Sivaji - The Boss : Audio Review

Nothing could be bigger than this in Tamil Cinema. AVM’s Production, Super Star Rajinikanth, director Shankar and A.R.Rahman’s music. Sivaji is definitely the biggest film in Tamil Cinema. The audio of such a huge film has been released on April 2nd. I expected a lot from this audio, feeling this should be the best, but it sounds just good to me and nothing more.

I rate the songs normally based on how good they sound in FM radio played in my bus. :-D Trust me, many songs I hated have become my favorites after I listened to them in my bus, so that’s my benchmark. :-P

I am writing about the songs in the order of my favorites. And for the claim that Rahman’s music is slow poison and all that, I am writing this review after listening to the songs lots of times in past 3 days.

Vaaji Vaaji – Hariharan, Madhushree

This I would say is the best song of the album and clearly shows Rahman is still around and is not gone as some critics claim. The music, lyrics, chorus and lead vocals are simply excellent. Hariharan is awesome with his energy of rendition while Madhushree is just okay. Though this is much better than dozens of songs where she had muttered and whined in a horrible voice doing a massacre of Tamil, I still feel Sujatha or Sadhana Sargam would have done more justice to this song. Nevertheless, a great song. “Poombaavaai Aambal Aambal; Punnagayo Mowval Mowval” piece is superb.

Sahana Saaral – Udit Narayan, Chinmayi

My next favourite, a brilliant song with its own share of negatives. There is a saying in Tamil “Korangu kaila poomalai”. That is what Rahman has done by making Udit Narayan sing this song. But for Udit Narayan’s voice this would have been a fantastic song. One cannot blame Udit Narayan, only Rahman is responsible for this. Is there lack of good singers in Tamil? Why give such a wonderful song to Udit, who in an attempt to get Tamil pronunciation right and sing in a high scale messes up with both. It looks like he is moaning with pain. Chinmayi on the other hand is awesome and saves the song entirely. Nothing so great about the lyrics. Part of the prelude music is exactly the same as the one in “Kalyaana Then Nila” from Mounam Sammadham.

Sahara Pookal – Vijay Yesudas, Gomathi Sri

This is a pathos version of the above song. Superb again. Vijay Yesudas is undeniably the singer of the year with a lot of hits to his credit and he showcases his brilliance in this song too. It makes me wonder even after hearing this voice, what made Rahman credit the other version of this song to Udit Narayan. Vijay Yesudas would have been really the best choice for the other version too. The song has just a pallavi followed by “Maale Manivanna” Thiruppavai verse rendered by Gomathi Sri. Her voice is not childish as mentioned in the Rediff review. On the contrary, it sounds too matured, that I wonder if it will be filmed on a middle aged Iyengar maami in the film :-P

Balleilakka – SPB, Raihanah

The typical Rajinikanth intro song, this time the super star will mouth great lines about Traditional Tamil culture rather than lines of inspiration. Nicely written song and executed with great music, who else can complete the loop other than SPB? Proving yet again he is the best to render intro songs for the superstar, he sings with such an energy that would put even the youngest singers to shame. Raihanah provides the required vocal support. I cannot help myself from getting reminded of “Devuda Devuda” from Chandramukhi every time I listen to this song. If picturised well, this would be the song of this year.

If all songs are good, then why did I say the album is just good? Here comes the list of disappointments.

Athiradee – A.R. Rahman, Sayanora

This is a peppy dance number. It stars off well, just starts off, after that its total disaster with respect to lyrics and Rahman’s unnecessary heavy throated rendition. I feel any other singer like Ranjith would have done a better job. It has reference to many of Rajini’s previous movie titles. The retro style Guitar strains in the interludes are nice and the female lead Sayanora(Philips) has done a great job. There are no lyrics in the song infact, it is just a string of lots of words put together. Wishing the song should be visual delight atleast.

The Boss - Blaaze, Naresh Iyer & Raqueeb Alam

The theme song that sounds like “Paatshaala” from Rang De Basanti. The lyrics are nothing but the punch dialogues of Rajini, which might appear in the film too. But they does not sound like Rajini’s punches, but more like those of T.Rajendar. There is nothing wrong with the vocals or music in this song. Its all great. But the lyrics which are supposed to be soul of this theme song are so stupid and awkward.

Oru Koodai Sunlight - Rags, Blaaze, Tanvi & Suresh Peters

The famous song that did rounds as promos with the lead pair sporting all awkward makeup and hairstyles. It carries the great message on “Karuupu and Sevappu” that is a part of all recent Rajini film songs. Other than the Spanish lines, techno beats, “Style” chorus and the singing by Tanvi, there is nothing much to write about this song. Why the hell is the song written in horrible Tamil if it has to sound so westernized? And even then, why such horrible male voices are chosen to sing the song?? Only Shankar and Rahman can answer. Its not singing, to be harsh, it sounds like shouting from a constipated person.

Overall, this is a good album, but I would rate it as the last among Shankar’s music albums till date. My rating would be 7.5/10.

P.S: For anti-piracy activists, I am yet to grab an audio CD of my own. Will get it this weekend, the review is based on numerous hearings of the songs from various FM stations of Chennai. I don’t have a pirated copy of the songs in my PC. ;-)