Indian music has been blessed with MANY talented music composers. To name a few that I know—Naushad, S.D.Burman, Shankar-Jaikishan, R.D.Burman, M.S.Vishwanathan, Raveendran etc.

But there are two more composers who are not part of this illustrious list but they literally have a Demi-God status, you definitely would have guessed it, they are Ilaiyaraja and A.R.Rahman. Two absolute geniuses who have completely different styles of composing yet they are acknowledged as Legends of our time. Both these have many blogs and websites dedicated to them by their raving fans.

I would like to focus more on the Ilaiyaraja aspect because there are a few blogs that have dissected the works of the Maestro beautifully. These blogs are not only a goldmine for any Ilaiyaraja fan but for any lover of music in the world. They discuss in detail and in simple language, many musical concepts, so that we can appreciate not only Ilaiyaraja’s music but ANY music. They list out and show (backed by perfect examples) how the genius has made innumerable innovations in his monumental 30 year career. It is an astounding read which clearly show that music is indeed a great art, where there are no limits to one’s creativity. These blogs have been written by very knowledgeable people (who have learnt music) who have taken the pains to illustrate how Ilaiyaraja has continuously redefined his music and set new benchmarks. The word “Maestro” is no small word and it is attributed only to a select few like R.D.Burman, Ilaiyaraja and A.R.Rahman. The following are the FANTASTIC, MUST-READ blogs on Ilaiyaraja which any music lover will enjoy. they deserve all the credit for their hard work.

1. Violin Vicky’s blog
2. Ravi Natarajan’s blog
3. As we feel Raja
4. Ragaranjani
5. Apoorva Ragam

“Melodious Fast” song is almost like an oxymoron because generally fast songs are not expected to be very melodious but they will be foot tapping and dance-worthy. Indian music especially Tamil music has many fast songs but 90% of them are very noisy and they don’t last long in the minds of the listeners.

Thankfully amidst all this din, there are are many songs which are very peppy and also melodious. Such songs show the true class of the composers because they are not easy to compose because you have to keep the beat pretty fast and yet make it pleasing to listen. Here I am listing some beautiful such songs across languages in random order, read it as Song-Movie-Composer.

1. Ooru Vittu Ooru Vandhu—Karakaattukkaaran—Ilaiyaraja—A kuthu-like folk in Shanmukhapriya raaga, the charanams are sheer joy with amazing variations by Malaysia Vasudevan, the singer.
2. Meherbaan—Perummazhakaalam—M.Jayachandran—A Malayalam marriage song, extremely catchy with fantastic harmonium interludes.
3. Kajraare—Bunty Aur Babli—Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy—A super-hit song, spanning multiple genres.
4. O Ranga Srilanka—Singaaravelan—Ilaiyaraja—One song to show the modulation abilities of SPB, fabulous stuff.
5. Kay Sera Sera—Pukar—A.R.Rahman—Begins like a disco song but becomes a mellifluous Hamsadhwani in the charanams.
6. Prayam Nammil—Niram—Vidyasagar—A song I discovered quite recently, set in Madhyamavathy raaga, sung with gusto by P.Jayachandran & Sujatha especially at the end of the charanams.
7. Varaaga Nadhikkarai Oram—Sangamam—A.R.Rahman—One of best-sung songs of Shankar Mahadevan.
8. Peigala Nambaadhey—Mahanadhi—Ilaiyaraja—Set in Jog raaga with awesome ghatam beats and sung well by Kamalahaasan.
9. Thanni Thotti—Sindhu Bhairavi—Ilaiyaraja—You can’t believe that Yesudas sang this number!
10. Jogi Mahi—Bachna Ae Haseeno—Vishal & Shekhar—A catchy Punjabi-flavoured number which becomes very melodious in the charanams, Shekhar is indeed a very good singer.
11. Soona Soona—Classically Mild (album)—Deepak Pandit—This Hindustani-meets-rock song is sung amazingly by Sonu Nigam, who does every possible vocal gymnastics.
12. Unakkum Enakkum—Sri Raghavendra—Ilaiyaraja—Can a song sound sensual and catchy and melodious too, maybe it can when the Maestro composes! Credit also to Malaysia Vasudevan & S.Janaki, who have sung it brilliantly.

There are many more such songs, have just listed a few of them. These songs are what we call today “fusion music” and many of these have been composed many decades back, only that they were not called as such.

