A peep into the songs of Enthiran!

I run the risk of giving out a review on an album of Rahman on the very day of its release. A few days might be all that would take for my own self to contradict with whatever I feel now. Still I am continuing with it for two reasons:
1. I have got nothing else worthwhile to do at this time of the day.
2. I somehow feel this is one album which wouldn’t grow on the listener as well as the past ones as there is not much mesmerising/creative stuff which has the tendency to grow on the listener. The first impression would stay for Enthiran.

Off to the review after a look at the spiked-wig!

Pudhiya Manidhaa (SPB,AR Rahman)
This one begins slowly , gains tempo and some beats on the way and the ritual of SPB singing for Rajni happens – Only this time in a song that isn’t to appeal to the senses of the masses. The initial part of the song has all robot / machine sounds sprinkled all over it. You almost get to hear all sounds that are part of the Science Desktop theme of Windows 98! It gets better when SPB starts his show. He shows why he is still the Boss managing high pitch & low pitch stuff with absolute ease. There are a lot of filler lines though, and the lines go astray with respect to the tune – The song just passes muster. I can’t help thinking how so much of sophistication can still not win over Ilaiyaraja’s simple Vikram..Vikram which falls in the same category.

Kadhal Anukkal (Vijay Prakash,Shreya Ghoshal)
The guitar bit & organ have unmistakable resemblance to Rang De Basanti’s Luka Chuppi & Yuvvraaj’s Zindagi respectively. This kind of repetition is something I have not observed much with Rahman and it was disappointing. Some novel interludes and lively renditions from Vijay Prakash and Shreya Ghoshal save this song to make it fall in the ‘listenable’ category.

Irumbile Or Irudhayam (AR Rahman,Kash n Krissy)
This song falls in the genre of songs you get to listen to when you do shopping in one of those posh cloth stores! It is definitely a new kind for tamil songs and Rahman has pulled it off decently. Still, that kind of music doesn’t seem to go well with Tamil lyrics and there surely is a disconnect even though Rahman gives an invigorating rendition. I wish he doesn’t repeat attempts of this type.

Arima Arima (Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam)
My pick of this album. This song has grandeur written all over it. One could imagine how huge Shankar would have picturised this song singing praises of the hero. Hariharan’s vigorous singing, ably supported by Sadhana Sargam helps the song’s cause. The chorus portions add oomph to the minutes. This probably is the ‘Mudhalvane..vane’ of Enthiran.

Boom Boom Robo Da (Pradeep Vijay,Pravin Mani, Yogi B)
This is THAT song in the album where Rahman rules with his techno stuff. A rap, interspersed with violin & piano orchestrations and if that is not enough to bowl you over, there is a good dose of Jathis sung in Slumdog Millionaire’s Liquid Planes style.Thumbs high up! Credits to Pravin Mani as he is accredited to the additional arrangements in the album cover.

Boom Boom Robo Da (Yogi B, Keerthi,Swetha,Tanvi)
This one is distinct from the the other version of Boom Boom Robo. With some stylish beats, santour , latino sounds and heavy metal for support, the crooner carries the main portion in style. The sudden change in ragam in both the stanzas is a pleasing shocker. Yogi B does the rapping. I am not a big fan of his. He brings déjà vu and I would have preferred to listen to Blazee’s crooning of the rap anyday.

Kilimanjaro (Javed Ali,Chinmayi)
This one is a run-of-the-mill Rahman duet but the fact that an ordinary Rahman duet can be as enticing as the best of others stands testimony to the heights the man has scaled. One interesting thing in this song is the smartly rhymed verses. The humming is typical Psycho stuff Rahman brings now and again – the choice of hums being enjoyable & puzzling at the same time.

Rahman started 2010 stretching the limits of the romance genre like only he can with insanely versatile songs in Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya. He followed that up with a woods-centric album in Raavanan/Raavan that suited the film’s needs to a T. He is probably signing off the year with Enthiran and I can’t help feeling that he is doing it on a low considering the quality of the other two albums. Make no mistake, the tunes are commercially viable and will definitely be a rage among the audience.
While fans of Rajnikanth can rejoice, Rahmaniacs would be left wanting more!