Moondru naal aagume, with its free flowing verse and lovely sax phrases is delightfully rendered by Karthik. Ranjani’s Varum vazhi yengume and Madhu Balakrishnan’s Mozhi illaamale too borrow quite a few bars from Moondru naal aagume to create a more ponderingly ominous and pathos-laden, droning variants, respectively. Nila nee vaanam has a pleasant, ghazal-like structure with lyrics soaked in love, sung amazingly by Vijay Yesudas and Chinmayi. The soundtrack’s highlight is however the single, almost thematic tune that covers four songs – Ulagam ninaivil illai, Azhagu mugam, Siru punnagai and Kanavu sila samayam. This is a cheerful and lilting melody with Prasanna’s vocals towering over his female counterpart, Mahathi in Ulagam ninaivil illai. Aaj monee starts out in Bangla, but strangely with a garba rhythm, and flows to a dramatic, anguished part with dreadful Tamil pronunciation by Vijay Yesudas (ThoLaiva?). Vijay goes on linguistic murder again (Pillaye, for PiLLaye) in Oh oh ohh, a plain and filmy track. Karthik’s Anjal petti carries like a jolly feel marked by imaginative side-effects of love and is completely devoured by Karthik’s exuberant singing. Sabesh Murali could well be the quintessential underdogs among Tamil composers. The duo score wonderfully well, given Cheran’s articulate vision!
Keywords: Cheran, Padmapriya, Sabesh Murali