Legend of Bhagat Singh is a movie directed by Rajkumar Santhoshi which released in 2002. It starred Ajay Devgan as Bhagat Singh and he ultimately won the National Award for the best actor for living the role of the historic character. The beauty of the movie was that the facts were shown as they happened, sans any other unnecessary distorted deviations. This is because the script of the movie was validated by none other than Kultar Singh-the younger brother of Bhagat Singh. I remember we saw the movie in the open-air theatre of our hostel and after the emotional climax everybody had tears in their eyes. Even the other supporting actors playing the roles of Chandrashekhar Azad, Rajguru, Sukhdev etc did a fantastic job of it. It may have been providence that the movie was able to have some of the finest performances thereby paying a fitting tribute to the great martyr who sacrificed his life for the country.

Special mention must be of the eye-catching and appropriate sets used in the movie to depict the British Raj times (the cars, tongas, buildings) by art director Nitin Desai. The cinematography was also wonderful by K.V.Anand. One of the major factors for the success of many movies is the music-especially the background score and the Mozart of Madras-A.R.Rahman gave a masterful music score for this movie winning a National Award for the best background score. The songs of this movie too were splendid especially Desh Mere, Mera Rang De, Mahive, Jogiya and Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna (sung by Hariharan and Sonu Nigam!). All-in-all Legend of Bhagat Singh was an all-round good movie excelling in all the departments.

There are many views about what is the real objective of cinema is—entertainment, making us laugh, conveying a message, adding something to our lives etc etc. According to me, any good film will try to do all these things (and maybe more) thereby maintaining a holistic balance between the three. Films should definitely entertain us and ALSO make us think and at the end of the day there should be some good takeaways which will add value to our lives. There are many such outstanding movies that I have come across and I thought of listing them here. All these movies are those that I have seen many times. In this post I will only be referring to Indian movies spanning two languages-Hindi and Tamil.

1. Sholay-A classic, high energy movie much ahead of its time with a stellar cast. A unique action-oriented story, beautifully shot!
2. Golmaal-A lovely movie with witty dialogues and a wonderful cast of  “actors” Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt.
3. Chak De India-A case study for effective leadership. This is one of the movies where Shahrukh Khan truly showed that he is a good actor. The sports scenes were picturized perfectly making it look like live matches.
4. Dil Chahtha Hai-The most unassuming movie I have seen. So real and so natural. Farhan Akhtar showed that a simple story of three friends can make a great story.
5. Taare Zameen Par-Brilliant, moving cinema. An unconventional, heart-warming story about the relationship between a teacher and his student.
6. Lagaan-This movie portrayed beautifully the life of the simple people in rural India and added the plot of galli cricket to make a gripping story with magical music.
7. A Wednesday-This is movie-making at its best. Probably one of the most hard-hitting movies we will ever see! The message to shun terrorism will linger in our hearts for the rest of our lives.
8. Mouna Raagam-A simple story of a couple going thro’ emotional upheavals and finally realizing their love for each other. The music and the background score by Ilaiyaraja elevates it to another level.
9. Anjali-The cult classic in children’s movies, again Ilaiyaraja makes you literally cry with his violin cascades in the BGM’s.
10. Thenaali-A humourous, comic entertainer shot in Kodaikanal. The Kamal-Jayaram-Crazy Mohan team never disappoints, watch out for the next one!
11. Panchathantram-The best comedy I have ever seen! Killer dialogues that will make you run a laughathon! I don’t know how many more times I will watch this one.
12. Thavamaai Thavamirundhu-An unlikely, unexpected entry in this list. A very realistic movie on the relationship between a son and his father and very engaging too. Probably one of the best movies of Cheran with super music by Sabesh-Murali.
13. Mozhi-One of my recent favourites, a simple, witty love story set against the backdrop of music. Prakash Raj always produces very watchable movies. Vidyasagar’s music too was splendid.

The real test for any music composer is the ability to work with a full-fledged orchestra and create music by collaborating with them. Its a challenge because, any of these professional orchestras will have at least about 75 players playing instruments like violins, violas, cellos, flutes etc. There are very few composers in India have collaborated with orchestras abroad—Ilaiyaraja, A.R.Rahman, Yuvan and Sonu Nigam recently collaborated with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for the Rafi Resurrected album.

