Stay awake, beyond the middling opening, gets better as it progresses, particularly in the anupallavi, thanks to Subramaniam Nandi’s lyrics on Chennai. Vellai irave too gains steam only after the fangled-Tamil prelude by Ramya. Papparappa, by T.Rajendar and Priyadarshini is regurgitated kuthu with nothing new, while Vijay Antony sings the adequately background’ish Kolai vaal as if in a constipated state. The soundtrack’s highlights are the is-that-acapella’ish Santhosh Narayanan-sung Pon vidhi and the hauntingly sweeping Aazhi alai, sung in 2 versions by Vaikom Vijaylakshmi and Alphonse. Beyond bringing each composer-singer’s style in their respective songs, Satyan’s debut is only occasionally engaging.
Keywords: Vizhithiru, Satyan Mahalingam
