Songs and soundtrack credits at the end.
Happened to watch Chup over the weekend. Director Balki employs multiple elements in the movie to pay tribute to master director Guru Dutt, prominent among them being SD Burman’s songs from Dutt’s movies Pyaasa and Kagaz Ke Phool; and one of the things that is indelibly stuck in your head – thanks to its placement in the movie’s promos as well – is that cricket chirp-ish wooden percussion from Jaane Kya Tune Kahi. So, here’s an instrument whose sound has not been heard in the mainstream in a long, long time – imagine the odds that it suddenly finds use in two totally unrelated movies at around the same time (I assume it is the same instrument in both places, because the sound is pretty much the same – not sure what exactly it is, could be Chinese temple blocks or something like the instrument that is shown in this song)! The other place is of course the backdrop of my favourite song from Ponniyin Selvan, Alaikadal. And that percussion contributes immensely to the song’s appeal; A R Rahman appears to have drawn from yesteryear boat songs in its use (this thread explores some such songs), since Poonguzhali on whom the song is pictured is a boat woman as well. Rahman’s melody is a beauty, dominantly melancholic, but with the occasional hint of happiness, in perfect reflection of Siva Ananth’s lines (I understand that Kalki had written a poem himself in the book for this situation, but bar the title, that has not been recreated here, although the gist remains the same) Debutante (I think) Antara Nandy is exceptional in her delivery, and the backdrop is understated when she sings, largely comprised of the earlier-mentioned percussion, Lydia Stankulova’s harp and subtle use of strings that are responsible for the atmospheric feel. There is a second song in the album that is more obviously set around water/boat – Sol. The arrangements are replete with sounds of rowing, bubbles etc – even the way the singer(s) (just Rakshita Suresh credited, perhaps multiple tracks sung by her) sings Sol seems to almost mimic the bubble sound. Lovely song whose only problem is how short it is – the humming that happens throughout the song, its placement alternating between the foreground and background, gives it a charming, retro feel. Rakshita is in top form, conveying the flippant, conversational tone perfectly.
The soulful flute prelude (Kamalakar) belies the lively, playful track that Raatchasa Maamaney turns out to be – a dance drama setting I am told, a dialogue between Krishna and Kamsa (at this point I need to thank @aakripasta for being my Ponniyin Selvan subject matter expert😊). And Shreya Ghoshal absolutely rules this one with a flawless rendition of Kabilan’s lines, punctuated by Palakkad Sreeram and Mahesh Vinayakram’s fittingly “demonic” chants. In a track that is quite percussion-driven, there is a marked change in the instruments used to accompany the female and male portions – the lead percussion for Shreya’s segments sounds like a khol. Also worth mentioning is the kids’ chorus that also accompanies Shreya in both her verses. The frenzied give-and-take towards the end of the song has Sreeram and Mahesh doing some konnakol (vocalisation of percussion) which explains why Rahman chose two percussionists as male vocalists. The song that occasionally came to mind while listening to this track was interestingly not an ARR song, but an Anu Malik one – O Re Kanchi from Ashoka. Although Devaralan Attam credits Yogi Sekar as the lead vocalist, it is the chorus that is the star of this one. The composer incorporates Balinese kecak chants here, that gradually transition to Tamil chants in a similar fervid vein, and then to Yogi’s brief albeit soulful ode. Even while he sings, the chorus is doing their thing in the backdrop (very curious what that bass instrument is that plays short notes during Yogi’s segment; confused whether it is a wind instrument, kind of in the tuba range, or the twang of some string instrument being plucked) – lending the song a hypnotic effect. It is only the dum dum dum re refrain that I haven’t quite warmed up to. Ponni Nadhi starts off promisingly with the prelude by Bamba Bakya (who unfortunately passed away a few days back) and A R Raihanah, but where it gets waylaid is in the composer’s own lead vocals. It had all the elements otherwise to be a proper catchy track that sort of harks back to Mohenjodaro, but alas. Chola Chola is the album’s weakest track, coming across as a standard heroic anthem whose appeal maybe enhanced by the movie visuals. That said, lyricist Ilango Krishnan does a fine job of adapting Kalki’s prose here.
