Swapnil's Reviews

Mon, 13 Feb 2012

E20I18

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Sri Surya Movies & A.M.Rathnam return after successful innings of "BOYS" with their latest offering "Enakku 20 Unakku 18". This is their home production as its Jothikrishna's (Rathnam's son) directorial debut. After Boys, the Tamil Film industry is abundant with youth-oriented ideas. E20U18 is no exception. The tagline clearly says 'Strictly for Uth'! Creatively speaking, there's nothing new to offer. It has the same appeal as any other teen-film would have. But when we'r talking of creativity, it does not only restrict to the story or direction or even the cast. It was said somewhere in a news magazine that Jothikrishna was hell-bent on signing Rahman to score the music & A.M.Rathnam had warned him about Rahman's time delays. But Jothikrishna stuck to his will & went ahead. The movie went thru 2 long, interrupted years in the making. Will the movie succeed? Well, we can decide that only after it releases. But what really matters is the music. Last few years, Rahman has faced a lot of criticism & discomfort with Tamil films. Thats the reason why ARR is cautious while choosing his Tamil films. Boys could be marked as a returning vehicle for him & thanks to Rathnam to have faith in Rahman. Rathnam-Rahman combo has worked wonders in the past with 'Mudhalvan' & now 'Boys'. E20U18 is being simultaneously released in Telugu as "Nee manasu nakku telusu". The music is already creating waves, I hear. Afterall, who else can be trusted than Rahman to churn out some great songs which have a universal appeal?

The film has 6 youthful songs & ARR introduces a lot of new talents as usual. The lyrics r handled by the talented Pa.Vijay. After Vairamuthu & Valee, ARR has a good rapport with Pa.Vijay. The cast includes young actors like Tarun, Trisha, Shriya & the ever-dependable Vivek.

Rating: **Mind-blowing; Good; *Average; Cud have been better; Worse

  1. Azhaginna azhagi (Surjo Bhattacharya, Shreya Ghoshal):

    After a long time, Rahman returns to what he's best at- Folk. This song reminds me of old, vintage Rahman stuff like Pudhiya Mannaragl, Karuthamma, Vandicholai, Kizhakku Cheemayile, etc. Typical folk beats, rhythm & rustic percussions. This song introduces the immensely talented Shreya Ghoshal into Rahman's forray. Shreya has already sung many Tamil songs with Illayaraja, Karthikraja, Bhardwaj & a hoard of telugu composers. After listening her in Devdas, I always felt that she should sing for Rahman someday. She has one of the sweetest voices in the industry after Lataji. On the other hand, Surjo sang the tarana form "Thakshak" & if I'm not mistaken, its the same person who sang "Kathakalli" from Parsuram. Its a novel choice to make such singers sing a typical folk song.

