Songs and credits at the end.
After his two song stint in Happy Wedding, composer Arun Muraleedharan gets something of a promotion in Adventures of Omanakuttan with three songs. And like in Happy Wedding, here too he gives his best song to Haricharan, a breezy melodic piece called Varminnal. And it is indeed the man’s wonderfully nuanced singing that is the highlight of the song, even as the composer backs him up with an imaginative arrangement that most notably sees some fine violin (Francis) and naadaswaram (PK Gopi). Anthony Daasan’s accented Malayalam can be a bit of a hindrance in the otherwise fun track Enthanu Mone, that sax refrain is of particularly earworm quality. Ilamai is the composer’s weakest offering; the melody is monotonous for a large part before the shift in the final 45 seconds or so, and Shaktisree Gopalan doesn’t sound her best rendering this one.
The other half of the soundtrack is composed by Dawn Vincent, presumably making his debut as composer. He has however worked on two of the best soundtracks from last year – Kammattipaadam and Kismath – on the technical side. And his choice of Thakara frontman Arun James for the first song Karirulu is a masterstroke – the man’s drawling rendition is a perfect fit for the slow jazz-flavoured piece! The song has Kannada lyrics, interestingly. Thaniye Thaniye doesn’t have a great melody, but an interestingly layered arrangement (that features magudi played by Josy Alappuzha, among other things) makes the song stick. Suchith Suresan and Charles Nazareth do well behind the mic. In Tarara too the composer’s orchestration (neat bass from Sumesh Parameswar!) manages to prop up the okayish composition. Good singing by Yazin Nizar.
Adventures of Omanakuttan. Engaging soundtrack from two promising composers.
Music Aloud Rating: 3/5
Top Recos: Karirulu, Varminnal, Thaniye Thaniye
Musician Credits
1. Varminnal
Music & Arranged: Arun Muraleedharan
Lyrics: Harinarayanan BK
Singer: Haricharan
Guitars: Sandeep Mohan
Programmed: Ashwin sivadas
Nadaswaram: PK Gopi
Solo Violin: Francis
Strings: cochin Strings
Recorded by: Avinash @ 20DB Chennai, Sai Prakash @ My Studio Cochin
Mixed & Mastered by Hari Shankar @ My Studio Cochin
2. Illamai
Music & Arranged: Arun Muraleedharan
Lyrics: Harinarayanan BK
Singer: Shakthisree Gopalan
Guitars: Sandeep Mohan
Recorded by: Avinash @20DB Chennai, Sai Prakash @ My Studio, Cochin
Mixed & mastered by Hari Shankar @ My Studio cochin
3. Enthanu Mone
Music: Arun Muraleedharan
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Singer: Anthony dassan
Programed: Gopu Krishnan
Recorded by Mani Rathnam @ Tapas Studio chennai
Mixed & Mastered by Vivek Thomas
4. Karirulu (Kannada)
Music: Dawn Vincent
Lyrics: Gururaja Bhat Kadya
Singer: Arun James (Thakara)
Sax: Josy Alleppey
Brass Section: Johnson, Janson, Joshy, TJ John
Guitars: Navin Vincent
5. Thaniye Thaniye
Music: Dawn Vincent
Lyrics: Harinarayanan B K
Singers: Suchith Suresan, Charles Nazareth
Chorus: Ashok Ponnappan, Subramanian K V
Percussion: Sunil Kumar
Guitars/Bass : Sumesh Parameswar
Brass Section: Johnson, Janson, Joshy, TJ John
Magudi/Melodica: Josy Alleppey
6. Tarara
Music: Dawn Vincent
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Singer: Yazin Nizar
Guitars/Bass : Sumesh Parameswar
Tabla: Geroge
Songs 4,5 & 6:
Studios:
Nikhil @ Freddy’s AVG, Cochin
Nishanth @ NHQ, Cochin
Dennis @ Dot Wav Studio, Chennai
Collective Studios, Cochin
D’s Den, Cochin
Songs Arranged and Mixed by Dawn Vincent
Music Editor: Ashok Ponnappan
Music Recording Supervision: Kiran Lal, Ashok Ponnappan, Subramanian K V
