Songs and musician credits at the end. I have posted videos where available, since that is the best way to enjoy these songs. 🙂
Until a few days back, the wiki entry for Thallumaala translated the title to “Chain of fights” – they have since changed that to “Ballad of fights” which is what the translation provided at the cinema is as well. Maala translates both to a chain/garland, and poem/song (generally of a devotional nature). The movie’s title is a pun that works both ways; in fact the “chapters” within the movie are all puns themed on fights. Writer Muhsin Parari’s apparent love for wordplay percolates into the album’s songs as well – most of which he has penned – and is one of the highlights of the soundtrack for a pun-lover like me! The title song, Thallumaala Paattu (a play on Maala Paattu – maala song) has the composer (Vishnu Vijay) and writer riffing off a traditional song to create a heady ode to the movie’s five male protagonists. Vishnu makes brilliant use of Subani’s ethnic strings, and the refrain on Babu’s trumpet adds to the grand feel in the latter half – the singers do a great job as well. The song has a great lyric video on YouTube (a la Thee Minnal from Minnal Murali), but wait till you see the actual video – in a movie where the songs are pretty much perfectly in sync with the visual proceedings, this is still my favourite song video sequence. Kannil Pettole does not have a great melody, and probably deserved a stronger voice than Vishnu Vijay’s, but Irfana Habib’s rapping and the Arabic-infused arrangements elevate the song considerably (that oud/saz interlude by Subani is a banger!). And then there is the incredible video shot across Kerala and UAE, that could almost be the video for a Western pop song (also appears to draw from other such videos, for that matter). The abovementioned oud/saz interlude gets a brilliantly soulful reworking on Vishnu Vijay’s flute, in the second interlude of Tupathu, a quirky rap song that might have worked better with some other male voice instead of main man Tovino Thomas (although his female counterpart Shaktisree Gopalan sounds fab), but is very effective even so. Lot of clever analogies here for the lovers’ spat, ranging from oil wars to football references, although the English lines don’t work as well.
The drunken revelry in Ndaakkippaattu with its folk beats brings to mind Tamil songs of similar mood, like Tasakku Tasakku, especially with that onomatopoeic “Jj-ndaakku” refrain. Brilliant play by Parari again, repurposing the phrase that implies “you do it” to vocalise the song’s rhythm. Among the many references thrown in here (some of which are Malayalam pop culture ones likely to be lost on non-Malayalis) is a nod to Fight Club, a movie that is likely to have acted as an inspiration to Thallumaala on some level. The vocal department for this one appears to be comprised mostly of the actors, and for the largely conversational nature of the song, it works quite well. Excellent combination of horns and percussion to close the song. The flippant tone of Ole Melody sort of underplays how complex the song’s, uh.. melody (and the almost tongue-twisty lines) gets at times, but the composer has two extremely competent singers in Benny Dayal and Haricharan deal with it spectacularly. Brilliant composition (shades of bageshri raga in the tune, perhaps?) from Vishnu Vijay that alternates smoothly between reggae and qawwali modes, with some funny quips from actor Salim Kumar for garnish. Some of those transitions from the quieter moments into bursts of classical vocals took my mind back to this Amit Trivedi beauty from Coke Studio. Love the bass line on this one (not sure who the player is) and the understated use of Kishore Kumar’s sitar. My other favourite from the album is a guest composition by Dabzee and SA (of the hiphop band Manushyar) that, like Thallumaala Paattu, picks up a traditional tune to form the basis of an incredibly groovy tribute to Tovino’s character, called Manavaalan Thug. Once again there is a very swanky video adding to the song’s allure. Of the two BGM pieces, Grudge Song is an intense instrumental piece that features a woodwind (oboe or duduk, perhaps) cover of the Thallumaala Paattu melody. Thoottikkanoda Patha is the only song where the musicality is heavily sacrificed for the quirkiness aspect – it surely works for the sequence it appears in during the movie, but as a standalone song, it does not offer anything particularly enjoyable.
Thallumaala’s music is radically different from anything that Vishnu Vijay has produced in Malayalam movies thus far, and it is great to see him absolutely nail it in a new territory! He has some solid support from Muhsin Parari, of course. And a hat tip to Dabzee and SA as well, for their outstanding guest composition (a bit annoyed that this one never made it to the big screen though). Watching movies at the cinema and getting addicted to the music as a result is something I have sorely missed in recent times; delighted to have rediscovered that experience with this one!
