Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Sivaji Audio

1. Ballelakka...
There are some rules to be followed in a Rajni film and one of them is that the introduction numberbe sung by SPB. Rahman followed the rule in Muthu and Padaiyappa but deviated from it for Baba - with disastrous consequences. He does things right this time with the awesome Ballelakka..., which provides a great start to the album(and to the film, I'm sure). It is one ofthe fastest opening songs for Rajni in recent times and the fast tempo of the first few lines gets our feet tapping right away. SPB is phenomenal with his breathless singing for the Sadugudu... lines and as usual, adds his own touches like the harsh repetition of Tiruthanikkaa... and the mild laugh when singing Oororam Ayyanaaridam kathi vaangi pencil seevalaame.... The song slows down in the 2 paragraphs and does remind one of Devuda Devuda... sometimes. The lyrics, which are nice and simple, ask one to enjoy the simple pleasures offered by our villages and praise the good heart of our villagers.

2. Sahaanaa/Sahara
Sahaanaa... is a beautiful melody sung by Udit Narayan and Chinmayi. Udit seems to have really worked on his pronunciation(especially if you compare this to kuLuvaalile..., the previous song he sung for Rajni) and utters most of the words well. Sahara... is a slightly slower version sung by Vijay Yesudas and Gomathi. Vijay sings it very soulfully and it is very soft and soothing. Gomathi has a very strong, unique voice and renders the Thiruppaavai beautifully.

3. Style...
When Style... starts, it doesn't sound like a Rajni song at all. Blaaze's voice definitely doesn'tsuit thalaivar and the lyrics sound like they are sung by someone fair-skinned while thalaivar has a dark complexion(which he and others have referred to proudly in the past). But the section that goes ada ada ada... definitely makes this a Rajni song. Style is pretty much the word we associate most closely with Rajni and this segment will make any thalaivar fan get goosebumps as it calls his walk, his toussled hair, his laugh, his talk, etc. all stylish before ending with vara vara ellaame style! The song sounds a bit like one of those Caribbean songs but the Ragalai Sei... section in pure Tamil is a pleasant surprise in the middle of the otherwise English-heavy song. The lyrics are pretty much indecipherable for most of the song but there are some nice phrases in there once we do decipher them(my favorite is Rajni singing irundhaaye uruvathil ettaai..., which suits Shriya just perfectly :-).

4. Vaaji Vaaji...
This is a more traditional duet without any Rahmanesque touches. It has a nice tune and rhythm and is instantly likeable. Hariharan sounds a little different and his voice isn't as smooth as usual but Madhushri sings well and her correct pronunciation is a pleasant surprise. Vairamuthu doesn't write anything exceptional but his touch is evident in words like aambaal and mouval (which are apparently flowers) and cleverly naughty lines like kumariyin vaLangaL; kuzhandhaiyin siNungal; muranpaadu moottai nee.

5. Adhiradikkaaran Machaan...
Rahman lends his unique voice to this number that has really grown on me since the first time I listened to it. Its kind of a funky song with good guitar pieces and the lyrics praise thalaivar to the skies (the references are all to 80's icons like Roger Moore and Eddie Murphy. Not sure if it was done because the song is used in a flashback or just because those names are more popular among the target demographic). The Billa Ranga Baasha dhaan; ivan pistol pesum besha dhaan line rolls of the tongue nicely and is the pick of the song's lyrics.

6. The Boss
The song's start vaadaa vaadaa... reminds us of naandhaangoppandaa... from Ram Lakshman. That song was sung by Kamal as he fought with the bad guys and this song's lyrics(i.e. the little that can be understood!) make it sound like it might be used in a similar situation. The lyrics are light-hearted and fun, and silliness and rhyming seem to have been the first criteria as Jet Li is rhymed with idli, sixer is rhymed with puncture and jujubi is rhymed with jilebi (the sivaji vaayil, jilebi thaanda is actually a nice line that brought back some memories since I remember finding out in school that the words Sivaji Vaayile Jilebi, when written as 3 lines in Tamil, read the same both across and down).