Ilaiyaraja has collaborated with the Budapest Symphony orchestra of Hungary twice—once for composing for Guru (Malayalam movie) and the second time for Thiruvasagam in Symphony and I believe he is working with them again for Pazhassi Raja, a Malayalam film. A.R.Rahman has worked with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra of Czechoslovakia for Subhash Chandra Bose (fantastic songs with awesome orchestration). Yuvan worked with the Budapest orchestra for Pudhupettai. When we hear the songs of all these movies, you will find a totally different sound which is grand and all-encompassing. It is because the orchestras play the music live and this live recording is mixed with the singer’s voice later or sometimes it is done together. It’s a good change from the normal electronic sound we get to hear these days. Now, I am eagerly waiting with bated breath for the music of the magnum opus—Pazhassi Raja, starring Mammooty where Ilaiyaraja has again used the Budapest orchestra, am sure it will be worth the wait!

Kalyani or Yaman (in Hindustani) is probably the most commonly used raaga in Indian film music. There are thousands of songs (if not more) in this raaga and all composers would have composed at least a few songs in this raaga. The uniqueness of this raaga is that it sounds very melodious and is instantly likeable, the reason being it is very common. But nevertheless, Kalyani is a very elegant raaga and it is considered one of the best raagas for aalapanas or expositions. Listening to this raaga is supposed to destroy fear and increase our self-confidence, a perfect prescription for exam fever!

You can be sure that many of your favourite songs will be in this raaga. Below are some of my favourite songs in this raaga, I have omitted MANY other good songs because of the sheer number of songs in this raaga.

1. Ghar Se Nikalte Hi—Rajesh Roshan—Papa Kehte Hain—A superhit song with great lyrics. Almost all the songs of this movie were good and they were in this raaga.
   
2. Kabhi Kabhi—Khayyam—Kabhi Kabhi—A legendary song.
3. Hamesha Tumko/Woh Chaand Jaisi—Ismail Darbar—Devdas—Fantastic tunes in a fantastic soundtrack.
   
4. Malaiyoram Mayile—Ilaiyaraja—Oruvar Vaazhum Aalayam—A folksy Kalyani usage.
5. Siru Kootula—Ilaiyaraja—Periya Veetu Pannakkaran
6. Amma Endru Azhaikkatha—Ilaiyaraja—Mannan—Ilaiyaraja & Yesudas praise the mother using this raaga. Can lyrics get better than this, courtesy lyricist Vaali!
7. Janani Janani—Ilaiyaraja—Thaai Mookambikai—Music for meditation.
8. Kaatril Varum Geethame—Ilaiyaraja—Oru Naal Oru Kanavu—Ilaiyaraja confuses his fans as we can’t choose which is a better Kalyani!
9. Azhagu Nilave—A.R.Rahman—Pavithra—Lullaby in Kalyani
10. Ponmulam—Vidyasagar—Chandrolsavam (Malayalam)
    
11. Pulariyil—Suresh Peters—Runway(Malayalam)—A must-listen!
    

If we listen to any song in Telugu/Kannada/Tamil, especially songs from late 70’s to the 2000’s the voice we would find for most of these songs would be that of Shri S. P. Balasubramaniam, who ruled the South Indian music industry for over 3 decades (he still sings very well) with his mesmerizing singing.

To list out SPB’s good songs is a pointless exercise as its an ocean by itself. He was extremely talented and lucky to sing with all the best music directors—K.V.Mahadevan, M.S.Vishwanathan, R.D.Burman, Ilaiyaraja (what a team), M.M.Keeravani, A.R.Rahman, Hamsalekha and Vidyasagar, to name a few. The greatest asset of SPB’s singing was the life he gave to a song of ANY genre. According to me Mohd. Rafi and SPB are the two best singers for voice modulation and conveying the exact emotions of a song. If its a fast-paced song SPB would make you dance, if it was a sad song he would literally move you to tears. He would speak thro’ his songs, such was his genius. To cite an example—who can forget the varied emotions he conveyed in a seemingly innocuous song—Hey Ranga Sri Ranga (from Singaaravelan) where he imitates a pan-chewing guy, makes different sounds according to the song’s mood. SPB is the perfect example of a singer who takes a song to a totally different level. Even a simple tune would sound awesome when SPB lent his voice and embellished it with his own unique touches.