    The song has a unique start. For beginners, it may sound like a mess. One wonders what's going on? Its only after reapeated, concentrated hearings that one is able to figure out that he's playing with the rhythm meter. It starts with heavy drums & other folk percussions. There's a constant digital voice going on in the bakground. Rahman utilises the same technique what he used in "Manmadha masam" from PP. He keeps on changing the meter of the song from 2/4 to 6/8. The rhythm is instantly catchy as it has whistles, guitars, nadaswaarams & lots of hard percussions, typical 'kooththu' stuff. It sounds as if a competition is going on between 2 teams. This all has to be Sivamani's inputs. When the beat becomes 2/4 double, it resembles the starting beats of "Madrasa suttippakkum" from May Madham. The beats stop for the main song to commence. Harmony takes its lead to sing a typical jathi "Takathimi takathimi taa". The main rhythm enters with the ooudh piece leading to the vocals. It resembles a lot like the rhythm used for songs like "Dolna" from Parsuram. Dholak & chenda being the main percussion. After a long time, Rahman uses the Ooudh (a string instrument form Middle-East sounding very much like a mandolin or a rabab). He had used this instrument long back in 'Indian'. Surjo starts the song which has typical telugu-sounding words like 'askaava', 'vastaava'. This is because of the film's bilingual nature. The harmonies used in these words r worth an ear. The phrases "panavendaam...nagaivendaam" r instantly catchy & hummable. Shreya repeats the lines. Her voice has been used for both the actresses & hence u'll find double-layered voices. Thru out the song, u'll hear rhythmic permutations & combinations excellently executed by Sivamani. The 1st interlude has soft thavils jamming up with the ooudh. The ooudh piece resembles a lot like the interlude piece of "Lucky lucky" from Ratchakan. Its based on Raga Peelu employing both the gandhars. But again, its got a typical folk appeal. This type of tune was used by Naushad during yesteryears. After the ooudh piece, Rahman jazzes up the melody with a tihaai.The charnams are apt & mostly based on a question-answer situation. Its clear when u see the picturisation. Its between 2 teams- boys & gals. Shreya doesnt get much to sing as most of the lines have been sung by the female harmony together.The male & female harmony stands out in the whole song. Moreover, some may debate about her pronounciations. I m nobody to comment on that as I dont understand a word. But what comes instantly to my mind is the word "Azhagi" which Shreya has pronounced as "aLagi". Its a very minute observation. The tamil listeners cud judge that better. The highlight of the song is the 2nd interlude. I love this typical folk instrument. I think its called the pambai or urumi. It gives a resonating effect with high bass. It had been used in "maanothu mandhayila" from KC & Padaiyappa. The nadaswaram is nostalgic. It reminds of the olden days. I m sure the local public is gonna love this bit. The beat doubles after a while with an amalgam of different percussions. The charnams r same. Shreya's voice in the upper notes becomes very shrill at times. Actually, she should be given more romantic numbers. She was terrific in 'Jism'. But this is just the beginning. She has a long innings to cover. The song as usual has lots of percussions & side-rhythms. Its an instantly catchy song- typically dance-gaana number. But again, I was disappointed with the end. It just ends abruptly. Rahman should have ended it with a tihaai or faded it out. The beat just stops till u come to know that the track has ended. But its a good start for the album.

    Rating: ****

  2. Santhippoma (Unnimenon, Chinmayi, Anupama):

    This i one of the sweetest songs in recent times. Great melody! Typically western-ballad kinds. Chinmayi's becoming a favourite of ARR nowadays. After an excellent rendering of 'Kannathil' & a bit-song 'Please Sir' from Boys, she regales this song with apt emotions & innocence. She's got a different voice-culture, very polished. It wud be great to hear semi-classical or ghazals from her. Unnimenon too joins ARR after a long time. The last time it was "Macha machiniye" from Star. Till now, people used to title him as 'Duplicate Yesudas', but this time they wud be wrong. He sounds so young & different here.

    The song immediately starts with Chinmayi's sweet vocals without any beats. The background has lots of cosmic sounds as if someone's travelling in space. The song has words like 'jupiteril', 'neptune', etc. Someone was complaining about Chinmayi's high-pitch, but after some hearings, becomes normal. The beat starts with techno stuff- heavy bass while Anupama whispers the first 2 lines. Unni humms the lines where there's a cute whistle-kind of a sound. The beats r very peppy with great melody.The lines "mudhal murai kadhal vayam" have come out very well. Whenever Chinmayi sings 'Santhippoma' without the beats with just chords, its amazing. Gradually, the rhythm enters & the song paces up. ARR has used African congos at this time. Bass guitar work is mind-blowing as usual. The 1st interlude has the same humming by female harmony along with the strings. The charnams have tpical recreational words like beaches, icecream, snowball, meeting, dating, coffee, billiards. Its like a conversation between two teens. I love the melody & chords during the lines 'oru spoonai vaiththu icecreamaipathipathi thinnalaam eppada...'. The harmony lead the charnam by "ooaaooaa..." towards the end for the main pallavi. The 2nd interlude has heavely strings section. The changing of chords during 3.35 mins is something very touching. Typically Rahman stuff. The percussions get heavier towards the end to create a climax. The charnam structure is the same.

