Monday, October 22, 2007

Azhagiya Tamizh Magan - Music Review



Days have gone by, things have changed, I've grown up from being a kid going to school, then to college, finally to actually start working and earning. Many things changed except for one. My anticipation and excitement for AR Rahman's new music albums. The only difference I would think is that when in Chennai, I used to call up the music store guy every now and then to check on the album status, and now I refresh TFMpage to see if the album is released in Malaysia or not and wait for the reviews. And there's not even a single time I've been ever disappointed in any of his albums. Its come to a point when I can confidently say that if I like a song in the first hearing, it's a hit and if I don't like it, its a Super hit. For a Vijay starrer, knowing his striking personality on screen and his mass appeal, I expected somewhere in the lines of hit quality music which people can hum quite instantly. And once again, I wasn't disappointed, infact I was pleasantly surprised to hear some above hit quality songs.

"Ellaapugazhum" is gotta be one of the best intro songs in the recent times for any actor. I think its even more powerful than "Balleilaka", and the credit for that equally goes to the grand Orchestration and highly energetic singing by ARR and inspiring lyrics by Vaali. Many things work in this song, the rocking guitar, the strings, the claps in the start, the high pitched Rahman's voice...everything except the beats which however sound familiar. Infact the 1st interlude follows similar pattern as "Katril" song's 2nd interlude from Varalaaru movie. Nevertheless this is an upbeat song light up the entire theater. I can imagine Vijay's delighted fans getting completely absorbed and singing in chorus when the song goes "thala dalapathi dalapathi nee dhaan nee dhaan...anbu thalaiva..vetri namake..azhagiya tamizh magan nee dhaane".

"Ponmagal Vandha" - I guess its become a customary thing to have a remix of an old song in Vijay's movies. I remember Rahman once mentioning about how he hates to remix an old song. I don't know if he was forced to do one in this movie or was it done by someone else. Nevertheless its an awesome remix which still preserves the olden golden beauty, giving it a cool trendy sound. The minimal usage of instruments along with a nice rhythms makes this song very beautiful and pleasant to hear. Special mention needs to be made about the cool rap by Ember rap (surprisingly not by Blaaze). "You're my diamond girl...You're smilin smilin girl"...loved it..Aslam sounds so much like one of those olden days singers. I saw many comparing this song with "Thottal Poo Malarum" and saying this is much better. Honestly speaking, I wouldn't compare both as this is a remix song while the other was a retune. Both are wonderful songs in their own ways.

"Nee Marlyn Monroe" - This song is sure to set the screen on fire with hot Namitha and stylish Vijay dancing in exotic locales. Rahman introduces two new singers in this song, Ujaini and Benny Dayal. Both of them do full justice to this cool and peppy song. Its been a while since Rahman has given this kind of peppy tune, the last I remember being "Hey hey enna aachi unakku". Thanks to its awful picturisation, that song has been completely erased from everyone's mind...except a few, which includes me. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Punjabi folk tune as the first interlude for such a hep song. Only Rahman can come up with such a mixing. Na Muthukumar's lyrics are very youthful. However what did he mean by the line "Pengal cricket...angal wicket...or Pengal mixie, angal chutney" ..hmmmm...anyways go boomshaka boom boomshaka with this song.

"Valayapatti" - AR Rahman is in top form in this song. This is a very catchy and a lively number. One can notice a lot of experimentation going on in this song. There's a classical jugalbandhi in between which is amazing. I love the charanams of this song. Once again lyrics by Muthukumar is interesting and pretty funny..he uses Harmonium and Hormone as rhyming words :). Naresh yet again gets a catchy line after "avalkenne anbasamudura iyer hotel alva maadiri". We know of classic rock genres...i think this belongs to Classical Rock genres :)..Rahman should have had lot of fun composing this song.

"Kelaamal Kaiyile" - This was the song i was waiting to hear after listening to samples. And boy what a beauty this song is. Its a haunting and mesmerizing melody with nice mellowed techno beats creating a dreamy atmosphere. The classical touch to the song elevates it to a new horizon. Many would say it reminds them of "Aagaya Vennilave" or "oru deivam thanda poove". I think it was meant to be that way as the lyrics say "Kettu rasitha paadal ondrai meendum indru nyabagam thoonde". If you listen carefully you'll hear a sound very similar to the droplets sound in "Thenmerku Paruvaikaatru" from Karuthamma, especially at the amazing second interlude. I see another new singer here...Saindhavi. My friend Sridhar feels this is an OK song right now. I've challenged him that he's gonna change his mind in less than 2 days.

"Maduraikki pogadhadi" - The final song of the album where we find Rahman back to his good old Kizhakku cheemayile days. Love the start of the song "Karpoora Kannigai vaarai". Excellent Tamil folk song with once again very catchy charanams. Nothing special in the tune, as it gives sort of heard before feeling, but the arrangements and thavil sound give freshness to the song. Its easily a classy mass song :).

AR Rahman..take a bow...you've struck Gold yet again. He's proved it with Sivaji, and he's proved it yet again with ATM that he's undoubtedly the Mighty Emperor when it comes to delivering music which can satisfy both masses and classes equally. This album is a conglomeration of 6 songs belonging to 6 different genres, all of which seem to be potential chart busters. Its also undoubtedly the most consistent and entertaining album for a Vijay's movie ever. Rahman rocks big time.

In short, ATM = ATtagaasaM

17 comments:

Jams said...

Thanks for the quick review...waiting for ur detailed one...I havent heard the song yet...most probably i'll be hearing it today evening..since i'm in my office now...

