Review

Good marks in second test

Majunu
HMV
Rs 45

Majunu, starring Prashant and Rinke Khanna, is Harris Jeyaraj's much-awaited album after Minnale,  and shows the same neat approach to orchestra 

Rinke Khanna, one of the new glamour girls in Mumbai, debuts in Tamil with this film. For Harris Jeyaraj this is the second test; he passed his first test in Minnale to the satisfaction of many Tamil film music lovers.
Director Ravichandran has already given films like Kannedhiray Thonrinal . Vairamuthu is the lyricist, and Murali Mohan, who produced Jeans and Jodi, is making Majunu .

While you will have to wait for some time to see how Rinke (Dimple Kapadia and Rajesh Khanna's daughter) fares in the South, we can right away listen to Harris Jeyaraj's songs. Rinke starred in Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi with three other newcomers, and also did a role in the Govinda starrer Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hai. Neither film did much for her career, but the glossies continued to splash her on their covers. Now comes her chance in Tamil and who knows, like Khushboo and Jyothika who came from Mumbai and became top heroines in Chennai, she might end up catching the fancy of Tamil film lovers.

As for Harris Jeyaraj, expectations are high after his well-deserved hit  Minnale, in which all songs were well-chiselled and orchestrated. You'll find the same neatness of arrangement on this album.

Majunu takes its name from the legendary love-pair of Laila Majnu. Needless to say this will be a love story. The sound on the album is clean pop with an Indian flavour -- meaning there's a tidy bass and straight-forward guitar chords on which Harris Jeyaraj weaves distinctively Indian-sounding phrases.

Bombay Jayashree's back on this album with Mudher kanave , which is not like Vaseegara, her hit in Minnale. This is no soft love ballad. It brings out a very throaty and sensuous quality in Jayashree's voice, which is trained to sing classical music. Harish Raghavendra and O S Arun also sing this number. Nadaswaram phrases (by Vasu) fill the interludes and bring in an unusual hue; the instrument also accompanies the main singer in some parts.

Gulmohar malare by Hariharan, Timmy and Anupama has some Irish accents to it, but it sings of dupattas and the lover pleads not to be hung up wrapped in one! The beat is R&B. The second guitar interlude is well played. Neil Mukherjee, Christie and Kabuli are the guitar credits.

Pada pada pattampochi has Chinese elements in the usage of the pentatonic scale (similar to raga Mohana) in the beginning. The rest of the song is folksy -- accentuated by high-pitched voice take-offs -- and reminds me of Rahman's Mudhalvan song Uppu karuvada. The singers are Shankar Mahadevan, Krishnaraj and Kavitha Subramaniam. The orchestra arrangement is also in the Uppu karuvada style.

Hari gori by Anuradha Sriram, Ganga, Febi, Tipu, Karthik and Devan begins agains the strumming of a single stringed folk lute. The tune strikes a wholesome note, flowing throughout with no jerks.

M G Sreekumar and Sandhya sing Pinju thendrale. The song is tenderly handled. The veena interlude continues the quiet atmosphere created by the opening stanza and plays some stylishly crafted and unpredictable phrases. Sandhya's voice is a surprise. It is like P Susheela's with the same roundness of timbre. She has, incidentally, sung a couple of songs for Ilaiayaraja, like Deepangal pesum in Devathai and Ooroora pogum inda udambu from Kakai Chirakinile.

The song Mercury melae suggests a modern sound with its title. And it is just that. A fast dance-trance-pop mixture by Devan and Unnikrishnan. Like O mama mama from Minnale,  this song also talks in a lighter vein of people in the news: Vajpayee, Clinton and Saddam Hussein!

Harris Jeyaraj is going northwards. He has a film in Hindi, Kya Kare Kya Na Kare , starring Madhavan and Saif Khan. His second film shows him continuing in good form.


S Suchitra Lata


Posted on 11 July 2001

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