SPB’s statistics are akin to Sachin Tendulkar’s in cricket, a staggering 35,000+ songs in almost over 6 languages! If I am right, after Lata Mangeshkar, he is the singer who has sung the most number of songs. Apart from being a singer, SPB is also a good actor, producer, music program host etc. In spite of so many achievements and awards, SPB is a very humble, humorous and down-to-earth person who has endeared himself to millions of fans all over India.

If you look at the music scene today, there are a lot of changes in the way music is produced as compared to how it was done about 2 decades ago. Technology has taken over almost completely and definitely it has improved the quality of the sound production, mixing etc. This is a good trend and as long as it facilitates the production of good music it is welcome. But there is one worrying trend that is related to the quality of music being produced and that is—the importance given to the orchestration over the voice. If you look at any song today, the tune is quite weak but the orchestration kind of camouflages the tune very cleverly. In many cases we can’t even hear the lyrics being sung as the accompanying music is louder than the voice! Hence the shelf-life (sorry for that word!) of many of today’s songs has reduced significantly.

If you notice the songs composed 2 or 3 decades ago, they had very strong tunes and the orchestration was just a support for the tune and it enhanced the overall song quality. That’s the reason we still adore and listen to the songs composed in those days even today. Today 70% of the songs have a very short shelf-life and the rest are good. It’s become like instant music, fit for only short term consumption. Also every film album has around 8-10 tracks, 5 songs and 5 more remixes of the same songs making it very repetitive. Most of the remixes are pathetic and they kill the soul of the original song itself.

In the interest of good music, we must start reviving the trend of the olden days of creating good tunes which can stand on their own even without fancy orchestral support. We must integrate the good practices of those days with the modern technology of today so that the quality of music is never compromised.

Vasantha is one of my favourite raagas. It is an evening raaga and probably the most intense raaga alongwith Pantuvarali. Whenever I listen to any composition in this raaga I get goosebumps, such is its effect. Though there are only a handful of songs in this raaga that I know, all of them have their unique magic. That’s the beauty of Indian music.

1. Andhi Mazhai-Ilaiyaraja-Raaja Paarvai-A classic song, one of the greatest hits of Ilaiyaraja. I feel this song would have sounded great, had the recording quality been better.
2. Minsaara Kanna-A.R.Rahman-Padaiyappa-My favourite Vasantha of all time, sends me into a trance, sung with gusto by Nithyashree and Sreenivas. A.R.Rahman surprises you every time by treading the path where you think he may not go.
3. Kandaen Kandaen-Vidyasagar-Pirivom Sandhippom-A very good song, Vidyasagar has used the raaga beautifully especially in the charanam ending.
4. Guruvayur Unnikannan-Jaison J Nair-Aanachandham-A great attempt by debutant music composer Jaison sung by Madhu Balakrishnan with superb off-beat percussion.

Title music is an indispensable part of any movie though it has not got the importance it has deserved. It is the first thing that the movie viewer sees and hears and a good title theme music creates a great impression for a movie to begin with, irrespective of whether the movie is good or not! I thought I can pen down some of my favourite theme music pieces from different Indian movies, as many of them were very good. I might definitely miss some other may-be-better ones, do let me know through the comments section! Here you go:

1. Mouna Raagam-Ilaiyaraja-I am quite sure many would remember this one first. Its a rage even today and it’s probably the most famous ringtone. It elevated the movie to a different level. Spellbinding stuff from Ilaiyaraja.
2. Naayagan-Ilaiyaraja-Another awesome piece.
3. Aboorva Sagotharargal-Ilaiyaraja-Starts very annoyingly but soon becomes a melodious, captivating flute and strings ensemble, only Raja can do this.
4. Punnagai Mannan-Ilaiyaraja-This man will keep surprising us with his talent.
5. Jeans-A.R.Rahman-Very catchy, peppy AND melodious, the brand of music that we have got used to from Rahman. This is the perfect piece to hum along.
6. Bombay-A.R.Rahman-This is what made the Bombay movie complete—the Bombay theme, calling it brilliant would be an understatement! Naveen’s flute was nectarine.
7. Rakshagan-A.R.Rahman-Another wonderful piece which was not noticed much, very majestic, grand! My college brass band played this LIVE and boy, it sounded heavenly! The beauty of any music is best demonstrated by playing it LIVE and this is the perfect example for that.
8. Azhagi-Ilaiyaraja-Heartmelting version of the Oliyilae Therivadhu song, Ilaiyaraja can play a song’s instrumental version and YET make it sound absolutely new. Pure bliss!
9. Parthiban Kanavu-Vidyasagar-I saw this movie only recently and the title music was stunningly impressive. I was not surprised as I never doubted that Vidyasagar had the talent to compose something like this.
10. Anbey Shivam-Vidyasagar-The “Yaar yaar Shivam” piece, great work by Vidyasagar again.
11. Padayappa-A.R.Rahman-A very catchy, mouth-organ piece, again Rahman treads the uncommon path and comes up with something very special.
12. Taare Zameen Par-Shankar/Ehsaan/Loy-I have never found Hindi music BGM’s/theme pieces to be very impressive but this was definitely an exception. Stellar stuff from the trio.
13. Kaakha Kaakha-Harris Jayaraj-A very macho piece, befitting the movie’s theme, good work by Harris.

