Bale Pandiya Music Review

`Bale Pandiya' is youth entertainer film produced by AGS Entertainment. It stars Vishnu, Piya, Vivek and others. Designer turned director Siddharth Chandrasekhar introduces Singer-Actor Devan Ekambaram as a music director in this film.

Deven was launched as a singer by A R Rahman with the song `Oh Maria' from `Kadhalar Dhinam'. Though he entered the industry as a singer his inner passion was always to be a music director.

And when he got a chance he grabbed it with both hands and delivered. The songs of `Bala Pandiya' are differently conventional. When you thought it is usual it then it changes the track.

The `Bale Pandiya' album has 7 tracks, out of which the last Sirikkiren' is a complete instrumentation. Kudos to have the guts for doing a 5-minutes long instrumentation which is not a cover version. Deven has used almost all the singers in business today in this album.

Welcome dude!

1. Sirikkiren - Listen here

Singers: Naresh Iyer, Mano, Seerkhazhi Sivachidambaram, Burn, Uma Shankar

Lyricist: Vaali

"Sirikkiren" Belongs to the drunk-song genre. It's a fast-beat philosophical song set in `dapangkuthu' type of the mid 80s. It also freaks out to Rock `n' Roll at some points. Deven's experimentation with an unusual combine of seniors like Mano and Siva Chidambaram and juniors like Naresh Iyer and Uma Shankar is interesting and works.  Towards the end Devan surprises by blending a bit from the classical song of `Mama Maaple' from the original Sivaji film Bale Pandiya which is still a rage.

2. Happy - Listen here

Singers: Haricharan, Devan Ekambaram, Naresh Iyer, Naveen Madhav, Paravai Munniamma, Malaysia Vasudevan, Ranjith, Aalaap Raju, Raqueeb Alam, Anuradha Sriram, Srinivas, Velu Murugan, Manikkavinayagam, Mukesh, Malagudi Shuba, Divya Vijay, Anitha, Suchitra, Karthik, Vijay Yesudas & Rahul Nambiar

Lyricist: Vaali

This song is sure to enter the records book for assembling maximum number of singers for a single song. 20 singers to be precise. Novel style renditions. The care free lines are typical Vaali which sings out moments of happiness from various perspectives. The innovation in this song is that except for whistling and finger snapping there's no other instrumentation. It is also said all the singers appear in the film for the song. Waiting to see how this song has come out on screen.

3. Aaradha Kobamillai - Listen here

Singers: Raman Mahadevan, Mahalakshmi Iyer

Lyricist: Thamarai

 `Aaradha Kobamillai' begins with a soothing veena and ascends to a mellifluous duet. A modern duet in rhythmic pace. Thamarai's words suggest it's a song where lovers come together after a tiff. This enchanting melody you may not like it after first listening. But it catches you second time.

4. Ivan Thedal - Listen here

Singers: Burn, Arun Ramamurthi

Lyricist: Burn

A mild techno-rap for the dance floor.  Must be the theme song for the hero and his proposed deeds in the film sung by his friends. Word and more words doesn't let the music take over at any point. Seems Devan has touched all the electronics for this song. For rap lovers.

5. Kangalae Kamalalayam - Listen here

Singers: Unnikrishnan, Mrinalini

Lyricist: Thamarai

You hear a full course of Unnikrishnan after a long time. Thamarai's lyric is inspiring. This is a slow melody bordering to classical. Singers have done justice to the traditional intent. Deven uses more strings to give it a soft focus. All likely to be seen more on television for promotion.

6. Bale Pandiya - Listen here

Singers: Velumurugan, Ranjith, Naresh Iyer

Lyricist: Vaali

The title song is zippy, zingy and street smart. Really fast beats takes you on high. A very likeable kuthu song.

7. Sirikkiren (Ins) - Listen here

Singer: Arun Ramamurthi

This is an instrumental version of the Sirikkiren song. One of the best instrumentals you have heard in recent times. Superbly bouncy beats and artfully presented. Violin and Veena are the main instruments in this apart from Gatam. You wonder the talent of Deven and his ability to do such fast beats using solo violin and veena. Will you like this more than the others?

Deven's debut as a music director is welcome. He must have breathed songs of Illayaraja in the 80s that must have been his formative years in music. You can see that influence through out. Yet Deven comes out refreshingly fresh oozing a lot of hope. When varieties of films come his way he will prove himself.