Song of the Day: kokku para para from Chandramukhi

596 - BB - "Balaji Srinivasan": "Listening to the Chandramukhi songs was an underwhelming experience. There are no songs that capture one's attention immediately. Vidyasagar had delivered big time for Kamalhasan in AnbE Sivam, but has failed to do that for this movie. The songs in the film are:

1. Devuda Devuda: A run of the mill opening song for Rajini. SPB tries to inject life in this song, but with insipid lyrics that doesn't match the mood of the song, the song just falls flat.

2. konja nEram: A rehashed version of "mazhai varuthu mazhai varuthu kudai koNdu vaa" with atrocious pronounciation by Asha Bhosle. Madhu Balakrishnan does a fine job, could have made this song his solo.

3. AthithOm: An SPB song, this feels like a 80s IR number and is easily forgettable.

4. Raa Raa: A telugu semi-classical number, probably the equivalent of "oru muRai" from maNichithirathaazh. Sung by Binni Krishnakumar and Tipu. It lacks the haunting feel of oru muRai and probably won't go well with the rajini fans.

5. aNNanOda paattu: Sung by K.K.Karthik and Sujatha. The item number in the album. I wouldn't give it a second hearing.

6. kokku para para: Today's SOTD. Though musically it is not the best of the album (Raa Raa is), this is the song I liked from the album and I was humming this for a couple of days. It is a simple song with a catchy pallavi and lyrics with no political overtones; a welcome change in a Rajini movie.

Chandramukhi seems to be the first film in a new phase in Rajinikanth's career; His first non-political film in quite a while. After the debacle of Baba, I think it is a right career move - make a few films with simple stories and with no hidden agenda. Chandramukhi will probably be a big hit as people who were turned off with incessant "punch" dialogues and larger than life hero worship would come back to watch a Rajini film. No one cares for Rajini's political statements any more, and with Baba's failure, it looks like no one cares for his spiritual statements as well. So, anything like "uppitta thamizh maNNai naan maRakka maattEn" would be laughed at. That is why it is probably a good move to do a film with the focus on the heroine (When was the last time that a Rajini film had the heroine's name as the title?)."