    After returning to the pallavi once, ARR signs the song with his regular key-change. He lifts the pitch by a note higher like in many of his songs-'Oohlalala', 'Sa ri ga me', 'Humma humma', etc. The strings give beautiful support thru out & the same piece of the 2nd interlude has been used towards the end when the harmony sings. Chinmayi ends the song aptly. Overall, the song is very hummable, & stands in league of many good melodies created by ARR.

    Rating: ****

  3. Kama kama (Anupama, Aparna, Kunal, George, Blaaze):

    This song directly slips in from the 'Boys' arena. Nowadays, ARR is giving lot of stress on Rap & this credit goes to Blaaze. After 'Chori pe chori' & 'Dating', Blaaze has been singing in practically every movie. He even writes the English lyrics. So, its a package deal for Rahman. This song is no diffrent. It follows the tagline 'Strictly for Uth'. The song does not have anything new to offer, but is a peppy, youthful number.

    The song starts with heavy bass & crowds shouting loud. The digital voice keeps counting '1..2..3..4...' thru out in the background. The punchline 'Bling ding-a-ling' is very catchy & something novel. The female harmony repeats the lines & the church bells (also used in 'Secret of Success' & 'khoyi khoyi aankein') follow. The greatest surprise is the voice. Whose voice is it? It instantly resembles that of Shaggy. It cud be George or he must have digitally manipulated the voice to sound a bit like Shaggy. Whatever the case, it sounds great. The entire song is a blend of English-Tamil. Blaaze's voice can be clearly heard in 'Fall in love' while the female voices support. Aparna is a new singer but her voice has been mixed with Anupama. The second time when they repeat the lines 'Fall in love', chords enter with a hevy french-horn+sax kinda instrument. Most of the instruments in this song have been reproduced either digitally or on the keyboards. Again, needless to say, the song has been composed keeping the international standards in mind. The interludes r short & to the point. no specific instrument used. Only focus on percussions. The charnam is very sweet & has melody. The chords progression needs special mention. The song doesnt have a set structure. In the interlude, one can hear a sitar kinda sound(definitely on the keyboards) but thats something very normal with other composers who dont use a lot of live instruments. This piece is losely based on Raga Abheri (Bhimpalasi). The punch lines 'bling ding..' go on which become like an anthem of the album. The song has only 1 charnam & the rest of the time, its just playing with the lyrics & the punch lines. The song is quite peppy & will be a hit among youngsters. It follows the 'Boys' trend. Its become a trademark of ARR to give one such tune in each film these days.

    Rating: *** 1/2

  4. Oru nanban irunthaal (Chinmayi, S.P.Charan, Venkat Prabhu):

    Rahman seems to be favouring Chinmayi a lot. She deserves that. She has a great voice & a very different one indeed. Charan returns after a short stint in 'Boys'. A new find, again...Venkat Prabhu is the son of the popular singer Gangai Amaran.

