Music review: Pokkiri

Chanced to listen to the soundtrack of Pokkiri (Tamil) yesterday. Have been listening to it ever since. A friend tells me that some / most of the songs are carbon copies of the original Telugu soundtrack. Haven’t listened to them, so these tracks sound fresh to me. My thoughts on the album…

1. Dol Dol Thaan ( “Mirchi” Suchitra, Ranjith): Some kind of wild song, at least the lyrics are to that effect — “puli maanai vettai dhaan aadidume kaattil… maan puliyai vettai aadum idam kattil”. Suchi’s voice suits the tone of the song. This isn’t the kind we would classify peppy (as most songs of this type are), slow in fact, but the beats are excellent, and you’d find yourself foot-tapping instantly. The way the male voice blends in the “aayla aayla adi aariyamaala…” refrain is the highlight of the song.

2. Aadungada (Naveen): If this isn’t the introduction song for Vijay, then we should all surrender our Ph.Ds in Tamil movies. The song starts with the kind of beat we’ve grown accustomed to since Podhuvaaga En Manasu Thangam (Murattu Kaalai). The lyric has all the elements of an intro song for Vijay — some random advice about mothers, love, work ethic etc. Nothing new, good nevertheless.

3. Nee Mutham Ondru Koduththaal (Ranjith, “Mirchi” Suchitra): An inexpensive alternative to your next aerobics album. Probably the only melody in the whole album; at least, this is what you’d label a melody in a soundtrack that is for the best part anything but. The lyrics, I couldn’t understand much, but the lyricist seems to get into some infinite loop about Tamil every so often. The remixed version doesn’t sound much different either. But hey, doesn’t the song remind you of “mere sapno ki rani, kab aayagi tu?”

4. Maambazhamaam (Shankar Mahadevan, Ganga): So Mani Sharma had to give Shankar Mahadevan a song, and couldn’t find anything better… Okayish, if you like inane, pointless stuff, or if you’re a member of Vijay’s fanatics club, but otherwise a skip-me track.

5. En Chella Peru Apple ( “Mirchi” Suchitra, A.V. Ramanan): On listening to this song, a friend asked me if Mani Sharma composed music for the Madhavan-starrer Jay Jay. This song reminds you rather too easily of the “May Maasam” song (yeah, the one about Reema Sen’s electoral rights). I wish Mani had given A.V. Ramanan something better. This is probably the intro song for Asin… so in the movie hall, you might not want to miss it; otherwise, move on!

6. Vasantha Mullai (Rahul Nambiyar, Krishnamurthy): The pick of the album. Even as you read the name of track, you know it is a remix of the old favourite from Saarangadhara. But it isn’t a straight remix (if some such term exists). The song starts on some kind of “nakkal” music, which would make you chuckle about the way most old songs open. The beats are awesome, another foot-tapping number… it is hard to see how you might not like it. The nakkal extends to the lyrics as well — “kaadhal enbathu aandhaiyai pole, night muzhuvathum muzhikkum… kamban veettu naayai pole, kavidhayaa adhu koraikkum!” This is one for your Top 10 list!

7. Pokkiri – Theme: A let-down, considering that the track opens with a lot of promise, but then some unintelligible sounds and lyrics creep in, destroying the effect. Someone tell me why should a theme song have a 30-second refrain, “Soap maari… soap maari” or something like that.

Overall verdict: Very good, if not excellent; go for it; good work by Mani Sharma… you can expect the movie to have an extended run just for the soundtrack!

You can listen to all the songs online at MusicIndiaOnline > Pokkiri.

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