The album has made both the Rajni fan and the Rahman fan in me happy!

23 Comments:

At 2:20 AM, Blogger Ganesh said...

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At 2:28 AM, Blogger Ganesh said...

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At 2:32 AM, Blogger Ganesh said...

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At 2:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Annan Vandha Tamilnadum America!

Ganesh, some of your facts there are wrong....

* What do you mean by Rajini stealing all the credit of his youthfulness? Of Course he gives AVM gives them money in return - it's their job!

*Pokiri grossed 45 crores, while Chandramukhi crossed 80 crores and Anniyan 60 crores. So Chandramukhi is a bigger hit :)

* Baba's character was supposed to be as it is - uneducated, lazy, pointless while Chandramukhi's was a psychiatrist! So the make-up was done to suit the character.

* Anbe Sivam was not directed by Kamal Haasan, it was started by Priyadarshan and finished by Sundar C.

Anyway, please put your anti-Rajini info somewhere else, lots of people are gonna get you back.

 
At 4:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ganesh..

stay away from bb comments .. i tell u

 
At 4:46 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not meaning to change the subject Balaji but...

Skanda, Pokkiri was the biggest hit in Telugu not in South India, it even lost its opening record last year to Chiru's Stalin. While Chandramukhi is still running after close to 800 days in Chennai. It also became a blockbuster in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, the USA, Europe and Japan. The latter of which ran for 75 days in a Yokohoma theatre grossing 35 crores.

And Sundar C did direct Anbe Sivam, not Kamal Haasan. What it says on the paper matters. If so why wasn't Vishal the director of Thimiru or Simbhu of Manmadhan.

So, in simple facts, get your facts right beore you attempt to respond!

 
At 4:50 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Guyz, also check out the Wikipedia page of Sivaji ! Some editor called G Ganesh has made it the best Indian movie article!

O ye, and people, S. Ganesh Kumar was also unliked in his days as a Wikipedia editor.

 
At 8:16 AM, Blogger Ganesh said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 9:16 AM, Blogger மு.கார்த்திகேயன் said...

As usual, awesome review Balaji!

I expected the line "Annan vantha thamizhnaadum amerika" in your review :-)

 
At 9:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

BB,

It's high time you enable comment moderation for your blog. Out of 11 comments so far, only Karthik has commented relevant to the post.

About the songs, except Balleilakka, all other songs are not typical rajini songs. I was bit apprehensive initially, whether Rajini fans will accept these kind of songs or not. Really happy to see the great response from Rajini fans.

-A Rahman fanatic

 
At 9:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Innikku naan office mattam and cooking to the moozic of "ballelakka" is an awesome feeling :)
At the end of the song i shout "repeatu' like in Devuda song :)

Eppo enga oor theatre-kku varumnu orey the waiting!

And yeah, good review. Athiradee song definitely needs repeated listening to appreciate it i guess. Athu varaikkum, Ballelakka thaan :D

 
At 10:03 AM, Blogger anantha said...

her correct pronunciation is a pleasant surprise

Joke dhaane idhu? :D

Only after I read the lyrics on Rajinifans.com, did I realize she meant to sing "Anbaa..Vaalai Edu, Azhagaai Saanaiyidu". Till then I was wondering what and "azhugai saaniyedu" meant!

As far as my opinion is concerned, I am little wary of the combination, actually. Taken separately, this is a nice Rahman score and in some ways a good Rajni score as well, but together, it's a wait and watch! The picturization is going to matter a lot!

 
At 10:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

to be honest, these songs havent quite caught my attention...maybe i'll like them more after i watch the movie once...theriyala...except for the vijay yesudas version of sahaana..., none of the other songs have got me humming...lyrics-um paadhi puriyala...for now, totally in a "mozhi" daze...both for the movie and the songs..."kaatrin mozhi" is such a soothing melody...avlo beautiful lyrics...
"kaadhal pesum mozhi elaam...sabdha kootil adangaadhu..." aaha, thamizh ode azhagey azhagu...

btw, here's what a friend of mine wrote when i asked him abt sivaji songs...he's a big arr fan...

