Oru kannil is routine hero-introduction; template of a tune comparing the hero to a wild flower! Naresh Iyer manages to infuse some life into Azhago azhagu but it seldom rises above the almost-Harris Jeyaraj’ish humdrum. Poikkaal kuthirai must be the single most experimental song in Yuvan’s career (yet!) – bizarre concoction of vocal effects and [...]

The title song is scintillating; the fact that the catchy Mankatha hook is used sparingly while the rest of the song builds around it displays a Rahman’ish maturity in Yuvan’s music! Nee naan is almost Ilayaraja in its nuanced tune; and SPB Charan should sing a lot more. Vaada Bin Laada‘s absurd lyrics are compensated [...]

Mani Sharma appropriates the already delightful Chor bazari from the original to create an equally likeable Aale bale! Karunya’s Vayyarala has an intentionally packaged, nice old-worldly charm to it. Chiguru boniya and Barbi bommaki are standard Mani fare; booming, lively orchestration with the tunes going nowhere. Sri Ganga is interesting – mixes the devotional, and [...]

Dhagudu dhattham‘s lyrics are typical Kamal Haasan, but the tune is a callow mélange. Andrea sounds fabulous even in the humdrum broadway’ish Who’s the hero, while Neela vaanam makes great use of Kamal’s vocals in a brooding melody. Oyyale is standard Devi-style folk; catchy, but also jaded. The theme offers a short jubilant sound, while [...]

Benny Dayal’s vocal contortions reach a Whitney Houston’ish level in Omana penne, a lyrically-challenged, plain-by-Rahman-standards tune. Chinmayi and Devan’s vocal interplay works beautifully in Anbil avan, while Vinnaithaandi varuvaayaa seems like a tantalizing ode to George Michael’s Older! Hosanna carries an uneasy Yuvraaj hangover, but delivers the goods, while Mannippaaya gets all sappy on forgiveness. [...]

The title song has got to be the corniest ode to the Lord at Tirupati ever; while it’s great to hear Mano’s voice after a break, it still is a mighty cheesy song. Nee kallalo works well as a techno-melody – good arrangements and a pleasant tune, while Non Stop too is stylishly composed for [...]

Ilayaraja pitches in with cool vocals in the hep Adada vaa, the highlight of which is that persistent flute piece! Sutta suriyana carries Yuvan’s Pattiyal sound, but is punchy enough. Kaatrukkullae could have reached new heights had it been sung by another singer – Yuvan spoils this fascinatingly arranged tune. Neethaane has Yuvan working his [...]

With inane lyrics, the title song and Nuvvu ready are insipid, to put it mildly, while A to Z, despite equally silly lyrics, is at least catchy in a weird way! O Manmadhuda is lovely, Devi reusing his Kannada Sangama title song effectively, but the techno’ish Nenu ni raja is plain lame. The rollicking folk [...]

Azhagiya kili plays with pathos in a mockingly grand set-up and just sounds weird! Vaa vaa is a Sivaji-styled melody with Madhu Balakrishnan’s vocals that gathers steam mid-way, elegantly – another bit song, Moongil vittu, uses only this portion, interestingly! Ore oru flows like a story book but is just functional, with atrocious pronunciation by [...]

En anbe is soporific, despite desperate attempts by Harris to induce interest by Chinese-sounding preludes and African-sounding interludes. Aaradi kaathe is a hopeless hero-worship track that manages only to annoy while Ada gada goes one step further with astoundingly bad lyrics and tune. Paal pappaali doesn’t work either – a recycled tune and some terrible [...]