One very worrying trend that is very disturbing in television is the concept of having reality shows for children. According to me most of the reality shows today are just money spinning avenues for the different channels and child reality shows especially are highly condemnable. Here is why I say that:

• Reality shows give rise to an unnecessary spirit of negative competition among children, instilling a desire to WIN- AT-ANY-COST in them at a very young age, when they are like beautiful buds waiting to bloom. This is like an artificial method, where the bud is asked to bloom fast, curbing its natural growth process. I am not saying children should not have a competitive spirit but the way its being done in the reality shows is very dangerous for the children as it undermines their self-confidence thereby unsettling them.
• The losses that the children face in reality shows causes a feeling of REJECTION and does irreparable psychological damage to them. We want them to be achievers at such a young age? I remember the dialogue said by Aamir Khan in that superb scene in Taare Zameen Par when he says, we put pressure in our children that they should come first in class, become a doctor, engineer, singer etc. Children are the embodiments of purity and innocence and its so sad to see them get dejected for such petty losses.
• In child reality shows, the children are made to do things which are much beyond their age in the name of “performance”. For e.g. a girl child has to do a dance involving very suggestive steps and boys have to do similar movements. There is no better way to make the child go in the wrong path and pollute their minds. It is the age to study and play but here they are learning dance steps to an item number! It cannot get worse than this.
• According to me almost all of our reality shows are 75% melodrama and 25% entertainment. The exaggeration in these shows is seen to be believed! The loss in a round looks as if the contestant has lost the most important contest of his/her life and he/she is a non-achiever. There are many more important milestones in life and winning a reality show/advancing to the next round may be one of the significant milestones but not THE most significant.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not fully against reality shows per se, I too watch a few of them but child reality shows are dangerous for the impact they leave in a child’s fertile mind. I read that there is a legislation that anyone below 18 years cannot participate in reality shows but I am not sure if its been implemented as I see many small children in reality shows. Its high time there is some regulation otherwise many children, who are the future of this great nation will end up getting their priorities in life totally wrong.

P. Jayachandran is a legendary singer who has always kept a low profile in spite of singing several hit songs in Malayalam and Tamil. He has sung many Tamil songs under Ilaiyaraja and almost all the songs were wonderful melody songs and most of them were duets. He has sung a few songs for other music directors like A.R.Rahman, Vidyasagar, G.V.Prakash etc. Here is a list of some memorable songs rendered by this soft-spoken, very talented singer.

TAMIL

1. Poova Eduthu-Ilaiyaraja-Amman Kovil Kizhakaale-A song with an unconventional tune set in Mayamalagowla raaga, sung with the nightingale S.Janaki.
2. Raasathi Unna-Ilaiyaraja-Vaidehi Kaathirundhaal-One of his biggest hits ever, an unforgettable number.
3. Vizhiye-Ilaiyaraja-Thazhuvaatha Kaikal-A relatively unknown song but a very good one in Kalyani raaga.
4. Poo Mudithu-Ilaiyaraja-En Purushanthaan Ennakumattumthaan-One of the best songs you can hear in Hamsadhwani raaga, sung with Sunandha.
5. Kodiyile Malligapoo-Ilaiyaraja-Kadalora Kavithaigal-A song tailor-made for Jayachandran, sung with S.Janaki, very emotional number!
6. En Mel Vizhundha-A.R.Rahman-May Maadham-A soft number sung with Chitra, great lyrics by Vairamuthu.
7. Oru Deivam Thantha-A.R.Rahman-Kannathil Muthamittal-I like the Jayachandran version more than the Chinmayi one, one of Rahman’s best songs.
8. Poovanathil-Vidyasagar-Thambi-A nice number.
9. Kanavellam Palikithey-G.V.Prakash-Kireedam-I was so happy that GVP chose Jayachandran to sing this song as we were hearing him in Tamil after a long time. His voice sounded so good! This is an inspirational song sung with the singer-of-the moment, Karthik.

