Starting with just guitar, Anirudh builds on Thangamey‘s sound progressively well, particularly a really well-placed violin solo by Ananthakrishnan. The tune is phenomenally engaging, including an anupallavi that goes interestingly off tangent. Neeyum naanum‘s melody is gobsmackingly beautiful, and as if not content with that, Anirudh loads it with so much more, including Neeti Mohan’s fantastic vocals, a catchy chorus by himself that layers wonderfully over Neeti’s lines, a superb mix of piano (by Anirudh and Leon James) and Manonmani’s sarangi, and even a brilliant kanjira phrase, by Selvaganesh. Benny Dayal’s throughly enjoyable swagger rocks the title song, thanks also to Anirudh’s flashy tune and Martin’s sax and baritone. Sid Sriram gets further stereotyped in his soul/gospel style singing in Yennai maatrum kadhale, but it works quite well given the tune’s inherent beauty. The Coldplay’ish interlude is a brilliant touch by Anirudh, as is the way he ends it with a mash-up of the title song’s hook. Kannaana kanne, while being sung by Sean Roldan, amazingly sounds like a typical Sean Roldan tune too, complete with celtic-style strings by Chennai Strings Orchestra and accordion! After a series of so-so soundtracks, Anirudh comes back with a bang in Naanum Rowdy Dhaan!
PS: The 6th song of the soundtrack, Varavaa Varvaa was released much after the first 5 songs. This is also the weakest song of the album that, barring the catchy, repetitive Varavaa hook, is adequately background’ish.
Keywords: Anirudh, Naanum Rowdy Dhaan, 200, #200
Listen to the songs on . (all 6 songs)
