Songs and full credits at the end.
Composer Prashant Pillai brings together the father-son pair from Thaikkudam Bridge Peethaambaran Menon and Govind Menon together in a movie song for the first time with Anuraga Karikkin Vellam. That novelty aside, not a great vocal effort here from the duo. Govind does however make up for that with some fabulous Carnatic flavoured violin throughout the song. Rest of the arrangement is quite well-done too, especially loved that gabgubi-type sound that comes across like water sloshing about, I am guessing in reference to the title (wonder if that was created on dotara by Prakash Hariharan). It is the energy level that makes Neeyo Njaano work, Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, Niranj, Sreerag Saji and lyricist Shabareesh Varma do the honours behind the mic while composer provides them an ebullient setting to deliver to, both of which mitigate the ordinary tune.
It is the other half of the soundtrack that Prashant totally nails though. Poyi Maranju has a haunting tune that is delivered to a tee by Preeti Pillai and Arun Kamath, even as composer gradually populates the ambient backdrop with rousing violins; wish the song was longer than two minutes, and that the vocals weren’t processed (especially Arun’s humming). Manogatham Bhavan starts off with a pop-ish prelude before the Carnatic-flavoured melody kicks in (shades of the delightful arabhi raga), sung splendidly by Haricharan and Mathangi Jagadish; the latter especially pulling off both classical and Western flavoured renditions with commendable ease. B K Harinarayanan’s lyrics sound almost like that of a padham, and the breezy arrangement complements the tune wonderfully (special props to the employment of Josy’s saxophone). Odd that the naadaswaram based instrumental version (mentioned in credits) is not part of the jukebox.
For a movie that borrows its title from a classic Malayalam song, Prashant Pillai’s soundtrack for Anuraga Karikkin Vellam does not disappoint.
Music Aloud Rating: 7.5/10
Top Recos: Manogatham Bhavan, Poyi Maranju, Anuraga Karikkin Vellam