    The song has a baeutiful start. One of the best preludes composed by ARR in recent times. It has mouth-organ with hawaiin guitars. Like the start of 'Khamosh raat' from Takshak. The immediate follw-up on the keyboards reminds me of Rahman in olden films like 'Kadhal Desam', 'Minsara Kanavu', etc. Its a very sweet melody. The male singer starts the song by humming & faintly u can hear Rahman's voice going 'Eeyoo' in the ambience. Bass guitars compliment the heavy, youthful percussions. Its more of a college rock-band type song. A similar sitar-sounding instrument then plays the melody (like in 'Nahin saamne' from Taal or 'Enthan vaanil' from Kadhal Virus). He layers the sound of the sitar with the piano & the outcome is excellent. The main song starts with Chinmayi's vocals. The male portion has some musical harmonies. The lines 'Nam peyiril...' by the boys sounds great; almost like chanting! The flow from an upper octave to a pause on Shuddha Dhaivat in the lines 'inthu ulagil migapperum ezhai' is mind-blowing. It sound like Ragam Shahana. The 1st interlude has guitars, mouth-organs & then Chinmayi's alaap. The charnams have the male singers sing one-by-one while Chinmayi rounds up to return to the pallavi. In the charnam, the beat singles down putting more emphasis on the melody & lyrics. The last lines of the charnams where all the singers sing, has an amazing chord. Very different from the rest of the song. These r the special moments one treasures from ARR's songs. The 2nd interlude has hard percussions alosng with trumpets. The percussion melows down for a guitar-trumpet conversation. The trumpets give a jazz-like feel. The 2nd charnam is same. The song has aan amzing blend of melody+energy. Its sure to become a rage among teenagers. The song inspite of being youth-oriented, has lots of Carnatic influence at many places. Thru out the song Rahman has tried to create diffrent harmonies for male & female singers. Whenever the female sings in higher octave, the male hamonise in the lower octave. It gives a picture of totality. Overall the song is great & is sure to list in one of the better-composed songs by ARR.

    Rating: ****

  5. Yedho yedho ondru (Karthik, Gopika Poornima):

    This is most romantic number of the album. If u hear the song, it instantly reminds u of 'Udhaya udhaya'; the biggest reason being Raga Charukeshi. Even the treatment & arrangements r similar. I think ARR was disappointed that such a great tune was wasted as the film never saw the day light. Udhaya was a brilliantly composed song- technically & emotionally. Same cud be said here. The song has the passion, feel & the right balance of romance with sensitivity. ARR is fascinated with this Raga I assume. Its also used in 'Blue Light' from WOHE. No other composer has explored this Raga as ARR has. He ropes in his current favourite, Karthik to team up with another upcoming singer, Poornima. She has sung "Poorkalam" from Thenali. That was a beautiful composition & I had liked her voice immensely. She sounds close to Chitra & Sujatha. She was also a part of "Enna enna" from Udhaya. She's got this husky, soft voice which just flows thru ur ears.

    ARR's glides his fingers on the piano to commence the song. The beats r normal as the emphasis is on the melody. Karthik & Poornima begins with a short alaap in the tune of the song. The main song starts. Karthik's vocals in the lines 'aayulreiga neelachcheigirathey' r amazing. His base voice is very much impressive. The halt on Pancham in the lower octave (Mandra saptak) creates a passionate ambience. 'Uyire idhayam...unakke unakke' r the lines of immense energy. The cymbals drift thru with the tympani for the interlude to begin. The most enchanting piece of the violin makes u crave for more. Kalyan is the magical man behind the souful violin. Charukeshi's pensive mood suits the melancholy of the violin. The piano takes over with a change in the melody along with the strings. The charnam is upto the mark. Both the singers excel in rendering this beautiful masterpiece. ARR shifts a bit from Charukeshi in the lines 'Sooriyanai pole..' just to give the song more freedom. After the charnam, both singers sing alternate lines in a faster tempo. First Gopika sings while Karthik remains (harmonises) in the lower octave & vice-versa. Thru out the song, Gopika sings the lines 'Yedho yedho' with different harqats. Thats just magical! The 2nd interlude has the marvellous Strings section (ably executed by Srinivasamurthy) bowing to their violins & cellos. This piece in the beginning resembles a lot like the strings in 'Chale chalo' from Lagaan. It is played in traditional Symphony manner, not adhering strictly to the raga. Again towards the end, Kalyan enters with his violin with church bells in the background which sounds very Irish+Scottish. The most beautiful moment is when he returns to Charukeshi by mildly touching the Komal Dhaivat at the end. Rest of the charnam is same. The addition here, is the violin is constantly playing behind the singers (just as ARR doesnt leave any empty space). This song has many highlights- piano, violin, strings, vocals & ablove all, the arrangement which I dont think any composer other than ARR acn boast of! The strings gather momentum towards the end. The voice-synchronisation in the alaap during the end is Rahman all the way. Full marks! This song is a relief from the usual rock & pop songs that we mostly hear these days. It reassures that Indian Classical music is there to survive! The picturisation compliments the song very well. Jothikrishna has taken pains to create the magical effect by shooting this one song in 95 international locations. Thats quite a thing!

