Snehaveedu – Music Review (Malayalam Movie Soundtrack)

Click on the song title to listen to it on youtube (thanks much to @Ahana_C for the tipoff regarding youtube links).

Chengathir Kaiyum is vintage Ilayaraja — the captivating bass lines, the haunting tune seemingly based on one of his most frequently employed ragas in Malayalam, Keeravani. And with the flawless Chithra on vocals one couldn’t have asked for a better start to the soundtrack. Amruthamayi Abhayamai is also quite evocative of Raja’s previous Kalyani-based works, but a breezy orchestration and the majestic Hariharan are more than enough to make up for any déjà vu. In a second version Rahul Nambiar does a very nice crooning, but after hearing Hariharan any other cover would have to be exceptional to make an impact, no? Version 2 hence loses out to the original.

After quite a few lovely songs for Raja in other languages Shreya Ghoshal finally does a Malayalam debut for the composer in Snehaveedu with Aavani Thumbi (based on Savithri, @skrajiv guesses). Adding another track to her rapidly growing kitty of hit Malayalam songs! Beautiful orchestration from Raja, especially the killer second interlude. Rahul Nambiar might have been bested by Hariharan in his first song, but in the second attempt he produces a delectable semiclassical (Bahudari the raga for most part with an occasional stepping into Pravritti, thanks to @krishashok and @skrajiv for this info) duet called Chandrabimbathin with Swetha Mohan to close the soundtrack, once again the arrangement by the maestro spot on (though the westernization of the chorus portion struck as slightly odd), loved the use of percussion.

The Ilayaraja-Sathyan Anthikkad combo works. Yet again. Unsurprisingly.

Music Aloud Rating — 8/10

Top Recos — Just 4 tracks in any case. 🙂

M.T. MYDEEN says:

AMAZING MELODIES. MAESTRO ONCE AGAIN PROVE THAT I AM THE ONLY MAN CAN GIVE MELODIES IN INDIAN CINEMA. NOBODY ELASE IN INDIA. I WISH ALL THE VERY BEST TO MAESTROA ND SATHYAN.

Suresh KU says:

Amazing tracks. Welldone Rafeeq Ahmed & Ilaiyaraaja