Enthiran Music Review I decided to write this review sooner than I thought due to the songs having a more instant impact and having listened to the whole album at least 15 times since it came out. Further time is not going to change my opinions. My comments are only on the music, not the lyrics.
I wonder if we really understand and appreciate the difficulty of Rahman's job, no matter how musically brilliant he is. He is human after all, and not a robot. He has to keep in mind so many expectations and demands, esp. when you have a leading film-maker and superstar with his own fan following .Rajinikant. Post Oscars, the expectations for Rahman have only grown and I truly wonder how he manages to rise to the occasion each time, whether we ourselves like an album or not. With Shankar and Rajinikant at hand, boy, Rahman must try to keep a lot of people happy all at once, yet creating music fitting for the movie that's supposed to have sci fi, robo themes! If there's anyone who can do justice to these demands, it's Rahman. The hype around the music release of this album is one of the biggest I've seen in a while ..touted as one of the finest films, most expensive films, etc. Pudiya Manidha whisks us away to a land of robos and futuristic sci fi, and man, does it ever leave a mark! One of the sleekest masterpieces Rahman has ever come out with in my opinion, this song oozes with etherealness, groove, punch, mystery, intrigue, and trance. This track takes me to another world truly with Rahman's sweet touches .crystal, progressive synth sound effects, warm ambiance, loopy synths, and the ever soothing and captivating string arrangements. Post Khatija Rahman's soulful singing and bleating goat sounds, the song picks up speed with rhythms and SPB's spritely singing. Notice how the strings mimic the synth loop melody, only adding depth and character to an already richly bestowed track. Based loosely on raaga Bhimpalas, the song takes a soaring route during the heavenly string interlude. Beautiful choral additions are appreciated, adding a stark spirituality and sonic texture along with SPB's split octave singing, creating a very balanced and satisfying bass/treble aural experience on all frequencies. This track will likely go down as one of my favorites in ARR's entire repertoire for the reasons outlined above and for reasons I just can't put into words, but can only feel and experience. For a techno/trance number, it's very spiritual in feel! A complete masterpiece from start to finish, what a way to kick off!!!! A contrasting, more acoustic, upbeat and happier track follows as Shreya and Vijay Prakash please us with lilting singing and joy in Kaadhal Annukal. Rahman's use of rhythm acoustic guitar layered with the sweet accordion and mouth organ/harmonica is extremely appealing aurally with incredible sweetness! Beautiful interludes highlight this earthy and charming song with a Scottish/Irish style using piccolo and accordion in the first, and a very unconventional, out of the box mysterious and ambient synth section in the second, showcasing ARR's brilliant creativity and craft. The second interlude is truly outstanding as it gravitates away from the usual flowery mood and organic sound and serves us something more electronic and spacey, but never distracts the groove and momentum of the whole track! I just love how ARR uses the strings so tastefully and craftily throughout the song creating a very lush aural landscape, esp. in the end when Shreya's counter melodic line joins in. A really sparkling track from start to finish for me and this song just radiates freshness and innovativeness for an Indian film song. The melody itself is very sweet with many hooks, though unconventional for an Indian duet film song and at times hard to remember, but with repeated exposures, I can't get this song out of me!! The whole song is beautifully supported by a fresh, rhythmic groove that mostly unwavers alongside haunting and unique chords and chord progressions. Following the very techno and synth heavy first track, how beautifully contrasting we hear a very earthy and acoustic one in the second ..truly showcasing ARR's versatility and genius in the first 2 tracks alone!!! The third track, Irumbile Oru, is techno to the core, but sounding like an ordinary remix to me! Marked by some sexy grooves and female rapping along with ARR's metallic tinged voice, this track has not yet impressed me much musically. Maybe if I understood the lyrics, I would appreciate it more, but I did notice how the lyrics and words seem to flow quite well. I don't know why Rahman did not do more musically with this track, esp. using a kind of outdated techno sound that has been used over and over! As my friend put it, "this track is a lost opportunity for Rahman" in terms of sound, but I can see how the youngsters are enjoying it for its sheer rhythmic groove, lyrics, word flow, and ARR's voice. Nothing more to write here! ARR has a little fun in the next track, Chitti Dance Showcase, which begins as a cheesy robotic voice come on Rahman! You can do better! Why choose a clichéd, stereotyped robotic sound that we've heard over and over? Once again, Rahman using a very outdated sound! I can understand Rahman's attempt to be obvious and literal as he needs to cater to the masses, but still .there is no elevation of taste using these outdated and hackneyed robo sounds! But, on the plus