be so popular even before the film's release. This song will be the highlight before the film comes to the screen. Blockbuster written all over!

Rating 5/5 Jan 11(3 days ago)

1. Kannukkul Kannai - The violin piece that starts off the song is highly attractive. Naresh Iyer is one of the great Rahman finds and here he gets a peppy song unlike other Rahman soundtracks where he invariably gets a soft melody track. This track is highly addictive once you get a hang of it. It becomes monotonous to praise Rahman for his arrangement of the songs, but he IS JUST THE BEST!

Rating: 4.5/5

1. Manippaya - HIGHLIGHT SONG! Full on emotional, what a start! Shreya Goshal gets probably one of her best songs in her career which has been very good. She outdoes her work in "Munbe Vaa" which it not an easy thing to do because Munbe Vaa won so much accolades(awards for her and Rahman). This time, Rahman joins her and thats where it becomes even more powerful. Rahman is a highly under rated singer in the music world. He can compete with the best of singers like SPB, Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan and give them a great fight. Invariably he selects the most complex songs for himself and aces them through without much effort. The flute piece, a trademark of Rahman, adds nostalgia to a great piece of a song. Hard to rate this song, but this song will be celebrated for a long time to come.

Rating: Above 5 and over.

1. Aaromale - Another truly special song. Alphonse's introduction to tamil cinema is something like the grand mass intro that some of our superstar actors get in their films(e.g. Rajni in Muthu, Kamal in Thenali, Vijay in Pokiri, Ajith in Dheena, etc). A very different attempt by Rahman, he gives a great song and completely utilizes the talent in the singer which is awesome. It makes you want to listen more of the singer. The chorus chant "Srusthi Srusthi sumuhurtham." elevates the tempo. Highly critical that Gautham handles this song well in the picturisation stage because anything average will completely dilute the impact

Rating: 5/5 Jan 11(3 days ago)

OVERALL: Super duper star for ARR-Gautham Menon. On first listen, the songs didnt register an impact because of humongous expectations. But every song is a "slow poison"(except for maybe Hosanaa) and if it was the real poison, you will die of it very soon(LOL!). The poison completely infects your system and makes you dance to its tunes. A good director certainly brings out the best in Rahman, and I want to see more of Gautham with our Boss!