Ah Aah (a.k.a) Best Friend
The long wait for all Rahman fans is over.It’s been a year since he last released an
album in tamil(excluding Desam). For starters I was not expecting the music of this movie very much.I liked NEW but it did not have a long lasting feeling(save Amma song).
I got the music from Planet M in Anna Nagar as usual with me these days and asked them to play it there. The music rocked. It’s been 2 weeks now so i’m trying to review after listening to it about 40 -50 times.
1) Ararai Kodi(Singers - AR Rahman, Children chorus) - Awe-inspiring - SO what if it’s one year of wait. This one song just fills the void. Rahman rocks in the song. Hic vocals are very subtle in the background.But the way he sings it from his heart is just the mans strength. Lots of beats in it.The Part where he goes ’ Anbe arauyire en Anbe arauyire ’ is brilliant...The child chorus is a good backing for this song.The lyrics would have suited any hero but for me as a Rahman fan I think it’s written for him.
Rating - 5/5
2)Mayilirage(Singers - Naresh iyer, Madhusree) - Simple Hummable Melody - The best aspect of this song for me is the simple melody of it. Naresh Iyer sure seems to be a great find for Rahman.Madhsree’s diction is ok, ther is scope for improvement though. The song has a classical feel to it and so haunting in melody.Lyrics are very good in this song too...Strangely though the song also has a 60’s or 70’ feel to it. Surely, I mean the melody and not the arrangements.The interludes are nice and have that rahman feel to it.
Rating - 4.8/5
3) Varugirai(Singers - Hariharan, chithra) - Unique Melancholy - This is a meloncholic type of song with a diffrence.It’s like the guy is cursin his lover yet there is a feeling that he wants to live with her. The whole tune keeps changing patterns.The singers do their job. Hariharan is good in the first charanam.I saw the teaser and liked the way S.J.Suryah shot this song.Chitra’s soft rendidtion also adds to the flavour of the song
Rating - 4.4/5
4)Thigu Thigu - (Singers - Sadhana Sargam, Chorus) - ???????? - Frankly I’ve not gotten grip of this one as yet.Sounds a bit sensuous. Sadhna sargam’s diction of the song is good. But there is something in the song that makes me feel it is not a Rahman song.The charanam’s are better than the pallavi.This one has a sensuous folksy feeling to it.Still !!! I’m not comfortable with it.
Rating - 3/5
5) Thazhuvuthu Nazhuvuthu - (Singers - S.P.Balasubramaniam, Shreya Ghosal) - Fun song - I liked this song in the Teaser itself.Again a song that switches patterns all throughout. Rahman as usual experiments in this song.The song itself is sensuous at times and fun at other times. SPB is cool throughout and so is Shreya.Her diction of tamil has improved a lots. SPB’s trademark mimics are there all through the song.I think Rahman has used more of live drums and less of synthesized sound in this song.There is an interlude which reminds of theme of ’KARZ’ Hindi movie.I can jst listen to the song for the innovative song pattern.
Rating - 4.5/5
6)Maramkothiye(Singers - Shankar Mahadevan, Blaaze and Vasundra Das) - Peppy and Thundering - I dont know how to classify this song because the tune is the same as ’Mayilirage’ but the lyrics and the tempo differ.The intial part of the song has traces of Fanaah. The song rocks though. Almost the entire song has
Shankar Mahadevan’s voice in a synthesized way.Vasundra sounds good and she sings for Rahman after Lagaan.Blaaze is his usual cool self with ’Woodpecker’ Rap part. The song actually starts with him going ’Wooda wooda would I be a Wood Pecker’. The sounds are all techo and synthetic.We have another Fanaah that will be played in all dance floors from now on.
Rating - 4.5/5
Two of the songs were written first and then tuned(Ararai kodi, Varugirai) this shows Rahman is willing to experiment in all levels and that is one big reason why he comes up trumphs everytime.To sum it up I think this album would do good business. Songs are contemproary and would be liked by all. Rahman rocks and so does the album.