"listened to it once while bathing yaa... edho kaaka valippu electric shock effect irundudu for a couple of songs. And vaaji vaaji bajji bajji nu oru song. That's all that I remember. Have it in the thumb drive in my car, but have Mozhi too... so you know :-)"

 
At 1:17 PM, Blogger Filbert said...

Good review, Balaji. The words Vara vara ellaame style is sure going to be the tag line of many Thalaivar fans. This album is easily the best of the 4 albums that Rahman has done for Thalaivar and the credit for that should go entirely to Shankar. My bottom-line would be what I read in another blog: "Idhu Rajini album alla. Idhu Rahman album alla. Idhu Shankar album alla. Idhu Ivargal album". Can't agree more :)

 
At 1:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does Rajini actually sing a part in the Style song as you said? It doesn't sound anything like him. He is a pretty good singer if that is him.

 
At 9:56 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Chandramukhi is still running in a theater that Prabhu and Ramkumar own :)

Anyways, I think the Sivaji songs are terrific. Rajini has never gotten such a hip, modern-sounding album. He will look silly dancing around with Shriya, who is practically young enough to be his daughter, but the songs are amazing. I can't wait to see Shankar's picturizations.

 
At 10:15 PM, Blogger Bart said...

All songs are on "repeatu" mode. "Ballelakka" is the pick ofcourse... One more term added for sure in Tamil dictionaries.
Waiting for the boss to rule...

 
At 10:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi BB,

As usual great writeup. Good comments...Ballelakka is my favourite too...

Please ban unnecessary unwanted comments from some people on your comments page. I came in to read with so much enthu and everything was spoilt after reading the unnecessary bickering between ganesh kumar and prin...

Thaliaivar is great and will always be...who cares if anyone else is greater or not...

Anon.

 
At 11:49 PM, Blogger Balaji said...

prin, thanx for the pointer to the wiki page on sivaji. awesome stuff...

karthik, thanx. everyone i read has mentioned that line. so i thot i'd be a li'l different :)

senthil, i think 'vaaji vaaji' is a typical rajni number too. and even 'sahana' since thalaivar has been having a soft melody in all his movies recently...

kumari, i guess i've heard 'ballelaka' so many times and so 'athiradi' has started growing on me :)

anantha, i guess its all relative! i found her voice so bad in 'perundhu nee enakku' so i guess she sounded better in this...

ram, ur friend is an arr fan but its clear he is not a rajni fan :)

filbert, very true. impact of all 3 can be seen in almost all songs :)

anon, no i meant rajni as in the film...

 
At 1:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

S. Ganesh Kumar,

an ACTOR should act, not show his real FACE. Then none of the films will run. People already can see the actors real face in newspaper, TV, web, magazines,etc. They dont want to pay the same in film.

If the guy can't ACT, no matter what role he acts , it would be a failiure.

Amir acts as college student, when his real age is 40+.
he cant fly planes in real life , but acts a AirForce pilot.
Hirithik, can jump but cant fly in real life. and by the way, Awwai Shanmughi/Apoorva Sagotharargal of Kamal was a hit because of his acting, but then he is neither a female nor little people.

So, the truth may be that you may be irritated by Rajini's success (and may be a little upset that you cant dance with shriya, when Rajini can).
So dude, leave your frustration, it does not take you anywhere. you could think of dancing with Shriya in your dreams....

 
At 11:14 AM, Blogger Rahmanic said...

Nice review dude... u hit the nail
have a look at mine at
rahmanic.blogspot.com

prasanna

 
At 11:15 PM, Blogger Karthikeyan said...

Balaji,
Its really cool (as Thala said) to hear that a tamil guy from California remembers the flower name that has been metioned in our tamil literature written by our ancestors from Lemuria

 
At 11:15 PM, Blogger Karthikeyan said...

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