Music of Ananthapurathu Veedu

Recently came across songs from this movie called Ananthapurathu Veedu (or Anandhapurathu Veedu) starring Nandha (of Punnagai Poo and Mounam Paesiyatha fame) and Chaya Singh (who doesn't know Manmadha Raasa!) and produced by Director Shankar...

The music for this flick is composed by Ramesh Krishna (google tells me that there is a Kannada music director of the same name, but no further information is known) and Naga is the Director. Its anyone's guess that its supposed to be spooky thriller set in some haunted house (though the title sounds like some Mollywood flick).

But the unique aspect about this soundtrack is all the songs (3 full songs and 2 instrumental bits/themes) are composed in a single raaga/raagam. Quite an interesting approach considering the nature of the film!

Raagam Vasantha! Yes, this is the raaga that one will hear from start to finish in this soundtrack (I am not calling this a 'music review' for the simple reason that I am not familiar with the intricacies of the Raagas or its 'Janya' etc.). One song in this raagam I loved in recent times is "Kandaen Kandaen Kadhalai" from Karu. Pazhaniappan's "Pirivom Santhippom". This scintillating melody was composed by Vidyasagar.

Two of my all-time favorite songs by Maestro ILaiyaraaja, "Maan Kandaen" from "Raaja Rishi" and "Nil Nil Nil Badhil Sol" from "Paattu Paada Vaa" are other songs that I know in the same raagam. The latter, though it sounds very simple is quite a complex melody.

Coming back to the songs of Ananthapurathu Veedu..

1. "Chithira Vaanam's" pallavi sung by Karthik sounds almost like an extension of the aforementioned Vidyasagar melody, both in tempo and feel. Incidentally "Kandaen Kandaen" was also sung by Karthik alongwith Swetha Mohan (Daughter of singer Sujatha). The rap bits by Suchi (Mirchi Suchi) is where it takes a different color. Good listen nevertheless!

2. Nee Nee Innoru Thandhai: This song uses the voice/giggles of a child (Master Aryan, who acts in the film as well) quite nicely. Swetha Mohan gets to sing this alongside another star son Vineeth Sreenivasan. Vairamuthu's lyrics are interesting. The celtic piece in the 2nd interlude seems to be included to add some variety and avoid monotony. Works decently well.

3. Balram (Kaatrin Mozhi..) gets to sing "Thaaye", a pathos song with nice arrangements. The flute bit alongwith the wailing violins in the second interlude are quite striking.

The instumental pieces are functional and could make more sense with the movie.

Kudos to the director and music director for trying out something new here. I am not aware of any such previous attempts. Maybe Ramesh Krishna should have tried some different voices. Most of the voices (Karthik, Swetha, Balram..) featured are ones oft repeated by Vidyasagar and if you are unaware of the credits, there is every chance you might mistake this soundtrack to be by the latter.

All said and done this album works well for me, just for the experimental aspect involved.

You can listen to the songs from Ananthapurathu Veedu here.

You can listen to "Kandaen Kandaen" from "Pirivom Santhippom" here.

Vasantham all the way!

At Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta

Enroute Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta..

Raajneeti-Movie Review

Any average Indian (Aam aadmi?!) is quite familiar with 2 stories.

One, a story of good and evil, in which cousins vied for power and the evil cousin invited the other party to a game of dice.Familiar? Then there was this adopted son of a charioteer who was the friend of the evil cousin and will stand by him at any cost, even if the opponents were his own siblings.

And then, there is another story of a powerful political family, the charismatic leader of which is assasinated in a blast and his foreigner wife takes over the party reins and powered by a overwhelming wave of sympathy steers the party to a landslide win.

You can also add a touch of Godfather if you want!

Now, when you take these 2 (or more) stories and its characters, fuse them in a political wrap, swap the chariot for a car, exchange bow and arrow for kabaddi, trim the number of siblings, turn the political leader to a son and the wife to a bhabhi (without sacrificing the foreigner girlfriend angle), throw in some cinematic moments (like the mom pleading to the long lost son to come back home to be with her and ditch the friend), a few kisses here and there and a climax befitting a gangster film, what you get is Raajneethi!

Wow! Sounds straight out of a 'Crazy Mohan-written-Priyadarshan-directed' script isn't it?!

Yeah! But the difference is, this movie is not intended to be a comedy and for the most part Prakash Jha's intentions come across pretty well.

Raajneethi begins decently well and the first hour of the movie is its most engaging. Prakash Jha's characters are easily identifiable for the aforementioned '2 story' reasons, which in itself is both a boon and a flaw. A boon coz it helps further the story without much ado and a flaw coz at the most critical junctures it ends up giving away the plot and the supposed-to-be twist in the script.

The films script goes haywire after the first hour and one gets the feeling, the director in an attempt to strike a balance between commercial and critical acclaim, ends up throwing in way too many complications in the characters and (the already known) plot, they in turn result in some real slack moments. The romantic angle between the lead couple is another weak link.

Especially the second half, towards the end, is riddled with some seriously funny scenes (unintentional ofcourse!). Take for instance the scene (and the ones that follow) where the uncle and mentor (Nana Patekar) gets to know Suraj's (Ajay Devgn) past when he is about to settle scores with him. Ridiculous!

The aforementioned 'mom-meeting-long abandoned son' scene reminds one of a similar scene in Mani Rathnam's cult Tamil classic, "Dalapathi (dubbed Dal-pati in Hindi) and one wonders how brilliantly the same scene (featuring Amrish Puri and Rajnikanth) was handled by Mani. You even get to see the uncle (Nana Patekar) driving the car, when the nephew (Ranbir Kapoor) is out to get rid of his evil cousins and mouth a new version of Gita.

But, this film has its moments. The altercation Arjun Rampal has with the police, the scene where Virendra Pratap (Manoj Bajpayee) inducts Suraj into the party, the blast scene and a few more. But what stays with you long after the movie ends, are the ones that take the sheen away from what could otherwise have been a riveting drama.

Coming to the other aspects of the film, credit should be given for the way this ensemble cast has been handled. Each actor has a well defined role. Ranbir Kapoor is brilliant as Samar.Nana Patekar, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee and Ajay Devgn are good. Katrina Kaif is decent and her screen prescence takes care of her lack of expression at times. And yes, there is Naseeruddin Shah also and I dunno for what!

Cinematography is brilliant, specially because of the large crowds involved in almost every scene. The background score by Wayne Sharpe suits the mood of the movie.

Overall, it is a decent watch, just for the heightened political drama it is soaked in and some good performances.It seems a little better than the other films showcased over the last few months.But do not have high expectations.

As usual, this Raajneeti too, leaves a lot to be desired!!