Music Aloud Rating: 4/5
Top Recos: All of the vocal tracks, but start with Ole Melody and Manavaalan Thug!
Soundtrack Credits
Song : Thallumaala Paattu
Singers : Hrithik Jayakish, Neha Girish, Eshaan Sanil, Thejas Krishna, Vishnu Vijay
Lyrics : Mu.Ri
Music Composed, Arranged and Produced : Vishnu Vijay
Tune Courtesy : Traditional Maala Paattu
Guitar : Godfrey Emmanuel
Oud, Ruan, Saz : Subani
Trumpet : Babu
Artist manager :Vincent K D
Session manager : Deepesh Krishnamoorthy
Vocal Producer : Ramesh Vasudev
Recording Engineer : Divine Joseph (2barQ studios Chennai); Kashyap RamMohan (2bar Q Studios Chennai); Prince Joe (2bar Q studios, Chennai)
Mixing & Mastering Engineer : Sujith Sreedhar @ The Master House, 2 bar Q Studios Chennai
Lyric Video by : Venky
Song : Kannil Pettole
Singers : Vishnu Vijay, Irfana Hameed
Lyrics (Arabic & Malayalam) : Mu.Ri
Rap Lyrics : Irfana Hameed
Music Composed, Arranged and Produced : Vishnu Vijay
Brass : Babu
Oud, Ruan, Saz : Subhani
Session Manager & Vocal Producer : Deepesh Krishnamoorthy
Recording Engineers : Divine Joseph (2barQ Studios Chennai), Kashyap RamMohan (2barQ studios Chennai), Prince Joe (2barQ studios, Chennai), Nishant (NHQ, Kochi)
Mixing & Mastering Engineer: Sujith Sreedhar @ The Master House, 2barQ Studios, Chennai
Song : Tupathu
Singers : Tovino Thomas, Vishnu Vijay, Shakthisree Gopalan
Lyrics : Mu.Ri
Music Composed, Arranged and Produced : Vishnu Vijay
Flute : Vishnu vijay
Guitar : Godfrey Emmanuel
Artist Manager : Vincent K D
Session Manager : Deepesh Krishnamoorthy
Vocal Producer : Ramesh Vasudev
Recording Engineer : Divine Joseph (2barQ Studios Chennai); Kashyap RamMohan (2bar Q Studios Chennai); Prince Joe (2bar Q Studios, Chennai)
Mixing & Mastering Engineer : Sujith Sreedhar @ The Master House, 2 bar Q Studios Chennai
Song : Ndaakkippaattu
Vocals : Vishnu Vijay, Muhsin Parari, Shenbagaraj, Santhosh Hariharan, Sreeraj, Swathi Das, Austin Dan, Lukman Avaran, Adri Joe, Gokulan, Binu Pappu
Lyrics : Mu.Ri
Music Composed, Arranged and Produced : Vishnu Vijay
Percussions : Krishna Kishore
Session Manager : Deepesh Krishnamoorthy
Vocal Producer : Ramesh Vasudev
Recording Engineer : Divine Joseph (2barQ Studios, Chennai) ; Kashyap Ram Mohan (2barQ Studios, Chennai) ; Prince Joe (2barQ Studios, Chennai) ; Shiju Ediyatheril (Audiogene Sound Studios)
Mixing & Mastering Engineer : Sujith Sreedhar @ The Master House, 2barQ Studios, Chennai
Song : Ole Melody
Vocals : Haricharan Seshadri, Benny Dayal, Salim Kumar, Vishnu Vijay
Lyrics : Mu.Ri
Music Composed, Arranged and Produced : Vishnu Vijay
Sitar : Kishore kumar
Tabla & Dolak : Sruthi Raj, Kiran
Session manager : Deepesh Krishnamoorthy
Vocal Producer : Ramesh Vasudev
Recording Engineer : Divine Joseph (2barQ studios Chennai); Kashyap RamMohan (2bar Q studios Chennai); Prince Joe (2bar Q studios, Chennai)
Mixing & Mastering Engineer : Sujith Sreedhar @ The Master House, 2 bar Q studios Chennai
Lyric Video by : Boby Rajan & Akshay Kammatipadam
Song: Manavaalan Thug
Music Composed & Arranged by : DABZEE
Written & Performed by : DABZEE & SA
Music Produced : MHR
Mix n Master : Ashbin Paulson
Chorus : DABZEE, SA, Babyjean
Studio : Mixlabs Studios, Bangalore
Subtitles : Leon Vincent