- S i R i S h - said...

Hey Jamshid..Given a chance I would have not stopped writing. The more I listen to the songs the more new things i find. But again, thats Rahman always for us. It takes time to decipher all the layers in his music. Hope you liked the music.

avishen said...

Ya, after its's a A.R.Rahman's....:p Just love dat guy :p

Suresh said...

Liked your review a lot cos it echoes a lot of what I think... My friends (atleast 2-3 of them) feel the music is juat "OK" an I am trying hard to tell them that its much more than that but donno if its of any use..

So felt good to see some opinions close to mine... Thanks again for the review...

- S i R i S h - said...

yea guyz...see the problem with many is that they start at once comparing a new release with old movies. Even I find it hard to make them understand. Like for example some say that SOK is high quality and this is mass. Well thats a romantic movie and this is more catering to makkals, two different subjects right. For me rating is relative. You can't compare apples to oranges. For this movie's subject and going by Vijay's popularity, I guess ARR has given an amazing album. The problem is that many don't think that way. I think it all takes time right..So I'm sure later on they'll realize that kelaamal, Ponmagal, and for that matter all songs are special in their own ways.

Anonymous said...

hey, i being a diehard arr fan, i cant take this musik, i feel this is utter waste... therez no soul of arr in this film, i ve doubt whether arr has done this like some other filmzzz... arr is spoilin his name that he has made in yester years... he must change else stop musik... y cant he repeat stuffz lik roja, bombay, dil se, kadhalan, taal n stufzz lik those... for me, sivaji is a waste musik... this man has to do better work lik before... else he ll b history!

- S i R i S h - said...

Pradeesh..i understand your frustration. But tell me one thing, do you see movies like Roja, Bombay, Dil se, or Kandukondein Kandukondein being made these days ?? If you are a die hard fan of ARR, you must have understood his music completely. Expected what to expect. Were you really expected Roja kind of music for ATM ???? If you noticed, ARR has become more matured as a music director than before. He made lot of good music which went unnoticed bcoz of lack of popularity of actors or directors or production house. Now he's choosing movies which would make many listen to his music, which I don't think is a bad idea. Isnt he giving great music in hindi like RDB or Guru...I guess it all depends on the type of movies and directors who extract music from Rahman.

Anonymous said...

True...they don't make movies like Roja, KK etc anymore. They all used to come as a package, the story, direction, actors, music etc. Though ARR makes music according the quality of the movie, you really can't hide a genius. Can you?
I completely agree with sirish about liking a song the first time and loving it the second time....

I have been listening to "Pon Magal" excited like crazy over the last 2 days without knowing which film its in...now I'm thinking "Ofcourse, I should've known"!

Anonymous said...

BTW, I love "Hey hey enna aachi unakku" too. I can listen to it atleast 3-4 time back to back

- S i R i S h - said...

Good to see that there are few who think like me. I've been hearing so many comments about ARR not making music like before, and that he's not concentrating in Tamil so much. I don't know why nobody points fingers at our directors or producers for coming up with crappy movies. I was listening to Tajmahal songs today and i felt so bad that those gems were utterly wasted in the movie. Atleast now I feel good that his songs are getting heard by many more people and his movies are becoming hits. Isn't that what every fan should pray for instead of criticizing or being frustrated ??
And yeah..pon magal is a classy song, especially the ending rap is amazing...very stylish song.

Sanith Mammen said...

An another good job from ARR after RDB. Title song trademark from master is excellent. Dolak + drums + claps + melody made that song excellent. Benny dayal, Aslam, Ember Rap sung awesome. whole song except Maduraikku Pogathedee is excellent.

- S i R i S h - said...

Sanith, you know what..I can bet on this that come deepavali, maduraikki pogadhadi's music will be the music playing in Sun Tv..or may be many other channels. It has the festival flavor in it man. The more you listen to it, the more you'll luv it. For me this was the song which i didnt hear that much, jus becoz the others were so good, but now its turning out to be the most enjoyable song of the album.

hks said...

Can anyone give me a link, where I can download the songs? I am not from south and also not in India, so not familiar with many sites from where I can get the songs. But I am a die hard rahman fan, so I need these songs badly.

Let me know.

Anonymous said...

Excellent songs! Nice review!!!

- S i R i S h - said...

Hemant...I think if you are a die hard fan of ARR, you must buy his albums..for that you can go to www.Ayngaran.com site...they do international shipping as well. And its not that expensive.

Anonymous said...

I wish someone can give a not so diplomatic review.... i dont accept blaming the directors for the crappy music..of course good directors bring out better music (mani & shankar).. i dont think anyone can say en swasakatre, mr romeo, pudhiya mugam were great movies... i am a die hard fan of arr from my school days and the only casettes/cds i used to buy before I listen to a single song were of arr. I cannot say the same now though in most cases I do buy them, thats more out of expectation than the confidence. Guru and RDB were much better than any of the tamil movies he did in recent times.. I may be harsh but that's because he has set himself a very high standard..

- S i R i S h - said...

i agree with you on the fact that Guru and RDB were much better than his recent tamil movies. But don't you think they are at the same time much better MOVIES than recent ARR's tamil ones ? I understand ARR used to give good music even for mediocre - bad movies, and now he isn't. But don't you think thats good? Do you want to see his music go waste in dabba movies like this ? You have to understand that the standard of tamil movies is going down compared to hindi. Its becoming repetitive with very less good movies coming out. Only Shankar is the dependable director right now. Others are still upcoming. Having said all this, I still feel ATM has some good music.