After Mayavi, Devi Sri Prasad has once again composed numbers for Surya in Aaru. The movie directed by Hari, and the debut production venture of director Saran, is said to revolve all around Chennai and hence Devi Sri Prasad has come up with tunes quite typical to the city - peppy, foot-tapping 'koothu' numbers.
Devi Sri Prasad's strength is his verve and vivacity. Luckily, the film has demanded such numbers from him. And what we have eventually is good fun.
1. Soda Bottle (Shankar Mahadevan, Saaki Mukesh ) An energetic beginning to the album. Catchy are the lyrics by N Muthukumar,who has liberally used the endearing Chennai slang. A 'dappanguthu' number with a rap on Chennai culture in between. Shankar Mahadevan seems to be an apt choice. Looks all set to find its way straight into the higher notches of the audio charts.
2. Pakaatha (Tippu,Sumangali) This romantic number seems to be a perfect take off from the song 'Kadhal Valarthen' in Manmadhan. Tippu adds sheen to the proceedings while Devi Sri Prasad fuses classical stuff with slow melody at appropriate places. A pleasant one for slow music lovers.
3.Freeya Vudu (Jassie Gift, Vadivelu, Grace, Mukesh, Karthikeyan ) Perhaps the pick of the album. 'Randaka Randaka' Jassie combines with hard-hitting voices of Vadivelu, Grace. It's not only racy and fast, but also rhythmic too. The usual Pettai Rap rings out differently. However, one finds the usual energy of Jassie Gift missing in this number which gets duly compensated by Vadivelu.
4.Thottutae (Karthik, Sunitha Sarathi ) A typical Devi Sri Prasad stuff. A fast romantic number which has more instruments accompanying it. Rendering the song in an Anglican accent is Sunitha Sarathy. Karthik is his usual stylish self. Devi Sri Prasad has yet again given a song with peppy beats.
5.Dhurogam (Hariharan ) This is a song penned by director Hari himself. Hariharan oozes pathos with the lyrics centered on the idea of betrayal. Interestingly. The Hariharan-Hari combination works. Hariharan in fact is in fine form.
6. Nenjam Ennum (Srinivas, Kalpana ) A speedy song with heavy percussion instruments at work. Srinivas renders it with grace and charm while the dynamic voice of Kalpana gives him perfect company. Devi Sri Prasad has used thavil shrewdly adding the much-needed momentum.
All in all, Aaru rocks. Big-time, that is.