Pudupettai

Siddarth bought me a copy of Puduppetai audio and also ordered me that I write about the music here. Though I haven't heard the music sufficiently to do a review, I decided to obey him.

For non-Tamils, Puduppetai is a new movie written and directed by Selvaraghavan. Previously, I had written a review about one of his movies, 7G Rainbow Colony. I had torn the movie into pieces and I'm surprised that Siddarth, an ardent fan of Selvaraghavan, still talks to me. This time, for a change though, I was asked to review the soundtrack of the film.

The music of Puduppetai is by Yuvan Shankar Raja the younger son of Ilaiyaraja. Since his first film, Selvaraghavan has stuck to Yuvan and the songs from his previous films have been hugely popular.

The audio of Puduppettai is being promoted as 'the first original soundtrack in Tamil' and 'World music at your door step'. I have objection to the word 'original'. But I agree that it's world music. Music from various parts of the world!

The prelude of the piece 'Oru Nalil' (One day) has an eerie resemblence to Hotel California, 'Going through Emotions' is a tweaked lift from Anand Shankar, a Bengali composer of yesteryears. The instrumental 'Varia' (literally 'Aati Kya' in Hindi) is distinctly Remo.

I wonder why would Yuvan want to use Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and bring in Bengali and Konkan flavours for a movie rooted in Chennai slums. Tamil music, especially Chennai slums have their own orginal rhythms and they are not all that bad. It is perhaps to woo the so called 'sophisticated' people who might otherwise shy away from the movie and the album because it is about the slum dwellers. There is a song 'Padicha Naye' (educated dogs) ridicules the elite and the class. Even Siddarth was offended by its lyrics. I wasn't. I can already see this song becoming an anthem in those localities and the slum dwellers using it to snide the educated dogs. That is Selvaraghavan's objective and it will be satisfactorily met. And what's more, he has the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and the tag 'World Music' to woo these educated dogs.