Review

Prashanth's better seen than heard

Actor Prashanth sings offkey in his debut song in Parthen Rasithen, a film for which Bharadwaj makes the tunes

Paarthen Rasithen
5 Star Audio
Rs 39

This is director Saran's third movie after the middling success of Kaadhal Mannan and the more than decent success of Amarkalam. Saran learnt his craft as assistant to K Balachandar. In this film, he has chosen Prashanth for the lead, instead of his usual favourite, Ajith. But his regular music man, Bharadwaj, stays on.

The album opens with the title track sung by Yugendran and Rashmi. While the beginning sounds a bit naive and unpolished, the catchy tune more than makes up for it. Malaysia Vasudevan's son Yugendran sounds more like Jayachandran than his father! The use of the keyboards is flat, even jarring.

The folksy Kedaikale kedaikale, with Srinivas's vocals, is notable for way the electric guitar is used. Vairamuthu adapts his now familiar Tamil-English style to write the words for this song.

Poove punnagai kaattu opens with the ubiquitous All India Radio signature tune. Sonu Nigam and Vasundhara Das croon this number, replete with Vairamuthu's English. A leisurely song, the background instrumentals and interlude makes it worth listening to.

The much hyped Vaa endrathu ulagam, in which actor Prashanth makes a singing debut, heads in the wrong direction. He sounds off-key at places and ends up making the song eminently forgettable. This is a rap sort of number. Add to it the noisy interludes, and the whole song seems like a bad idea!

Enakena erkanave is the pick of the soundtrack. Seasoned singers Unnikrishnan and Harini carry it off beautifully. It is based largely on a mix of raga Hamsanadham and Dharmavati. Interlaced with a soft orchestra, Bharadwaj introduces traditional Karnatak instruments like the violin and mrudangam in the first interlude, only to use more unconventional instruments in the second. Vairamuthu's pure Tamil lyrics go with the mood of the song -- this is one song that should make Bharadwaj proud.

Thinnathey thinnathey features Shankar Mahadevan and Anuradha Sriram. Bharadwaj borrows from the not-so-common raga Reetigowla. Also notable are the backgrounds with the ghatam, and chords for select parts of the song.

Bharadwaj always comes up with unpredictable music, ably supporting director Saran's innovative themes. The music of Parthen Rasithen is worth hearing. Bharadwaj proves again that he is not stuck in the groove of commercial film music.

Karthik S

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