side, this track has its interesting and at times brilliant moments, esp. with the beautiful and sweeping string and choral interlude, but alas, only lasts about 10-15 seconds! We hear all sorts of genres here .symphony, heavy metal, Indian tarana, but with jarring transitions. Oh, and I also like that little whistling, jazzy insertion that he put in there towards the end .showing the more humorous and playful side to ARR! Nice touch there! We switch gears to a much more heavy sounding number, Arima Arima, with Hariharan and Sadhana Sargam, 2 singers we haven't heard in a long time in a Rahman's song! This track is full of valor and majesty, showcasing brass and pomp with militarized drumming and a dose or distorted rock guitar to add exclamation! I love Rahman's use of the symphonic strings in this song using them to accent rhythms and intertwining them delicately at times in 16th note fashion creating a beautifully crafted and intricate rhythmic and textured backdrop to Hariharan's and Sadhana Sargam's passionate singing. I love some of the operatic voices that are also used as transitional pieces. I also loved that little 16th note synth insertion during one of the song's transitions, adding energy to an already vibrant and punchy track! Did you notice how the trumpet interlude totally changes the mood of the song as we go into major scale? I love that part of the song!!!! The singing is semi classical at times, esp. during the antaras, which I really appreciate. The track both begins and ends with synth, creating an interesting contrast to the much more acoustic and earthy majority of the song. We go light in mood again with an African twist!!! Kilimanjaro is a real treat with extremely catchy lyrics and spirited singing by Chinmayi and Javed Ali! What a track! I love the mood of this whole song and the beautifully authentic African vocal tribal interludes add only icing to the cake! I don't know how Rahman created such an authentically earthy sound to the tribal choral parts! This song is just brilliant and so crafty! I love how the crisp tablas are used at times and the naughty singing by Chinmayi, who doesn't sound her usual self, but very convincing! This raaga Malkauns based track is punctuated by some very wholesome and crisp drumming, catapulting this track forward with every step! Check out the rhythmic variations during many parts of the song with added maracas (or another instrument) in double time, esp. during the second tribal part. Let's not forget the playful "click click" sound either, which is just perfectly placed! Rahman's versatility is simply mindblowing!!!! The final track begins with Yogi B's "Boom Boom Robo Da" bit which repeats kind of annoyingly through the rest of the song. I could have enjoyed this song without that part, catchy as it is!!! Brass hits and funky techno beats characterize this very rhythmic, colorful and varied track with multiple musical genres in jazz, latin, rap, heavy metal, hip hop, etc. For a change, it's nice to hear Yogi B, another rapper besides Blaaze, though no hard feelings towards Blaaze! The antaras are quite melodiously sung as the singing takes on a more semi classical turn in raaga Abhogi and occasionally Bhairavi. I very much appreciate the second interlude Latin/Spanish sounding section with the soothing female chorus and nice but brief acoustic Spanish sounding guitar. There are more acoustic elements to this song too as what sounds like a bright santoor plays an old fashioned melody in the beginning and acoustic guitar plucking briefly as the other musical flavors melt away for a brief bit during some later transitions. A patchwork track of sorts, much like its predecessor in Chitti Showcase, it's quite entertaining to the core with some splashes of sweet melody thrown in. Rahman's talent as a musically genius craftsman really shines in this track. So, another milestone in ARR's career if you ask me with heavyweights Pudhiya Manidha, Kadhal Anukkal, Arima, and Kilimanjaro totally carrying this soundtrack on all four of their shoulders. These 4 songs to me embody some of Rahman's finest musical work to date in terms of composition, innovation, sonic creativity, and mass and class appeal. This album would be worthy enough with only these 4 songs on the table. The other 3 tracks have bright moments contained within them, but seriously, the outdated and cheesy and cliched robo/electro sounds of the 1980s are a big turn off for me and I am quite disappointed by Rahman's choice here, also likely influenced by Pravin Mani. I really wish that similar sound templates of the ambient textured, progressive and futuristic sounds of Pudhiya Manidha would have been in more abundance in the rest of the songs, but perhaps Shankar had a big say in this to cater to more of the masses and Rajinikant fans and what fits in with the film ..I don't know. As an album overall, it's qualitatively very inconsistent to me and very gimmicky in parts, but with 4 brilliant songs in the mix, I will surely be playing this very entertaining CD as well as the Telugu and Hindi counterparts in heavy rotation for a long, long time to come! Numeric Values: 7/10 Compared to other Rahman albums (mostly for the 4 amazing songs I talked about above) 9/10 Compared to contemporary Indian film albums Copyright by iChord 2010. No part of this writeup may be reproduced without the sole written consent of this writer.
