“Kuselan” Music Album Review…

Music: GV Prakash
Release date: 1st July 2008
Lyrics: Vaali (2 songs), Pa.Vijay, Yugabharathi, Dr. Kridhaya
Director: P Vasu
Starring: Pasupathy, Meena, Rajinikanth, Nayanthara, Vadivelu and others.
Producer: K Balachandar
Remake of Malayalam classic “Kadha Parayumbhol”

Chaaral (4:34)
Vocal(s) by Shreya Ghoshal
Lyrics by Dr. Kridhaya
Shreya seems to be delivering good songs consistently. However, this song is not above average in terms of music or lyrics, but the honey filled vocal of Shreya has to be appreciated. She has played her part well as a singer. – 67%

Cinema Cinema (6:08)
Vocal(s) by Shankar Mahadevan
Lyrics by Vaali
This is a typical Rajinkanth glorification song. There is nothing special in the music to speak of. Shankar Mahadevan has done well and there are no suprises as he has rendered many songs in this tempo. Lyric for this song do not live up to expectations especially since the hype was that it was a tribute to Tamil cinema’s 75th anniversary. It has bits and pieces about Tamil cinema, but mostly it’s about Rajinikanth. I counted the lines that it talks about the rest of the cinema or cinema related lines and it’s only 21. The Rajinikanth glorification lines are 32. So not sure how it can be a tribute to the Tamil cinema in anyway. It also does not talk about other key people in the industry who have made great contributions like Kamalhassan, Manirantam, Balachandar, Illayarajah, AR Rahman, etc. I think it would have been better if they had tried to add some of these people in to the song and if it was going to be hard to add them as there is always some one who might get left out and that may cause unwanted problems, then they should have not sung about Rajinikanth in this song and kept it general. Where I have a problem is when they say that it’s a tribute for Tamil cinema’s 75 years celebration, and then they write about Rajini alone. There is already a song for Rajini so this was just purely overkill. Anyway why we have NTR and Rajakumar when it’s suppose to be a tribute for 75 years of Tamil cinema? I hate it when they try to make marketing comments thinking that everyone else is an idiot! - 53%

Om Zaarare (7:12)
Vocal(s) by Daler Mehndi, Chitra, Sadhana Sargam
Lyrics: Vaali
Why Om Zaarare? What does that mean? Is that Hindi? Don’t we have enough Tamil words to use? The music is very average, probably the weakest song in this album. Why waste Chitra and Sadhana in this song? Why Daler Mehindi? He does not add any value to this song. Why include someone who can’t pronounce Tamil and there is no need for that voice as such either. Another marketing strategy, I guess. The lyrics contain many of Rajini’s previous film names all through out the song. But it doesn’t make much sense; anyone can put the titles of Rajinikanth movies together in this manner. Very disappointing song especially considering this was written by Valli. Another simple mass song only, however it is not that great. - 40%

Perinba (5:36)
Vocal(s) by Kailash Kher, Prasanna
Lyrics by Yugabharathi
Another Rajinikanth worshiping song! Nice music, probably the best music in this album, pity that it reminds us all of GV Prakash’s earlier work from “Veyil” movie. There is no uniqueness. Apart from Kailash Kher’s Tamil pronunciation the song is sung well. I am not sure if Rajinikanth is all what it says in this song, infact I am sure he is not! There is no need to have such lyrics in any album. The lyrics suggest he is a god, leader, etc. Why this? Praise his accomplishments rather than inventing fairy stories- 53%

Sollamma (6:13)
Vocal(s) by Hariharan, Sujatha, Baby Ranjini, Baby Pooja
Lyrics: Pa Vijay
This song is probably the best song of the album. Music is easy to listen, with nice melody. Do I need to say anything about Hariharan and Sujatha’s singing ability in a melodies song like this? They excel as expected. Probably the best lyrics in this album as it depicts the simple happiness a poor person has in their daily life, it’s no surprise that this song was written by Pa Vijay. – 80%

Summary
All in all, I find that the album serves the only purpose of worshipping Rajinikanth. I am not sure how they could write songs like this and get Rajinikanth to act in this! He is said to be a modest person and doesn’t like glorification, but this song is all about glorification of Rajinikanth and not even true glorification. I know that Rajinikanth is acting as a super star in this movie, but I don’t see the need for so many songs about Rajini to portray that super star effect. I am confident that all Rajini fans will be overjoyed and this would be the best thing that happened to them but I for neutral fans this album is a bit suffocating. Overall lyrics are a big letdown. The music is good, but nothing exceptional or new. GV Prakash has played it safe by placing good singers into their comfort zone. Daler Mehndi & Kailash Kher were inclusions that could have been avoided, as they didn’t add anything special and their Tamil pronunciation was appalling to warrant their presence in this album. Especially Daler Mehndi was not needed at all, but as I said it would have been another marketing decision to promote the movie, perhaps specifically targeted at North Indians? Who knows!!!

I would give a fail (44%) to the lyrics apart from Pa Vijay’s “Sollamma” song. Music was good, but because there was nothing new or special it’s a pass mark (58%). Singers did a good (72%) job and they are probably the ones who saved the album on the end of the day. – 59%.