MALAYALAM

1. Ariyathey-Suresh Peters-Raavan Prabhu-A brilliant composition in Darbaari raaga, sung with Chitra.
2. Prayam Nammil-Vidyasagar-Niram-One of my favourite songs of Jayachandran, listen to it, its very addictive!
3. Therirangum Mugile-Suresh Peters-Mazhathuli Kilukkam-A song with superb piano and guitar interludes.
4. Aararum Kaanaathey-Vidyasagar-Chandrolsavam
5. Kallayee Kadavathu-M.Jayachandran-Perummazhakaalam
6. Chitramani Kaatil-Deepak Dev-Symphony-The ideal song to listen at night, so mellow!

Bose-The Forgotten Hero was a movie directed by veteran director Shyam Benegal. During that time, Rahman was composing music for most of the period-based movies like Legend of Bhagat Singh, Mangal Pandey etc. Rahman gave a scintillating music score for Bose but sadly the movie did not do as expected and the music too sank along with it! Rahman expressed his disappointment in many interviews conceding that the music was not promoted well by the producers. One of the unique aspects about the music of Bose was that Rahman collaborated with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra of Czechoslovakia and that made the songs an aural treat. The OST of Bose had 7 tracks and 13 instrumental pieces and all of them were good. But the outstanding songs of the movie were these:

1. Desh Ki Mitti-If you listen to this song, you will fell proud to be an Indian. Such is the tune, the lyrics and the singing by Sonu Nigam. The icing on the cake are the symphonic interludes which transport you to another world.
2. Ekla Chalo-It is difficult to say whether the former song is better or this one. It has the same characteristics as the previous song and its a double treat by Rahman.
3. Aazaadi-This is an anthemic song about the freedom struggle and it cannot get better than this. Its sung by Rahman himself.
4. Instrumental Pieces-Almost all the instrumental pieces showcase the beauty of the symphonic arrangements.

It is quite a task to write about one of the most loved raagas in Indian music, the versatile Sindhu Bhairavi. It is versatile because it gives a lot of scope for music composers to experiment. There have been innumerable tunes in this raaga but the beauty is all of them sound different! Another feature of this raaga is that it can be used for a variety of situations. Here is a list of the immortal tunes in this raaga. As always I have only posted some of my favourite Sindhu Bhairavi songs here, which showcased its beauty.

1. Unnakenna Mele-MSV-Simla Special-Composing at its best, a very unique song with a varying tempo.
2. Enna Satham-Ilaiyaraja-Punnagai Mannan
3. Muthu Mani Maala-Ilaiyaraja-Chinna Kounder-Happy Sindhu Bhairavi, A case study on Sindhu Bhairavi composing. Period.
4. Nilave Mugam Kaattu-Ilaiyaraja-Ejaman-This is Sad Sindhu Bhairavi for you. How many raagas will this man, Ilaiyaraja, play with?
5. Maargazhi Thingal-A.R.Rahman-Sangaman-Brilliant song, very well sung, the pathos in the raaga rises to the fore!
6. Nilavu Paattu-Ilaiyaraja-Kannukul Nilavu-Sindhu Bhairavi+Jazzy interludes, an unusual but captivating concoction!
7. Ovvoru Pookalume-Bharadwaj-Autograph-Great tune+Inspiring lyrics+soulful singing
8. Soll Soll En Nenje-Vidyasagar-Pirivom Sandippom-You will not imagine a song like this, especially the chords in the charanam.
9. En Uyirukkul-Vidyasagar-Mahesh Sharanya Mattrum Palar-One of my recent favourites, splendid orchestration.

You must be surprised on seeing the title of this post, this is the first line of a soothing tune composed by another talented-but-ignored composer Bharadwaj. This song comes in the movie Onbathu Roopai Nottu, where almost all the songs were melodious, folk-based rustic numbers. This song sung brilliantly by Sreenivas is the pick of the album. The chorus, the silent orchestration (means not intruding into the song by towering over the voice, which is the case in some songs!) and the mellow tune combine to give a healing experience. Listen to this when your chips are down, you will feel rejenuvated!