Yuvan doing an Ilayaraja

This is a song review. I'm writing about a song that had an impact on me over the past two days. The interesting part here is that the album has not come out yet. Likely to be released this week.

Song: Ezhezhu Thalamuraikum
Genre: Village Folk
Movie: Goa
Composer: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Lyrics: Gangai Amaren
Singers: Yuvan, Karthik Raja, Venkat Prabhu, Premgi Amaren, Bhavatharini

The song is all about the musical family. Lyrics of Gangai Amaren proudly tells us about their native village 'Pannaipuram', mom 'Chinna thaayi", elder bro "Pavalar" and obviously about their music which has been an inseparable part of their family. There is nothing new in this song except the freshness and the feel that it gives you. There have been surfeit of songs of this type from Ilayaraja over the past three decade. If someone listens to this song without any idea about the composer, he would certainly end up concluding that this is by Ilayaraja. Yes. Yuvan has almost done an Ilayaraja here. Yet, this song stands out for some reasons.

The idea of making the siblings sing this song definitely showcases the togetherness in them. Lyrics and rendition are the best part of this song.

A song that should not be missed, especially if you are an Ilayaraja or Yuvan fan. You may listen to the song online here.

Waiting for the full album.

Regards,
Vinith.

Keywords: Goa, Venkat prabhu, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Goa promo song, yezhezhu thalamurai song, gangai amaren, family song, premji, premgi amaran, bavatharani, karthik raja,

A Musical '2009'

Unlike 2008, 2009 has turned out to be a musical year with back to back musical hits. I believe there have been atleast 20+ good albums. I really could not arrive at a list of 10 good songs as there were too many good songs. A tough job indeed.

Here is my list of Top 10 songs that I most visited, of 2009. Not in any order.

1. Kannil Parvai (Nan KAdavul) by Ilayaraja
2. Chinnansirisu (Kungauma Poovum Konjum Puravum) by Yuvan Shankar Raja
3. Oru Vetkam Varudhe (Pasanga) by James Vasanthan
4. Aval Appadi (Angadi Theru) by Vijay Antony
5. Kannil Thagam theerumo (Achchamundu Achamundu) by Karthik Raja
6. Pemmane (also Thaai thindra Manne. Aayirathil Oruvan) by G V Prakash kumar
7. Yogi theme in Sarangi (Yogi) by Yuvan Shankar Raja
8. Mella Oorndhu (Nandhalala) by Ilayaraja. -
9. Thuli Thuli (Paiya) by Yuvan Shankar Raja
10. Katrukulle (Sarvam) by Yuvan Shankar Raja

Few other songs that were worth listening.

* Azhagai Pookudhe (Ninaithaale Inikkum) by Vijay Antony
* Nan Pogiren (Naanayam) by James Vasanthan
* Kooda Varuviya (Valmiki) by Ilayaraja
* Padhi Kadhal padhi mutham (Modhi Vilayadu) by Hariharan, Leslie
* Vizhi Moodi (Ayan) by Harris Jeyaraj
* Om Shanthi Om (Muthirai) by Yuvan Shankar Raja

Smashing soundtracks of the Year:

1. Paiya, Sarvam by Yuvan Shankar Raja.
2. Nan Kadavul by Ilayaraja.
3. Aayirathil Oruvan by GV Prakash Kumar.

Best Music Director of the Year:

Undoubtedly, it is Yuvan Shankar Raja for delivering albums almost every month with quality ranging from average to mind-blowing. He is ready with hands full of projects to repeat the magic in 2010 as well.

Top non-tamil songs that I have listened to:

* 'Hindi' Masakkali from Delhi 6 by AR Rahman
* 'Telugu' Anakoledenadu and Seheri from Oy (Oye) by Yuvan Shankar Raja
* 'Hindi' Mudhi Mudhi from Paa by Ilayaraja
* 'Hindi' Emosnal Atyachar from Dev D by Amit Trivedi


Share your opinion.

Regards,
Vinith....

Keywords: top tamil songs of the year, best music of 2009, best music director of 2009, list of top tamil music, top 10 music, hindi, telugu

Theeradha Vilayattu Pillai music is Brilliant and Innovative, yet, Average

With a mysterious prelude and astonishing vocals of Vijay Yesudoss and Vinaitha, 'En Asai ethiraliye' easily becomes the pick of the album along with Poo Muthal sung by the composer himself. The mysterious feel continues to haunt in the former while interesting lyrics and cool rendition from Yuvan elevate the latter. Yuvan clearly brings the attitude of a playboy in this voice.

However, the most innovative track of this album is, "En jannal vandha katre" sung by three female singers. With the same base tune, Yuvan gives three different styles of music to explain the character of each girl in this movie. Starts off with a gorgeous melody (with interesting anu pallavi), that soon changes to a hip-hop kind of song then ends with a rocking kuthu song. The music during the transition of each song is simply brilliant and doesn't affect the flow. That's Yuvan for you!

Despite the brilliant vocals from Ranjith and interesting interludes, the melody "Oru punnagai thaane" fails to make an impact as the main tune is boring and flows aimlessly. You really do not get hooked to the title song even despite it's groovy orchestration.

The short "Introduction" is all about Yuvan's music for this movie. Aah.. This is something new that no one else has tried before. Thumbsup Yuvan.

Overall, a satisfactory album for Yuvan fans. We have to wait and see if our audience will prefer it. Brilliant and innovative. Yet, fails to create a big impact.


Tags: Theeratha vilayattu pillai music review, theeradha vilayaattu pillai songs review, theeradha vilayaattu pillai, yuvan, vishal, thiru, yuvan shankar raja, neetu

Movie Review: Yogi - A Shameless remake of Tsotsi.

Yogi is definitely one of the good movies of the year. With a good screenplay, brilliant direction in few scenes, excellent performance, wonderful cinematography and stunning background score, Yogi is certainly worth watching.

Plot: The story is all about, how the life of a slum dweller (a ruthless human, played by Ameer) changes when a baby comes into his life. That's the one liner.

Yogi is more of Ameer's than Subramaniam Siva. On seeing the movie, the narrating style, the camera angle, one can easily say that the brain behind these is Ameer. There were some brilliant scenes which evoke emotion to the audience. Ameer and Madhumitha's performance were excellent and laud-worthy. Ameer shined well as an actor.

The biggest plus here is Yuvan Shankar Raja's background music. Brilliant music. His music conveyed the emotion so beautifully in some scenes. Background score of Yogi is sure to take Yuvan one step further. Kudos!

The biggest minus point is that the movie is almost a ''frame-by-frame' remake of South African movie "Tsotsi". Shamelessly copied. Though there were rumors that this movie is inspired from tsotsi, I was confident that Ameer would not take that route. But it was a complete shock to me that the whole movie is a rip off. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!The moment I saw the set up of Ameer's house in the movie, I could guess the amount of plagiarism. About 70 minutes of Yogi are lifted from Tsotsi. Why they couldn't copy more than 70 minutes? Because, Tsotsi runs only for 90+ minutes. LOL. It's a sin to copy Tsotsi without mentioning any credits. Tsotsi is a classic. The movie has to be experienced. Now that I have watched Yogi, I want to watch Tsotsi once again, to nullify the sin.

Trivia: The movie is gonna be screened in Dubai Film Festival where there will be juries from all over the world. Wondering how Ameer is gonna manage them. Is Ameer aware of this fact that the movie is copied? Or it is Sub Siva who the real culprit is? Let's see!

Regards,
Vinith.

Keyword: Yogi movie review, yogi yuvan ameer madhumitha, yogi copied from Tsotsi, yogi inspired, Yogi review, yogi background score.