The last two songs aside (which ironically are the ones the label decided to lead with), Ponniyin Selvan features the best songs that A R Rahman has produced for Mani Ratnam in a while! Excited to see these onscreen (and I assume that this one has a lot of background tracks as well – like this, hopefully)!
Music Aloud Rating: 4/5
Top Recos: Alaikadal, Devaralan Attam, Raatchasa Maamaney, Sol
Soundtrack Credits
Song Title: Alaikadal
Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by A.R.Rahman
Singer: Antara Nandy
Lyrics: Siva Ananth
Lyric Video: Venky
Music Supervisor:Nakul Abhyankar
Project Manager: Karthik Sekaran
Musicians –
Chennai Strings & Sunshine Orchestra
Conducted by Jerry Vincent
Solo Violin : Vignesh
Harpist: Lydia Stankulova (Firdaus Orchestra)
Recording Engineer: Peter ElKhoury
Assistant Engineer(s) : Theodore Danso & Ali Hassan
Recorded at “Firdaus Studio by A.R Rahman, Expo City Dubai”
Additional Programming: Nakul Abhyankar, Shubham Bhat
Sound Engineers:
Panchathan Record inn
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, TR Krishna Chetan, Aravind Crescendo, Suryansh
AM Studios
Pradeep Menon, Manoj Raman, Aravind MS, Sathya, Ainul, Sathish V Saravanan
Mixed by Pradvay Sivashankar
Mastered by Suresh Permal
Dolby Music Mixed and Mastered by Riyasdeen Riyan
Apple Digital Master by Riyasdeen Riyan
Musician Coordinator: Samidurai R, Velavan B, Abdul Haiyum, T M Faizudeen
Song Title: Sol
Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by A.R.Rahman
Singer: Rakshita Suresh
Lyrics: Krithika Nelson
Lyric Video: Venky
Music Supervisor: Nakul Abhyankar
Project Manager: Karthik Sekaran
Sound Engineers:
Panchathan Record inn
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, TR Krishna Chetan, Aravind Crescendo, Suryansh
Mixed and Mastered By Suresh Permal
Dolby Music Mixed and Mastered By : Riyasdeen Riyan
Apple Digital Master by Riyasdeen Riyan
Musician Coordinator: Samidurai R, Velavan B, Abdul Haiyum, T M Faizudeen
Song Title: Ratchasa Maamaney
Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by A.R.Rahman
Singers: Shreya Ghoshal, Palakkad Sreeram, Mahesh Vinayakram
Kids Chorus: Ahana Balaji, Pranita N, JB Shaswin Azhvar, Samyukth A, Kanishkar A
Lyrics: Kabilan
Music Supervisor: Nakul Abhyankar
Project Manager: Karthik Sekaran
Lyric Video: Venky
Musicians:
Percussion – Sai Shravanam, Krishna Kishore, Lakshminarayanan, Praveen Sparsh
Flute – Kamalakar
Additional Programming: Nakul Abhyankar, Srikant Krishna
Sound Engineers:
Panchathan Record inn
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, TR Krishna Chetan, Aravind Crescendo, Suryansh
AM Studios
Pradeep Menon, Manoj Raman, Aravind MS, Sathya, Ainul, Sathish V Saravanan
Mixed by Pradeep Menon
Mastered by Suresh Permal
Dolby Music Mixed and Mastered By : Riyasdeen Riyan
Apple Digital Master by Riyasdeen Riyan
Musician Coordinator: Samidurai R, Velavan B, Abdul Haiyum, T M Faizudeen
Song Title: Devaralan Aattam
Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by A.R.Rahman
Singer: Yogi Sekar