    Rating: *

  6. Asathura (Srinivas, Chitra Sivaraman, Mathangi, George):

    The last song on the album. Nowadays we feel that ARR should compose more number of songs. All his latest films carry only 5-6 songs. Paarthale had 9 beautiful songs while TLOBS was abundant with 10. We can undersatnd the immense pressure he must be going thru. On one hand he has hand-full of Hindi projects & otherside, balancing International assignments. And then, whenever a film gets delayed, the blame is conveniently put on ARR.

    ARR's one-time favourite Srinivas returns after a long gap. These days he's prefering Karthik. Also, Chitra Sivaraman gets her due after Star, Thenali & Boys. She has grown as a singer from participating in MTV Talent Hunt to crooning songs for the Maestro. Mathangi & George just give harmony support in the song. The song starts with catchy rhythm & rockish percussions. From the very start u realise that its a youthful, teen track. Very much in the lines of 'Secret of Success' from Boys. After seeing the trailor, its evident that its a stage-performance with huge crowds. The pecussions used r very different from normal. It has a lot of Daburka. Also one can hear the crowds in the backdrop. The male harmony enters the song by singing the sign line. It has a good harmony, very western. Again ARR has used chromatic progression in the lines 'sanananana...'. Mathangi enters with a brisk alaap with the flute which sounds very Arabian-Lebanese. This kind of arrangements were used in 'September matham' in Alaipayuthey. Chitra main lines 'Maanavare...' r instantly likeable. The quick alaap that Srinivas takes in the lines 'Hooo...paadhilo...', has its moments; mainly bcoz of the excellent harmony. The 1st interlude has Rahman's signature claps & the inimitable flute. No one can beat Naveen's flawless rendition. Thats one of the biggest asset Rahman has! The charnams have a conversational structure with the chorus going 'Oye o..' after each line. But again, they r very short. Just 4 lines...& then Srini returns to the cross lines by taking that alaap in the upper octave. Thru out the song, u'll find different sounding percussions used which create a unique feel. After the 1st charnam, when the singers return to 'Asathura', there's this horse-beat kind of rhythm used. Chitra's 'sanananane..' jugalbandi with Naveens intricate flute embellishments is the highlight. The 2nd interlude is totally percussion-oriented. Give the reigns in Sivamani's court & he goes crazy. While hearing this piece, u can actually visualise the drumsticks flying off in the air! He's another precious asset. The charnams r same. The flutes & chords in the end behind the vocals r amazing. But the highlight has to be the excellently arranged Harmony. In the end Mathangi jamms up with the flute to create a mesmerising effect. The voice & the flute r so weel synchronised that it feels as if 2 intruments r being played simultaneously. Its a difficult task made easy by the sound geniuses- Sridhar & Sivakumar. The song is already an hit with the youth.

    Rating: ****

Overall Album Rating: ****After a long time ARR's soundtarck is said to be doing well down south. Thats just a sign of revival. May he keep giving us surprises & lots of good music as its like a precious herb for music-lovers like us. From whatever I've heard, Kangalal Keithu Sei is sheer magic! I cant get off my ears from 'Ennuyir thozhiye'. Its the one of the best melodies created by ARR.

Hope to get ur feedback as usual...

Swaps

P.S.: The review is strictly based on personal judgement & does not tend to hurt anybody's feelings or sentiments.

Thanx!

Sorry for the delay...

posted at: 14:51 | permanent link to this entry

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