Villu - Review

Music review By Malathy Sundaram
Produced by K.Karunamoorthy and C.Arunpandian (‘Aegan’ team), directed by Prabhu Dheva (his second with Vijay after Pokkiri) and starring Vijay, Nayanthara, Prakash Raj (villain?) Vadivelu, Kushboo( item number), Napolean and others. The story appears to be a comedy-cum-action romance! Vijay is sent abroad on a puzzling assignment to eliminate some people, where he meets his love interest (is that why we have the name Villu for him—he is merely an
instrument in his boss’s hands?) Is supposed to have been filmed in Italy and India. Music has been provided by the trendy composer Devi Sri Prasad (Santosh Subramaniam) who has tuned a hefty 8 songs! Are Vijay fans in for a treat?
Hey Rama Rama...Vocals: Amalraj, Kovai SaralaLyrics: Kabilan.
A typical Vijay song, in terms of music, beats and sentiments! Is it the title song? With lines like ‘sattham inri udhavi seynja vazhum podhe sorgam varum--’ you can imagine the rest. Some fine rhythm arrangement we have here and a bit of violin. A miniscule effort from Sarala. Vijay fans are the target here, but haven’t they heard such songs earlier?!

Nee Kobappattaal...Vocals: SagarLyrics: P.Vijay.
A song that moves somewhat like a nursery rhyme, with simple lyrics and easy rhythm. The song of a love-stricken heart where the hero goes, ‘nee ennai marandhal mattum uyirai viduven’ and everytime he says that, the instruments-mandolin, later the sitar and the sax essay cute notes along. Appears set on Natabairavi scale. Small but nice inputs from live rhythms and the guitar.


Daddy Mummy...Vocals: Mamta Mohandas, Naveen Madhav.Lyrics: Viveka
A surprise from the young actress Mamta! Strong but nasal voice. Quite a sexy song with somewhat distasteful lyrics. The creative rhythms hijack the whole song and make it foot-tapping. The instrumental piece that goes ‘ma ma ma ga ri ga ma pa --- ga ma ri sa’ keeps up the pace. Is it clarinet that we hear? Hard to tell!

Are You Crazy...Vocals: Divya. Lyrics: Prabhu Deva, Akila, Ravi.
Just a quarter of a song , with the lady singer heaping abuse on a man and rounding off with ‘you,loser!’. Three people to pen this?

Jalsa Jalsa...Vocals: Baba Seghal, Rita. Lyrics: Rohini.
A song expressly designed for Vijay, as the singer himself remarks – ‘rock the floor ilaya thalapathy!’ Full of infectious rhythms—a groovy dance number rendered very neatly by Baba Seghal. A kind of Spanish meets native meets calypso kind of beats. Starts off with some Spanish words and a nice glide on the ‘paa’ swara. Adequate support from guitar, keys, drums and rhythm pads, of course. Look out for some breathless dancing from Vijay!!

Vaada Mapilley...Vocals: Tipu, Rita , VadiveluLyrics: Kabilan
Ha, ha , a delightful native ditty using the Sankarabaranam scale where the song starts off like a singalese ‘baila’ number and, moves on! At last we get to hear some good guitar, nagaswaram and thavil beats in the interludes. Vadivelu’s ‘bale’ ‘bale’ adds zing to the song. Could be a hit in spite of the cheap lyrics. Tipu’s high pitched vocals balance Rita’s seductive ones.

Dheemthanakka...Vocals: Devi Sri Prasad, Divya. Lyrics: Snehan
Oh, no, another relentlessly paced dance number, a duet of course! All rhythm pads, drums, guitar, keys, sax, and a bit of flute. But everything drowned out by beats. Some good poetic stuff from Snehan, but still a bit crude. We have the composer indulging his vocal chords here.

Jalsa Jalsa... (The DSP Mix)Vocals: Baba Seghal, Devi Sri Prasad, Rita
You guessed right, this is the ‘remix cum cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof’ avatar of the earlier. Plenty of instruments, synthesized beats and a teeny weeny bit of tabla (surprise). Meant for dance floors.
Verdict:
As we can all see, this stylish composer has been carried away by the image of Vijay as a superb dancer! The record label mentions many live instruments but we barely get to hear them. None of the songs seem to contribute to the actual movement of the story. If the movie is a thriller, won’t the songs be a drag on its pace?