Sunday, June 09, 2013

A true Musical

(An article I wrote in 2010 - picked it out from Mouthshut.com)
These days you have a lot of movies being promoted as "a musical". They don’t understand what a "musical" actually is. Though VTV doesn’t claim itself to be a "musical", I guess it gets very close to being one.
Each song tells a story. Listen to the songs after watching the movie and you will remember every frame. This indeed is a rarity. Though poetic, the lyrics are not pompous.

And ARR, what can I say? After watching VTV, I am actually glad that our movies in India have so many songs. Or else how would get to listen to such compositions?

Aaromale ... I have never heard anything like this before. So stylish, mature and intense. ARR has used the Blues Genre so well. So much a "Rock-band" material. It kind of makes up for Indi-pop almost being absent these days. If not for this movie, would we have got to listen to something like this? And Gautam Menon has used it so aptly - the hero hits the road on his bike, camps alone, writes in solitude...and ends on an auspicious note...swasti sawsti subha muhurtam...Hats off Rahman, Hats off Gautam Menon!

And Omane Penne ...my heart jumps with joy everytime I listen to it. The very beginning of the song with the simple keys of the keyboard itself is so exciting. And what vocals! Those gamakams - if Benny Dayal is doing them on his own, he is damn lucky and if ARR is doing it for him - he is still lucky!! All Mallu girls - rejoice! Imagine this song to be an ode to each one of you!

Hosanna : Vijay Prakash - what a strong voice - before I looked it up, it thought it was Shankar Mahadevan for a while. If you look up the meaning of Hosanna, you will love the song even more. The boy is requesting the girl to save him! And Rahman is any day great at using Reggae. Remember he was the first one to bring it into Indian music, that too in a song with a rural setting - yes, I am talking about Chinna Chinna Aasai.
The feeling I got when I first heard Roja’s music keeps coming back when I listen to Albums like Delhi 6, VTV etc. So fresh, so original.

Anbil Avan : An extremely chirpy and happy number. Very clever use of the Wedding March and Hindu wedding music. You feel so charged and pepped up after listening to this.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvayaa : Real life Karthik singing for Reel life Karthik! I have to concentrate to actually pick out the 100s of nuances in this song. Such a difficult composition. Brilliant. It evokes so many thoughts about life, romance and the like. And I have always been a big fan of Karthik (the singer!) for treating even very difficult songs with ease.

Kannukul Kannai : He is charged up. He accuses. He loves dearly. All in one amazing number.

Mannipaaya : Sigh! That’s all I can do when I think of this song. What is it about Rahman’s voice - is it the passion? Is the devotion? And Shreya Ghoshal - she never lets you down. Be it a romantic Munbe Vaa or a seductive Majaa Majaa or a haunting Mannipaaya.

Though the music itself takes the cake, we need to give due credit to Gautam Menon for insisting on to sensible, meaningful http://lyrics. And a big round of applause to Thaamarai for doing such a beautiful job. This is perhaps like modern poetry - you don’t need to keep a dictionary next to you, yet so passionate!
Great album - please buy and don’t do a free download!! There’s a lot of hard-work gone in there!
(I have had the Title track of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na as my Hello Tune for a long, long time for lack of suitable alternatives. But now, I am not able to choose!! ) :)

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