Songs at the end of the review.
Like he has done multiple times in the past, composer M Jayachandran gives the best of his songs from Ennu Ninte Moideen to Shreya Ghoshal – beautiful melody called Kaathirunnu that carries a mild Muslim flavour in its arrangement. The clarinet imparts a nice retro touch to the proceedings. The other two songs by the composer are nicely done too for that matter. Kannondu Chollanu is a pleasant melody treated to a folksy orchestration (reminds me mildly of Ghibran’s Sara Sara) that once again has some top notch singing, Shreya Ghoshal (who sounds quite different here) joined by Vijay Yesudas. Composer himself gets behind the mic for the folksiest of the lot – Iruvanji Puzhappenne – and does a fine job, even getting the diction largely right on Rafeeq Ahammed’s dialect-based lyrics. The folk base makes the song quite engaging too.
Remaining three tunes of the soundtrack (five tracks though, two of the songs have two versions each) are composed by Ramesh Narayan. He gets two veterans Yesudas and Sujatha for the doleful Ee Mazhathan. The tune is dauntingly typical, but the song is saved by its arrangement which features some excellent flute and the sarangi (or esraj?) in the second half. The singing is handled well of course, an alternate version of the song has Yesudas going solo. The soundtrack’s most obviously retro song Sharadambaram brings together another veteran P Jayachandran, with Sithara Krishnakumar who has in the past done brilliantly with such songs; and both of them pull it off very well. In comparison, Shilpa Raj is unable to convey the yesteryear feel as genuinely in her alternate version. Composer gets his daughter Madhusree Narayan (still remember her debut as a child singer in Makalkku, ten years back) for the minimally arranged Priyamullavane. The minimal setting works perfectly for Madhushree to showcase her skills and she does so in style. Hope she also gets songs from composers other than her dad.
Update: Including my review of that one song from the background score that has created a buzz tantamount to what Malare did after the release of Premam.
Turns out the best song from the movie was the one not made part of the soundtrack at all! The man in charge of the movie’s background score – Gopi Sunder – outclasses the other two composers with the delightful Mukkathe Penne. A song that belongs to the same category as the background tracks Gopi produced for Usthad Hotel, this one has a soulful tune and the composer gives it the most delicate treatment, leading with guitars for most part. And Mohammad Maqbool Mansoor (who is also the lyricist) does an excellent job of singing it with the composer playing chorus.
Ennu Ninte Moideen. Nice, melody-oriented soundtrack from M Jayachandran and Ramesh Narayan like Malayalam soundtracks of old. Which is as well for a movie set in the 1960s. It is Gopi Sunder‘s track from the BGM that wins the soundtrack though!
Music Aloud Rating: 8.5/10
Top Recos: Mukkathe Penne, Priyamullavane, Kaathirunnu, Kannondu Chollanu