Aayirathil Oruvan - Music Review

Aayirathil Oruvan is one film that Selvaraghavan's fans and all other people in Tamil Nadu have been eagerly waiting for. Produced by R. Ravindran's Dream Valley productions, the film stars Karthi Sivakumar, Andrea Jeremiah, Reema Sen, Prathap Pothan, Parthiban and others. Selvaraghavan wields the megaphone, while G. V Prakash Kumar joins hands with him after the infamous break up of the director with his long time buddy Yuvan Shankar Raja. The audio release of the movie was held in a grand manner in Chennai on 14th June. Let us see how the songs of the film fare(there are ten of them...)

Govinda Govinda starts off with a Snoop Dogg rap, and you sit up for a rather peppy song, but as soon as the lyrics make their way, you seem to be dissapointed. It is a rather faster edition of the tirumala devotional song 'Govinda Hari Govinda'. Karhik and Andrea lend their voices, but the lyrics by Selva himself, go rather unnoticed. A peppy number for the youth.

Maalai Neram is a fresh melody, and the only one in the album. Selva has written the lyrics for this one too, and the album cover says excerpts from Sithar padalgal, but there is no trace of such lines. Andrea excels in the charanam, where she has to go to a very low scale, almost in a husky voice. Will be in the hearts of melody lovers for a while.

Un Mela Aasadhaan has a striking resembelance to 'Adada vaa asathalaam' from Sarvam and you neednt be a genius to figure that. Maybe both the composers were inspired by the same song. You would not be much impressed with the pallavi, not that it is bad, but it is the same song that came a couple of months back. But the charanam is much better than the predecessor. The flute interludes and the Dhanush's casual voice makes it a sure-shot chartbuster.

Thaai thindra mannae is my pick as the best song of the album. A agile song with lyrics in Tamil and Telugu written to explain the state of the Chola Dynasty. Goes on for more than 8 minutes, but its dramatic pace keeps you glued. NityaSree Mahadevan is heard in films after some time, and she does what she is best at, giving a classical begenning to the song. From there Vijay Yesudas carries on a sorrowful rendition of the Dynasty's tale, and Sri Krishna and NityaSree complete the wonderful song in a classical note. You might be reminded of 'Raa Raa' from Chandramukhi at some point, but this one has its uniqueness. Two lines of the song stand out - 'Puli kodi pottrum sozha manndargal, eli kari poripathu eno' and 'Mandai odugal mandiya naatai mannan aazhuvatho'. Vairamuthu deserves a bow.

Thaai Thindra mannae(Classical version) is not exactly a classical version(the original itself is more classical). Vijay renders this slower version to perfection.

Penmaane is one strong song which denotes the downfall of a king. The lyrics by Vairamuthu are powerful and Bombay Jayasree takes herself to the next level through this song. I neither have the experience nor the knowledge of music to talk about the legendary PB Srinivas, who has done a extended bit at the end of the song.

Indha Paadhai is very much an inspired piece. You can Rahman and Yuvan all over it, GV Prakash has a better voice than the later. Selva's lyrics talks about take-it-easy policy of young men. Not much to talk about this song.

Celebration of Life performed by 'flute' Naveen is a good attempt to capture the mood of the historic life. Obviously a background score, one needs to wait to see the way it is used in the film.

King Arives is another background score, which I think will be used for the Chola king's screen presence. And again highly inspired by previous such scores in Tamil cinema.

Oh Eesa(remix) , the remix version of Govinda Govinda is a better version of the song. Performed by Bigg Nikk.

On the whole, the album has the class, but what seems to missing is the originality. G.V Prakash Kumar has a long way to go, to become what some think he is now. Nevertheless a good album, and I would defenitely recommend it for the few songs, for which it is worth a buy.

My Rating - 2.5/5