Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya - Music Review

After some movie reviews, I thought why not try my hand at music reviews. I am kicking off it with a music review for "Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya".


GENRE: Romance
DIRECTION: Gautham Vasudev Menon
MUSIC: A.R.Rahman


An Album with much expectations and Hype! First time Gautham Menon joins hands with the Academy Award Winner A.R.Rahman after his string of successes wih Harris Jayaraj for years!


A.R.Rahman himself admitted that he has to bring out some good music to maintain the magic of songs in Gautham Menon films. He has also said he has experimented a lot in this album like breaking the prototypical Pallavi & Charanam norms, etc .


Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya has just come as refreshing breeze out of the horizon with ARR brewing the magical potion again with ingredients of Romance with Music. The Mozart of Madras has created a masterpiece with a lot of new instruments along with the most conventional ones.


Also the lyrics penned by Thamarai for all songs except one ("Aaromale") stands out with elegance and gives soul to the songs and ARR makes justice by making sure the lyrics are not suppressed by sheer loudness of music.


Few more new voices like Alfonse Joseph, Vijay Prakash got inducted into Rahman's Group apart from his set piece singers Benny Dayal, Chinmayee, Shreya Ghoshal, Blaaze,Naresh Iyer.


Lets see about each of the numbers in the album:


1. Song: Hosanna
Singers: Vijay Prakash, Suzanne, Blaaze
Lyrics: Thamarai, Blaaze


Hosanna is the pick of the album. This song set up in a situation when the Hero sees Heroine for the first time. The song with the word "hosanna" in between hints about the Heroine Jessica. Vijay Prakash who mesmerised us with his voice in "Om Siva Om" of Naan Kadavul has a rendered a beautiful song of a different genre. The song has an interlude with rap from Blaaze which gives a western touch to the song.


2. Song: Omana Penne
Singers: Benny Dayal, Kalyani Menon
Lyrics: Thamarai, Kalyani Menon


Omana Penne is just at the tail of "Hosanna" to take the top spot. The song starts with a mild eastern touch picks up the classical way as it progresses. Kalyani Menon has written the Malayalam lyrics for this song and has rendered her voice too. Benny Dayal plays with this mystifying voice to provide a smooth rendition like an ebb and flow of the tide. Rahman proves again that he can create wonders with melody. The beauty of the Pilahari raga shines in the ending notes of the song.


3. Song: Anbil Avan
Singers: Devan Ekambaram, Chinmayee
Lyrics: Thamarai


Anbil Avan is a typical marriage song. This is clearly understandable by the use of westernised version of the classical Thavil and Nadaswaram. Also the song studded with Church Bells ringing clearly tells about the man & woman of the occasion. Devan (of "iru vizhi unadhu" fame ) with his dynamic voice provides the zip-zappy mood to the song and Chinmayee teams up with him to provide an exciting number.


4. Song: Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya
Singer: Karthik
Lyrics: Thmarai


The title theme song which requires a flamboyant delivery is sung by none other than the ever refreshing Karthik. Though the song travels on the slower side, the lyrics and the music makes it a perfect song to hear when you are alone with ur earphones on. Once again a flawless melody from Karthik.


5. Song: Kannukkul Kannai
Singer: Naresh Iyer
Lyrics: Thamarai


Kannukkul Kannai is a foot tapping number in the album with Naresh Iyer in the lead. This song conveys the hope and yearning of a lover for his beloved and Naresh provides his best to the expectations of his mentor ARR. The lyrics by Thamarai creates reverberation throughout the song. Just the right one for lovers of fast paced songs.


6. Song: Mannipaya
Singer: A.R.Rahman, Shreya Ghoshal
Lyrics: Thamarai


Mannipaya sends the apologies of the lady love to her beloved. The four time national Award winner Shreya's voice is as refreshing as ever and when the maestro himself joins the song with his characteristical high pitch voice, the song reaches a peak of emotional confluence. The usage of Thirukkural in between and the absence of concept of charanam, pallavi makes this song a different one to listen.


7. Song: Aaromale
Singer: Alfonse Joseph
Lyrics: Kaithaparam


A song which stands out from the rest of the pack. Aaromale is a kind of a mix of rock and classical tunes. A complete malayalam song just apt for a Malayali heroine. The lyrics penned by the renowned Malayali lyricist Kaithaparam has the power of mixed emotions embibed in it. The new voice of Alfonse Joseph of the famous malayali rock band "Aviyal" has created ripples in the conventional tamil music.


