With its sing along-ish folk tune and a matchingly light-hearted treatment by Shaan Rahman (particularly loved the staccato harmonium/accordion notes and Seenu‘s mandolin), Mandaarame is a fun listen, neatly sung by the composer with Job Kurian. Ee Mazha Megham is of the Thattathin Marayathu kind – sweet melody that is kept short enough to have you wanting more of it. The arrangement starts off soft, adorned by some glorious flute phrases (Nikhil) off and on, before switching to rock mode in the last one minute. And the icing on the cake is Remya Nambeeshan’s beautiful rendition. Mounam Cherum Neram too has an instantly endearing melody that is complemented beautifully by the composer with a soothing background that sees some nice touches like the sarangi (Mano). Hesham Abdul Wahab and Rinu Razak are spotless with their singing, Hesham in particular producing some brilliant improvisations towards the end. The alternate version of the song titled Sneham Cherum Neram is different only in its unplugged orchestration; and that this one has Hesham presenting more of his alaaps. The soundtrack’s best is the one where Shaan joins hands with his favourite partner, Vineeth Sreenivasan. Kaattu Mooliyo’s groovy tune gets a fabulous arrangement led by the saxophone. The backing vocals add an additional layer of allure to the already commendable rendition by Vineeth.
In some ways Ohm Shanthi Oshaana is like a reprise of Thattathin Marayathu – simple, mostly short, strongly melody-oriented. And the result is another winner from composer Shaan Rahman.
Music Aloud Rating: 8/10
Top Recos: Kaattu Mooliyo, Mounam Cherum Neram, Ee Mazha Megham
