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In the order of my preference. May not match other criteria like sales, perceived popularity, etc., since this is my personal opinion!

01. Imaan ka asar - Dor, Salim Suleiman

02. Tere bin - Bas ek pal, Mithun

03. Javeda zindagi - Anwar, Mithun

04. Ay hairathe - Guru, A R Rahman

05. Kya mujhe - Woh lamhe, Pritam

06. Ahista ahista - Ahista Ahista, Himesh Reshammiya

07. Dheemi dheemi - Shiva, Ilayaraja

08. Chand sifarish - Fanaa, Jatin Lalit

09. Jaane kya - Pyar Ke Side Effects, Pritam

10. Doston - Iqraar-By Chance, Sandesh Shandilya

Tough choice, but here’s the top 10 of what I liked in Tamil film songs, in 2006. And yes, this is in the order of my preference - don’t want to hide under the ‘not-in-any-particular-order’ pretext.

01. Sudum Nilavu - Thambi, Vidyasagar

02. Munbe vaa - Sillunu oru kaadhal, A R Rahman

03. Thaiyatha - Thiruttu Payale, Bharadwaj

04. Koligundu kannu - Em Magan, Vidyasagar

05. Nilavai sutri - Madhu, Ilayaraja

06. Kangal Theduthe - Manathodu Mazhaikkaalam, Karthikraja

07. Manjal veyil - Vettayaadu Vilayaadu, Harris Jeyaraj

08. Urugudhey - Veyil, G V Prakash Kumar

09. Loosu penne - Vallavan, Yuvan Shankar Raja

10. Dei namma - Pattiyal, Yuvan Shankar Raja

There’s a reason why Murugesan (Pasupathy) is a drifter and more importantly, a loner, in Manoj Night Shyamalan’s parlance - to save his brother! Vasanthabalan’s intermittently bloody Veyil really doesn’t deserve the plaudits it’s been garnering. It pretends to portray a loser’s life under the pretext of some terribly commercial situations, with mere flashes of brilliance in Kadhir’s (Bharath) character and vocation – a small town ad. agency. Debutant composer GV Prakash does live up to his lineage and delivers the goods wonderfully. But, the overall package is a complete potboiler with an overdose of melodrama that even a usually subtle performer like Pasupathy is forced to overact. The surprise element is Bharath who continues to win brownie points as the most natural small town guy on Tamil screen – he has been doing it so well recently. But, more than all these trivial misgivings, I’ve a massive grouse with the basic theme – how dare the director even assume that Murugesan’s life was unsuccessful? If he has lived peacefully in that theater for 20 years doing what he enjoys best, it would have been a very fulfilling 20 prime years that many of us can only dream of! Veyil pretends and disappoints.

Keywords: Shankar, Bharath, Bhavana, Pasupathy, Veyyil
Note: 200 words not ‘cos the film deserves it. But, ‘cos I couldn’t express my grouse in 100 words!

Is Kattabomman supposed to sound like a powerful entry song? It is muted and lacks any kind of impact. Vaartha onnu takes from parts of Pattiyal’s Dei namma and seems largely situational. Thiruchendooru muruga is a throw back on the 90s Rahman with minimal rhythms and a simple flow of tune. Thaaliye is soft and monotonous, drifting aimlessly while the blatant rip-off of the popular religious number Karpoora naayagiye, Karuppaana kaiyaale is just that - a rip-off, unwanted in a composer of Yuvan’s caliber. Hari’s move off his regular composers – Harris Jeyaraj and Bharadwaj – has yielded him pretty sub-standard results.

Keywords: Yuvan, Vishal, Tamirabarani, Thamirabarani

Solli tharava and Pidikkum have passable, lively tunes, but are bound to make the vanguards of Tamil protection mad, for the ridiculous pronunciation. Anbulla kaadhali has a decently orchestrated calypso’ish tune. Unnikrishnan makes an appearance after ages in Pallaandu, a track that completely defies the composer’s image and pedigree. It carries a pious and fairly unspoilt classical sound that works. Mayile is the track that is quintessentially Srikanth Deva - a kuthu track, loud and noisy. Srikanth Deva suddenly seems to have realized that he’s heading nowhere with his usual stuff and comes up with surprisingly decent stuff in Aalwar.

Keywords: Ajith, Ajit, Asin, Aalzhwar, Alwar, Azhwar

Hello miss has all HJ’ish elements…catchy rhythms, ‘yah..’ interludes, a husky male voice…and the package is enjoyable as well! Ilamai ullasam has a blatant but mild variation of the ‘Na na…’ sequence from Wilson Picket’s Land of a thousand dances. June pona and Unnale unnale are the soundtrack’s highpoints, for their urban, pleasant pop sound, very unique to HJ. Vaigasi nilave recalls Minnale’s Venmadhi occasionally but is striking thanks to its unusual twists in rhythm and interludes. Mudhal naal is way too similar to Kakka kakka’s Ennai konjam and that’s a sore point. The usual again from HJ…likeable and repetitive!

Keywords: Harris Jeyaraj, Harris Jayaraj, Tanisha Mukherjee, Jeeva, Sada

Aadungadaa & Maambazham stray into T.Rajendar’s kuppam and sound as pointless as they could, with utter nonsense in the name of lyrics! Two of Mani Sharma’s Telugu Pokiri tracks show up then…Dole dole is slightly better than the assembly-line En chella peru. The dreary Nee mutham ondru is more of a glorified nursery rhyme while the faux-reworking of Vasantha mullai is the only track with some chutzpah! The original Pokiri had a better selection, in terms of Gala gala and Devuda, even if they were blatant lifts. In Tamil, Mani Sharma miscalculates big time and ends up with an egg!

Keywords: Vijay, Pokkiri, Asin, Mani Sharma

Subah subah with those neat guitar riffs and energetic tune, is instantly catchy and typical Vishal Shekhar material. Zubeen’s singing makes that essential difference too. But, Kehna hai jo and Halo halo for all their zingy sound, are rather monotonous as far as the tune goes, with the prominent hook in Halo halo making it marginally better. Sach hui too, despite Sunidhi’s diva-styled singing, is rather sleep inducing. Thankfully Whosane’s remixes of Subah subah and Halo halo puts the energy back in the soundtrack. Despite the promise created by the neat promos, I See You is essentially a one-good-track album.

Keywords: Arjun Rampal, Vishal Shekhar

Jaan-e-mann is an astounding debut, no doubt. The package is zingy fresh, as if Sapnay’s Ek bagiya mein is made into a full fledged film! But, the bewildering visual gimmicks notwithstanding, there’s a sense of fatigue at many points in the movie. It perhaps has to do with the fact that Shirish the editor is nowhere around! As the director pulls one trick after another, he lets them meander tad too longer. Anu Malik’s music and Gulzar’s cleverly Hinglish words add considerable charm to the proceedings. Ultimately, this debut feature makes us look forward to what Shirish can do next!

Keywords: Shirish Kunder, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Preity Zinta

One of the prominent things I remember about the earlier album featuring Ustad and Chitra was the beautiful video by Pradeep Sarkar. The new Leja leja video fits right into the current scenario of videos with adequate skin show. Musically, Sandesh triumphs again, with Shreya’s Leja, Chitra’s Haiye re & Rangeelo rut and Sunidhi’s More piya and Hainiya being top picks. It’s a pity that the newly formed music label’s (YBR) head honchos treated this as yet another commercial album, with a video that doesn’t respect the spirit of the earlier album’s concept or a veteran like Ustad Sultan Khan.

Keywords: Sandesh Shandilya, Chitra, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Goshal, Ustad Sultan Khan