As a whole, ARR has once again proved that he deserves every bit of the double Academy Awards and he has a urge to achieve more. It is clearly visible after "Slumdog Millionaire", ARR has decided to take the Tamil Music to the International Level. And what more millions of Rahmaniacs are by his side during this eventful journey.


Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya - Reaches the depths of human soul crossing all the skies!!

Unnai Pol Oruvan - Movie Review

UNNAI POL ORUVAN

Genre: Thriller

Cast: Kamal Hassan, Mohan Lal, Ganesh Venkataraman, Lakshmi

Director: Chakri Toleti

Producer: Rajkamal Films International & UTV Motion Pictures

Storyline: The anger of a common man over the Government's soft approach on terror

Bottomline: Unnai Pol Oruvan - Ungalil Oruvan!!

Kamal Hassan is back after the huge success of his magnum opus "Dasavatharam" and this time he join hands with the Malayalam superstar Mohan Lal in "Unnai Pol Oruvan". The duo prove why they are deemed as pioneers in South Indian Film Industry.

Unnai Pol Oruvan is a joint venture of "Raj Kamal Film International" & UTV Motion Pictures". This is a remake of the Bollywood movie "A Wednesday" starring Anupam Kher & Nasirudheen Shah. Though it is a remake, it still gives a feel of a fresh movie mainly due to the characters donned by Kamal & Mohan Lal. The director is Chakri Toleti. For people who dont recognize this guy, he is the one who played a small role as Ram, Kamal's friend in US in "Dasavatharam".

The story is a simple one-liner. It depicts how a common man frustrated with Government's action on terror takes up the law in hands to show terror can be eradicated only with terror. Though this mode is bit difficult to accept, Kamal has shown the actual anger of the common man in each of us and to what extent it can lead a person to react with utmost fury.

Mr. I.G.R.Marrar (Mohan Lal), Commisioner of Police, Chennai gets an anonymous call from a person (Kamal Hassan) , who calls himself to be "common man". He claims that he has placed bombs at five different places in the city which will go off by 6PM in evening. The deal which he wants to make to prevent this from happening is the unconditional release of 4 most wanted high profiled terrorists. Mr.Marrar initially shows some hesitation towards this as it could very well be a hoax. But once a 3kg RDX bomb is found in the station coming under his control, the grimness of the situation sinks into him.

The issue is taken to the Chief Secretary of Chief Minister (Lakshmi) and finally it ends up with the commissioner to take up the task of handling the issue. He gathers the best lot of his men to plunge into action.

The rest of the story revolves around the events happening during rest of that day which bring this thrilling situation to a halt.

Ganesh Venkatraman (Yogi in "Abhiyum Naanum") as Arif makes a good impression in his role. The cop of name Sethu has also done a good job.

The character of Natasha played by Anuja Iyer is well portrayed especially at the scene when she try to smoke in front of the police commissioner.

Also Lakshmi shines in her role of Chief Secretary with her command and attitude of a prime official in a government body.

A surprise package is the computer geek guy. After May Madham, he has come into limelight again. In the scene where Mohan Lal asks whether he is accustomed with these PCs, the way he says, "Idhu ellam enga munnorgal madhiri venumna abhivadhaye sollitu try panraen." Cool! Good Work!!

Apart from these characters, the protagonists Mohan Lal & Kamal have really come up with a mind-boggling performance. Kamal lining his conversations with a sarcastic humour and Mohan Lal equally retaliating the same. It was great to see the two great actors sharing the same canvas.

Especially that short climax in which these two ppl meet, it speaks volumes about their talents.

One of the special things is the way Kamal has shared the screenspace with all the characters without dominating anywhere in the movie.

This movie shares a lot of facts like Best Bakery case, 26/11 attacks, etc.. Many of us even dont know about the Blast that happened in Menambakkam on 1984. I got to know from Wikipedia about this after seeing this film.

Since there are no songs in the movie, Shruthi Hassan has concentrated on the Background score well. The Re-recording is also excellent. She has proudly included herself in the list of young music directors of this age.

Overall, it is a good film with no punch dialogues, item numbers, duet songs or acrobatic stunts. The strength of this movie are its characters & their dialogues are its soul.

From my perspective, it is a must watch for the message it conveys & for Kamal - Mohan Lal pair.

Plus: Kamal, Mohan Lal, Screenplay

Minus: Many dialogues are in English which may not convey the message properly to all Audience

Rating: 4/5 Must Watch

If you watch the movie, you will find the common man inside you trying to come out to bring an end to this terror by some way or the other. There lies the victory of this movie.

I end this review with one of my favourite dialogues from this movie,

" Terrorism is instant. Then why can't the justice be so?"

Think about it!!