Neethaane En Ponvasantham - Orchestration!

The heart and soul of Ilaiyaraaja’s music for Gautam Vasudev Menon’s Neethaane En Ponvasantham lies in the Orchestration. It is not just the preludes and interludes (as expected, interlude stands on its own as a mini symphony with its own motif and its variations); even the vocal portions are heavily supported by the orchestra with many layers of instruments parading one after and one over the other playing supporting and contrapuntal phrases. The immensity of details that Ilaiyaraaja plants in the orchestration of the song is mind boggling, and these details, even if a listener is not really conscious of its presence cannot escape from experiencing the resultant effect.

I am still wondering why Ilaiyaraaja chose to split the song Yennodu Vaa Vaa into two halves and treated each half differently; Raaja writes a symphonic orchestration for the first half, but strips off all that is acoustic from the second half and leaves it entirely to Synth. If it is to demonstrate the difference between lovers now and then as demanded by the script, it is interesting that Ilaiyaraaja explicitly says something by retaining the melody as it is and changing only the orchestration. Musically, I don’t know if it is a valid case to compare and discuss, because, in the first half, with a live orchestra, Raaja stuffs the song with multiple layers of instruments, but he practices a deliberate restraint when the song switches to Synth mode. The melody is allowed to play on its own with a very minimal Synth backing (just a Synth bass I guess) and a pounding electronic pad. I don’t really miss the symphonic orchestration in the second half, for it gives the melody a breathing space and a chance to flaunt its beauty on its own. Even if the entire song were set to Synth I would have hummed, whistled and played the song on loop in my mind as much as I do now.

However, now that I have heard the songs with all those accompanying acoustic orchestral layers, I cannot play just the melody of the song in my mind. The orchestration feels immensely innate to the main melody that when I try to play the song in my mind, all the orchestral layers almost always accompany the main melody, like that Guitar riff (not the main guitar riff) from Saindhu Saindhu that accompanies the lines en thaaiyai pola oru pennai Thedi or that stirringly subdued, brief rise and fall of a dense strings section when Karthik goes thalli thalli ponaalum unnai enni vazhum oru yezhai endhan nenjathai paaradi (that Oboe piece is jarring though) in Kaatrai Konjam.

The melodies of Mudhal Murai Paartha Nyaabagam and Sattru munbu depend a lot on the backing orchestration to evoke the basic mood and emotion of the respective songs. I am not sure if the melody of the line manadhinil yeno or baaram (from Mudhal Murai) can convey the heaviness of the heart the girl is screaming about without that orchestral backing where a hefty strings section aggressively ascend along with the melody. The mad rush created by the drums and strings in dramatic turn the song takes through veyila mazhaiya vazhiyaa sugamaa yedhu nee to hit the high before it breaks into Neethaane En Ponvasantham hook section - this song wouldn’t be as effective without the live orchestration.

Ilaiyaraaja seems to be cautiously introducing the changes in the orchestration in a regular interval in the songs, so that, even though the orchestration changes relentlessly throughout the song somehow listeners know when to expect the next twist or turn. This helps a great deal in not alienating a listener. The element of surprise is very important in orchestral music that could instantly intrigue a listener. Ilaiyaraaja quite effectively manages to give these orchestral surprises without alienating the listener.

I don’t know if it is to avoid sounding repetitious or to impart a new sound, but Ilaiyaraaja does seem to be deliberately avoiding flute and chooses other instruments of wood winds family in its place in most of the songs. So, in an interlude in Kaatrai Konjam, when a flute slowly emerges amidst other instruments, as if travelling a long distance to find its place in the overall scheme of orchestra, I was expecting it to blossom into a full-fledged piece, but Ilaiyaraaja doesn’t yield to the temptation and chops off the flute before it takes a definite shape and overpowers everything else. Emotionally too, this seems to be a moment of nostalgia that was long lost, that seems to have come back to haunt us again, but we are so busy dealing with the things of the present, before we could get entirely engulfed by it, we just forget and move on. Ilaiyaraaja deliberately creates a mystery, leaves it unresolved and keeps us waiting for something to happen that never comes by. I get immensely intrigued by such drama in the orchestral pieces.

