Pudhuppettai Audio

The Selvaraghavan-Yuvan Shankar Raja combination epitomises the next generation of Tamil cinema. While the former has blazed a new track with his raw and earthy filmmaking style, the latter, after experimenting with a number of styles, finally seems to have found his groove and his own style. With two blockbuster soundtracks behind them, the duo's next collaboration, Pudhuppettai, was eagerly awaited and is definitely worth the wait. It is an album that cannot be slotted into any genre and is unique in many respects.

1. Survival of the Fittest... (Instrumental)
A leisurely, slow piece which doesn't have any beats. Not particularly catchy but quite haunting when you listen to it.

2. Neruppu Vaayinil…
Having Kamal sing this song is a stroke of pure genius. His slightly raspy voice and vocal gymnastics (familiar in numbers like Kadavul Paadhi…) suit the song very well and add a nice edge to many of the lines. The interludes at different places are paced very different and rarely end up being the way we expect them to. A number of styles are evident too, like the humming in the middle, which wouldn’t be out of place even in an 80’s duet.

3. Enga Area…
This is a rousing, high-energy number that is a rather unique but exhilarating combination of duppanguthu lyrics and western beats. The tune of the 2 stanzas remind me of Macarena (the original Spanish number and not the Kushi song!) just a little bit. And an already great number is made greater by the sudden and unexpected merging of a line from an old MGR song(from Padakotti?) in the middle. The way it is brought in as part of the song before playing the original line itself and then continuing with the song is just brilliant. Kudos YSR!

4. Selling Dope... (Instrumental)
Another slow piece without any beats. Towards the end it sounds like the background score for one of those Mickey Mouse or Tom & Jerry cartoons!

5. Oru Naalil…
YSR’s singing ruins this song for me. It has a nice tune and the places with a high pitch are definitely good. I’ve even started to like YSR’s nasal voice and unlike earlier songs he has sung, he sings the high pitches quite well here. But his bad pronunciation (especially the Tamil l and L sounds) gets on my nerves. And he lacks the voice modulation that would give the other parts of the song some energy.

6. Going thro Emotions… (Instrumental)
The catchiest of the instrumental pieces, this one blends a number of sounds in a very interesting manner. Interesting the way the music fits the prayer chants at the end perfectly.

7. Pul Pesum…
Reminds one of Theeppidikka… at the start because of the orchestration, the way the singers sing and the way the song is constructed. Its not clear from the lyrics what kind of situation this song is going to be placed in.

8. Variyaa…
Its impossible not to shake your legs to this one. Catchy beats, a steady tone and strategically inserted “Variyaa”s make this a fun number. The section sung in a high pitch near the end seems unnecessary and lowers the class of the song just a little bit.

9. Clash of the Titans… (Instrumental)
A soaring, inspiring piece that sounds more like part of the background score in a war movie.

10. Oru Naalil…
A faster remix of #5 that at many places sounds just like you played that number in x2 speed on your CD player. But the speed does hide the imperfections in YSR’s voice, which was my biggest problem with that number. The fast beats fit the high-pitch sections of the song very well. A perfect number for the workout playlist on the iPod :-)