Chants : Dr. Narayanan, Deepak Subrahmanyam, Jithin Raj GR, Santosh Hariharan, P Sai Sharan, Shenbagaraj G, G Vignesh Narayanan, Keshav Vinod, Renjith Unni, R Sudarshan, K Ajay, Syed Subahan IBN, Rakshita Suresh
Lyrics: Ilango Krishnan
Music Supervisor: Nakul Abhyankar
Project Manager: Karthik Sekaran
Lyric Video: Venky
Musicians:
Percussion – Krishna Kishore, Guberan
Additional Rhythm : Nakul Abhyankar ,Kumaran Sivamani
Sound Engineers:
Panchathan Record inn
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, TR Krishna Chetan, Aravind Crescendo, Suryansh
AM Studios
Pradeep Menon, Manoj Raman, Aravind MS, Sathya, Ainul, Sathish V Saravanan
Mixed by Nitish R Kumar
Mastered by Suresh Permal
Dolby Music Mixed and Mastered By : Riyasdeen Riyan
Apple Digital Master by Riyasdeen Riyan
Musician Coordinator: Samidurai R, Velavan B, Abdul Haiyum, T M Faizudeen
Song Title: Ponni Nadhi
Song Composed and Arranged by A.R.Rahman
Singers: A.R.Rahman, AR Raihanah, Bamba Bakya
Lyrics: Ilango Krishnan
Music Supervisor: Nakul Abhyankar
Lyrical Supervision: Sreekanth Hariharan
Lyric Video – Venky
Musicians:
Shehnai – Balesh
Flute – Kamalakar
Violin – Vignesh
String Instruments – SM Subhani
Percussion – Guberan, Ranjith, Hariprasad, Kishore
Lead Drummer – SIVAMANI
Backing Vocals: Sarthak Kalyani, Swagat Rathod, Rakshita Suresh, Pooja Tiwari, Aparna Narayanan, Aparna Harikumar, Vrusha Balu, Pooja Venkat, Anu Anand
Additional Programming: Nakul Abhyankar, Shubham Bhat
Rhythm Programming: Kumaran Sivamani
Sound Engineers: Panchathan Record inn
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Aravind Cresendo, Suryansh, Sarthak Kalyani, Nitish R Kumar
AM Studios
Sivakumar, Pradeep Menon, Manoj Raman, Sathya, Ainul
Mixed by Suresh Permal
Mastered by Suresh Permal
Apple Digital Master by Riyasdeen Riyan
Musician Coordinator: Samidurai R, Velavan B, Abdul Haiyum, Siddique, T M Faizudeen
Song Title: Chola Chola
Song Composed and Arranged by A.R.Rahman
Singers: Sathya Prakash, VM Mahalingam & Nakul Abhyankar
Lyrics: Ilango Krishnan
Music Supervisor: Nakul Abhyankar
Language Supervision: Srinivasa Murthy
Lyric Video: Venky
Musicians:
Flute – Kamalakar
String Instruments – SM Subhani
Percussion – Guberan, Ranjith, Hariprasad, Kishore
Chennai Strings & Sunshine Orchestra
Conducted by Jerry Vincent
Sunshine Brass
Conducted by Lisa
Orchestrated by Prashanth Venkat
Orchestra: Budapest Art Orchestra
Conductor: Peter Pejtsik
East Connection Music Recording, Studio 22
Pro Tools Engineer: David Lukacs
Recording Engineer: Gabor Buczko
Contractor/Session Producer : Miklos Lukacs
Additional Programming: Nakul Abhyankar, Shubham Bhat & Srikant Krishna
Rhythm Programming: Kumaran Sivamani
Sound Engineers:
Panchathan Record inn
Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, TR Krishna Chetan, Aravind Cresendo, Suryansh
AM Studios
Pradeep Menon, Manoj Raman, Sathya, Ainul, Sathish V Saravanan
AR Rahman Mumbai studio – R NITISH KUMAR
Mixed by Suresh Permal
Mastered by Suresh Permal
Dolby Music Mixed and Mastered By : Riyasdeen Riyan
Apple Digital Master by Riyasdeen Riyan
Musician Coordinator: Samidurai R, Velavan B, Abdul Haiyum, T M Faizudeen
