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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Mankatha Background Score


The catchy trumpet theme has the power, punch and the attitude needed to back a charismatic hero, which Ajith is in this film. Yuvan Shankar Raja plays a very tricky game with listeners with this instrumental theme. It begins with string section playing the first half of the main trumpet theme. That is expected. That is the way to hint at a theme. You can’t play the complete theme instantly in the very beginning of the piece. That is a nice strategy to keep the listeners interested in the piece. We anticipate that after playing enough with the notes of the first half of the melody, the composer would lead us to a satisfactory end with the theme playing in its entirety at least once at an unexpected point before the track ends. While I was waiting for the composer to surprise me, Yuvan totally surprised me by not playing the theme in its entirety until the end. And that worked too. The theme always ends the moment it hits its peak note. Maybe, that is to imply the infallibility of the hero, because the second half of the theme actually descends down from the high point the theme reaches in the middle. This theme is used throughout the film whenever Vinayak Mahadev (Ajith) makes a surprise entry or does something unexpected in a scene. There aren’t many variations of this theme in the film except the one with additional heavy Rock Guitar layers and it plays in a crucial scene. The other important theme in the film is the strings-heavy heist theme which is used throughout the episode in which the Heist is planned and executed. Obviously, it is inspired by scores of various Hollywood action films, but sounds quite catchy and effective in this film. A piece with prominent brass section backed just by Tabla beats is used for a comical situation in the film. It sounds quite fresh and totally in sync with the situation for which it is used. Yet again, after Saroja (the Car toppling scene) and Aaranya Kaandam, Yuvan plays a western classical piece (or is it an Original composition?) for an action scene in this film too. Our film makers or sound designers are yet to learn their lessons when it comes to mixing the score with the film. As always, it is too loud in Mankatha too. Between, Background score assisted by Karthik Raja, Bhavatharini and Premgi Amaran it seems. Whatever that means!

Some of the cues from Mankatha Background Score

1. Trisha Intro

2. Tabla for Trumpet

3. The Spy

4. Hangover

5. The Heist Theme

6. Mankatha Theme

7. Violence Symphony


40 comments:

Anonymous said...

its not an original composition.its j.s.bach's violin concerto in a minor 1st movement 1041

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Anon - Thank you for the link.

Anonymous said...

Heist Theme just Rocks. Wow cant imagine this kinda score for a Tamil Movie. Just Brilliant!!

PRADEEP said...

is the violence symphony real composition or exists from the another movie?

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Pradeep - It is taken from Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 http://youtu.be/lYJ-y0CUMXg

Jeffrey said...

i think heist theme score also copied from eng movie

Anonymous said...

ya frm sme eng movies....

can any one pls leave the link of the above score to download

vinoth said...

Can you please anyone post the climax theme with Ajith and arjun talking in phone.. Can you please send it to my email - vinwin06@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

The 5th one "The Heist Theme" is awesome.. Yuvan and company rockz..

vigram said...

hey i loved the rock guitar theme.....can u mail it or do u have any links for it??

email @ vigramnatarajan@gmail.com

Ajith said...

Heist Theme. No words.

Unknown said...

hey do u play any instrument?? i loved the cello, guitar , drums and the piano (etc) renditions of vinnaithaandi varuvaaya to the core! i ve no knowledge of instrumental music.... tell me one instrument whic i can learn for life and play! ????
ppl confuse n told me one type of instrument wil b pleasant on the ears oly for songs dedicated for tat instrument eg.drums...i wouldn want that. for an idea i would want one where 8 songs of vinnaithaandi varuvaaya can be played n njoyd be it a beat or a strum or any knid of bg sound but shud entice the soul like the original nonetheless!! ur sugestion???

Unknown said...

i saw the movie. i didn't like the portion were the western classical music was used. It didn't suit the action scene. And it didn't gel with the music before and after this piece. So I didn't know why it was used. Sometimes, western classical style is used for slow (or ultra slow) motion shots. Was that the reason? The same was done in Saroja too when the van capsizes. It seemed unfit there too.

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Ramesh - I agree. In Saroja, it didn't sound so wrong. But, in Mankatha, it sounds forced, a deliberate attempt. Yuvan trying to make a kind of 'See how quirky I am' statement.

Anonymous said...

yeah heist theme was awesome... chanceles...

pls someone place the link to download that theme music..

Anonymous said...

thanks for the bgm
-sowmi

Anonymous said...

Mail me haist theme- avinash.rajv24@gmail.com

20 faces said...

the heist theme is masssssss

Travel expert Shamim said...

I like this movie and A R Rahman is a legend. But I wish he sings Bangla song like some other Indian musicians.

Abishek said...

Mankatha theme copied from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LCHMQtNMsg

Anonymous said...

@abhishek credits were already given to 50 cents...and i dont think it s copied..it s inspired...

