'Uttama Villain' audio rocks - Review
Cast: Kamal Hassan, Pooja Kumar, Andrea, K Balachander, K Vishwanath, Jayaram, Nassar, Parvathy Menon, Parvathi Nair, Urvashi, MS Bhaskar
Music: Ghibran
Editing:Vijay Shankar
Cinematography: Shyam Dutt
Direction: Ramesh Aravind
‘Uttama Villain’ marks the first association of Ghibran with Kamal Hassan. The movie which has a portion based on Theyyam is supposed to be musically driven and let us see how Ghibran has delivered in this biggie:
Love’aa Love’aa
Singers: Kamal Hassan, Sharanya Gopinath, Anitha, Nivas
Lyrics: Viveka
Instant Chartbuster! ‘Love’aa Love’aa’ has a zingy attribute about it that is gonna make this number a crowd favorite. The female lead by Sharanya is Shirley Bassey-esque with a perfectly westernized rendition. Kamal’s rendition is nothing short of peppy. The best part of the song has to be the rocking synthesizer ridden first interlude and the techno gibberish ‘Uthama Villain’ chants. The bass of the track reminds us of Kamal’s dance numbers from ‘Indian’. Total winner!
Kaadhalaam Kadavul Mun
Singers: Padmalatha
Lyrics: Kamal Hassan
Ghibran bring his total Hindustani range to display with ‘Kaadhalaam Kadavul Mun’. This semi-devotional track has traces of Ghibran’s sufi numbers from ‘Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah’. Relying only on the female vocals by Padmalatha, this track is shouldered by the dynamic lyrics of Kamal and the chorus bits that accompany the keys. Typical Ghibran Track!
Uttaman Arimugam
Vocals: Subbu Arumugam, Kamal Hassan
Lyrics: Subbu Arumugam
Now the album steps into the ‘Villupaatu’ zone! ‘Uttaman Arimugam’ opens up with Ghibran employing kunnakol & other ‘koothu’ related instruments. For starters, this is something that’s on the lines of the ‘Natukkoru’ track from ‘Anbe Sivam’. Kamal delivers a pulsating rendition with the tune hitting some really high pitched portions as it traverses. With Subbu Arumugam’s lyrics, the character establishment is done through this track.
Saagavaram
Vocals: Kamal Hassan, Yazin Nizar, Ranjith Iyappan, Ghibran
Lyrics: Kamal Hassan
‘Saagavaram’ is the second Villupaatu track in the album which comes across more of a soulful track than the other majestic ones in the album. The chorus portions that accompany Kamal’s vocals work wonders in inducing many goosebumpy moments. The chord shifts in the “Arinthu Erindhum” segment of the track takes the cake.
Iraniyan Naadagam
Vocals: Kamal Hassan, Rukmini Ashok Kumar
Lyrics: Kamal Hassan
With ‘Iraniyan Naadagam’, the album moves to more of an audio book doing away with the conventional movie tracks. The majestic voice of Kamal opens with lines from the trailer and it is quite a rarity in listening to the Prahaladha’s story from Iraniyan’s perspective. Pretty sure that ‘MruthyunJayaho’ is gonna reverberate even after the song gets over. The grandeur in the symphonic arrangements is definitely there to see. The mood of the track shifts as soon as Narasimha emerges and instruments like kombu, chendai which are totally rare is used extensively. Terrific is the word!
Mutharasan Kadhai
Vocals: Kamal Hassan, Yazin Nizar, Ranjith Iyappan, Padmalatha
Written by Kamal Hassan
‘Mutharasan Kadhai’ covers one episode of the movie which needs to be experienced visually. The song has a touch of folk ground to it in addition to the several mood shifts throughout the song. The air blown fillers coupled with extensive arrangements ups the ante of the track which is totally going to get elevated when watched with the visuals.
Uttaman Kadhai
Vocals: Kamal Hassan, MS Bhaskar, Yazin Nizar, Ranjith Iyappan
Written by Kamal Hassan
Absolutely stunning track! ‘Uttaman Kadhai’ looks like the core of the movie where the story of Kamal’s character is narrated by Kamal himself. Ghibran has conjured up a terrific amalgamation of spectacular arrangement of strings, keys & percussion. The fusion of symphony with folk has never been tried in contemporary Tamil music before & Ghibran-Kamal combination has pioneered in that genre with these tracks.
OST’s: The album also boasts of some of the background scores from the movie. Leading the pack is the ‘Uttama Villain Theme’ that has been the cynosure of the trailer & teasers so far. This theme music is a hot ringtone material and is certainly haunting with that eerie humming & terrific bass. The ‘Guru & Sishya’ theme music is the musical conveying of Kamal’s gratitude to KB dominated by piano & other key instruments. Ghibran delivers a total symphony overload with the ‘Father & Daughter’ theme music which plays out to his strengths. The ‘Uttaman & Karpagavalli’ theme has a fable aura to it by clubbing lots of chime arrangements to the symphony. The best among the lot – the ‘Father & Son’ theme has a fabulous female humming and a cello lead (surprising for a track that dwells on Father-Son bonding) & is touted to play a huge part in the scenes involving the aforementioned bonding. ‘Letter From & To Yamini’ is a slightly rehashed instrumental of the ‘Kadhellam Kadavul Mun’ track with parallel display of both strings & piano. A haunting female humming kicks in at the end of the track leaving a lasting impression. Ghibran ends the album with ‘Dr. Arpana’ – another bond establishment musical piece. The album also features the karoke versions of three tracks (Kadhalaam Kadavul Mun, Iraniyan Nadagam & Saagavaram)
Our Take: Ghibran has grown leaps and bounds with this album and has indeed delivered his career best. All the songs seem majestic with the arrangements being on par with the likes of James Horner, John Williams. The audience should definitely approach the album with an open mind and they ought to sink-in the fact that most of the Villupaatu & Theyyam tracks are totally visual oriented and the presence of Kamal is bound to elevate the songs to the next level visually. Ghibran hasn’t made any compromises with the setting of the album and has used the symphony capaciously (Unlike an album like ‘Kaaviya Thalaivan’ which compromised on the time period of the tunes to make it more commercially viable). If anyone has any problems in recognizing the effort that has gone into this album, they need to get their musical buds examined. ‘Uttama Villain’ is an album to be cherished by film buffs and is not for the typical frontbenchers.
