With its Raja-styled violins and mesmerizing vocals by Chitra, Ponnodu poovai is fabulous! The tune is typical Sharreth…seemingly complex, but beautifully crafted. Yesudas is effortless in the other version, as always! Mano’s Kannaram thumbi‘s percussion is interesting for the periods where it doesn’t play; this is a song that revels in its breaks. Rajalakshmi, in her version, sounds even better with full-throated singing. Enthe hridayathaalam starts off as Eno idhayam dheem dheem, in Tamil verse and moves to its Malayalam roots…all the while making stupendous use of what seems like Nalinakanti Janaranjani* raaga; Madhu Balakrishnan, and Jinsha Naanu, in particular, add incredible support with their vocals. The young Alka Ajith gets a scintillating tune in Poovaaname and she completely overshadows Anand Aravindakshan with her vocal prowess; Sharreth’s tune here is mighty unique! Palakkad Sriram performs brilliant vocal acrobatics in Oh thingal pakshi even as the backgrounds overpower the pathos-laden and otherwise involving tune, while Siyad K sinks his teeth into the catchy, occasionally retro-laced Dhak dhak nakdhik with complete confidence. Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty is yet another soundtrack, after 180, where Sharreth Vasudevan’s tunes are fascinatingly nuanced; not just that, the singers here support his tunes exceptionally well too – an instant winner!
Keywords: Sharreth Vasudevan, Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty, #200, 200
*A chat with @Raaga_Suresh on Twitter and with Guruprasad Subramanian on Milliblog’s Facebook page indicates that the song may be more of Janaranjani and a bit of Poornachandrika, than anything with Nalinakanti (very mild). Thanks – great to know this!