Anonymous said...

do any body knew the difference inspiration and copy..this managatha theme is such a blatant copy.i dunno why anyone are supporting that.what hardwork has yuvan done in this.he just plays the pre programmed loop alreay used by 50 cents.did he improvise any?if you want to talk about inspiration just c this what raaja has done and used the same in the prelude of antha nilavathan song from mudhal mariyadhai..if you have proper musical sense find out the portion in which he got inspired from.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN2mv8739SU

Anonymous said...

where can I see the credit given to 50 cent? Is it on the CD or is it mentioned on yuvan website?

--AgainstPlagiarism

Thala said...

How do I download these background musics to my computer???????????

Anonymous said...

You can download those themes by right click of the theme name and then click save target and then save it to location you want in you pc

simple thats it..

Enjoy

Anonymous said...

@anonymous i saw it on one of the websites where they had mentioned that...well if you wanna debate about plagiarism then it does not stop with Yuvan alone...the Oscar winner ARR is a big copycat...people praise him even if he farts....and about the mankatha theme yeah the beats r the same, but there is improvisation on it....if u had some musical sense you would definitely understand that....and btw i am a gr8 fan of raja sir and also yuvan....Raja sir is a legend...

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous-- Why are you on the defensive? you saw it on a website, but there's no url address? Why are you bringing up AR Rahman? If you are saying that Rahman is a plagirist, then I ask you where did he plagiarize without giving credit? All I am interested in is prove.. this is not an argument about who did what or not. If you say something exists.. I just want prove. I am still waiting for the prove that Yuvan give credit (I need the url of the website you mentioned).

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous-- You are once again making statements without prove.

1. you saw it on a website, but you refused to indicate the url address of that website.

2. The oscar winner is a plagirist, but you did not give an example of his plagirism (where he did not give credit).

I am solely just interested in prove and nothing more. taking someone else's working and passing it on as your own is not a good thing.

Anonymous said...

You are once again making statements without prove.

1. you saw it on a website, but you refused to indicate the url address of that website.

2. The oscar winner is a plagirist, but you did not give an example of his plagirism (where he did not give credit).

I am solely just interested in prove and nothing more. taking someone else's working and passing it on as your own is not a good thing.

Anonymous said...

i would ask you the question again...where has he given credits to all his plagiarised music(i mean ARR).....i am searching for the URL that u wanted...will soon upload it...ok

Anonymous said...

and yeah i did bring up ARR cuz he does all the dirty work and gets away...even the blogger suresh kumar is yet to answer a previous query on why he does not criticise ARR and he brings up plagiarism with other music directors......

Anonymous said...

All idiots who praise rahman and blame yuvan. Atleast yuvan gave credits for inspiration (chk the audio cd cover). But can u answer whether rahman gave credit for this blant copywork ? This robot song was copied for his puthiya manitha in enthiran. (listen from 00:40 sec if u don've patience)
'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXa9tXcMhXQ

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Anonymous said...

@anonymous thanks a lot for the share....

i hope this answers another guys question on where the credits for mankatha theme were

Sundhar said...

Mr.Suresh , one very very disturbing comment that i found in one of your posts was that Yuvan plagiarised so much music that you can never keep him upto IR and ARR!!!!!! So does that imply IR and ARR have never plagiarised music? This is my first comment in your wonderful blog and i am sorry it is critical. Come on man are you ignorant or wish to be ignorant of the fact that IR and ARR have done greater feats of plagiarism that what Yuvan has even attempted before. IMO IR and ARR are the GODS of music no doubt but their so called Untouchable Position on the Pedestal is the one under scrutiny here. Yuvan i feel inspires a lot i have seen ARR being inspired in many of those movies we call him GODLY. That does not take away the fact that we revere him as a GOD . So Yuvan is an upcoming contender to that spot i feel he is as original as the GODS themselves i suppose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Suresh Kumar said...

Sundhar - I am over and done with this debate. I unnecessarily compared Yuvan with IR and ARR, and diverted the debate on something that is not of prime concern (that of IR and ARR plagiarizing).

Sundhar said...

Mr. Suresh , Yep i think you are right i am not a polarized Yuvan fan just a matter of fact thats all what i wanted to add . Just wanted to express my feelings about the upcoming global composer in Yuvan. But AMAZING BLOG Sir , for a Soundtrack fan like me i was yearning for some insights into the scores of Tamil movies . Kudos for maintaining a blog of this kind . Hope to see more frequent updates in the future. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Simply wow

Anonymous said...

Could you please post the background music played on two occasions (during pre-climax fight between Ajith and Arjun).

1. When Ajith is about to kill Lakshmi Rai

2. The scene when Arjun's party arrives at the scene and Thala is sitting in Van with money flying all over him.

I cant get over it !!! Has it been plagiarized too ? please let me know.

And great work Suresh, will keep coming to your blog on BGM reviews. This is awesome ...

Anonymous said...

@all Yuvan has given credits to 50 cents for mankatha theme music before audio launch itself.. check this video who asks for links above.. suresh kumar please reply brother..

http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/gallery/Events/28767.html