Oh Baby girl is very Yuvan’ish; even Hemachandra sounds a bit like a polished Yuvan. Yaar ivalo is fascinating! Haricharan has a deeply resonant, tuneful solo and he devours the song; Achu’s work in the orchestration is highly imaginative! With it’s early Rahman sound, the very tuneful Yen uyirey seems to be the soundtrack’s self-anointed pièce de résistance, with 3 versions no less! Karthik’s solo version is the pick of the three with easy-listening rhythms, Bombay Jayashree’s unplugged version is pretty darn good too, with fascinating backgrounds, while Chitra’s reprise version is the weakest, but strictly in comparison. The short Nerathin neram is wonderfully arranged, penned and sung well (by Narayan Nagendra Rao), much like the MPM anthem, that goes completely silent mid-way, before soaring beautifully again! Sriram Parthasarathy’s Kadal karayile has a gorgeous tune, no doubt, but the strings-backed backgrounds by Achu stand out equally well! The toast of the soundtrack is the almost-Floyd’ish Yaen indha dhideer thiruppam; Bruce Lee Mani’s guitars almost sing along with Achu, even as the song builds into a captivating blend between the two! After a middling Nenu Meeku Telusa, this is a surprisingly consummate turn by composer Achu, 3+ years after his debut!
Keywords: Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathilaey, Achu, #200, 200