There is a natural flow in the song, a sense of coherence and fluidity though the songs break into varied sections of vocal stanzas and instrumental interludes. All of it feels magically glued as one whole entity because of Ilaiyaraaja’s orchestral ideas.

In Saindhu Saindhu, after the first charanam, Yuvan reprises the pallavi and precisely when he is about to end, a Saxophone emerges playing a pleasing phrase and this leads us to the instrumental interlude. The flow is achieved by beginning the beginning of the next section just before the previous section ends, but the fascinating aspect here is that the connecting piece – like the Saxophone piece here – fits the ending of the end of the previous section with amazing musical precision and also naturally reprises in the following instrumental interlude as if it was born and always belonged here. I thought that Saxophone connector piece did its job well and I bid a goodbye, but it is heard as instrumental filler between the vocal lines in the pallavi when it reprises again towards the end of the song. Surprise! Again! The number of ideas that Ilaiyaraaja executes within what on surface sounds like a minimally orchestrated six-minute song is unbelievable.

The first instrumental interlude in Saindhu Saindhu ends with a new guitar riff (quite different from the main guitar motif of the song), and while we think it is part of interlude, Ilaiyaraaja continues to loop the guitar riff as a supporting instrumental layer in the continuing charanam as well. This way he never abruptly cuts off from one section and jumps to other section of the song, always creates a connector that could do its job both as a lead solo in one section and the supporting melody in the other. All of these techniques sound very simple and natural and quite obvious while listening because we got so accustomed to these techniques by listening to Ilaiyaraaja’s music all these years.

In Vaanam mella, Ilaiyaraaja plays a looping supporting melody on Harp underneath the main melody throughout the main stanza, not just for the first time but also whenever it appears in the course of the song, which, I guess is the key ingredient more than anything else that evokes a sense of sweet nostalgia that the boy and girl are singing about in the song. It is the Harp that adds a sense of movement in the song and makes it livelier. In the final reprise, when the song is about to end, Ilaiyaraaja prepares us by suddenly stopping the Harp layer. We sense, though not consciously, that something we were continuously hearing has ceased to be, and we expect a change in the course of the song, which in this case, happens to be the end.

Also, in Saindhu Saindhu, there is a sense of perfect sonic balance and symmetry in the way Ilaiyaraaja opens and closes musical parentheses in the course of the song. The first interlude begins with a soothing string section playing a simple melody (reminds me of that sublime Pournami theme from Guna) without any other instrumental disturbances, after which the piece expands and moves on to other instruments. And we realize that that was the opening of a musical section only when he closes it quite logically at the end of the second interlude where again just the strings section without any other accompaniments play similar melody.

Even the signature guitar riff with which the song begins is reprised at the very end on strings to bring the song to a comforting closure. The whole main stanza Saindhu Saindhu reprises at the end with a totally new orchestral backing instead of its native guitar riff accompaniment, and while I was wondering if the guitar riff was gone forever, there it reprises again on strings section, when the song was almost about to fade out and die, giving a fitting answer to my question and an exhilarating sense of closure to six minutes of musical joy.

Now, what does that symmetry mean to an average listener? A sense of satisfaction that we inherently feel while listening to a piece of orchestral music could also be because of us intuitively experiencing the innateness, the precision and the clarity in the ideas of the creator that comes through the composition. There are no random music fillers or ambiguous musical ideas. When every single layer of instrument in the given piece of orchestral music feel like it is there for a specific definitive purpose, which it is serving with utmost diligence, you can’t help but fall obsessively in love with the music and the composer.

I have the habit of editing the songs like this with just the instrumental preludes, interludes and postludes of a song and play it in the background when I am at work

I did that for Neethaane En Ponvasantham songs too

Kaatrai Konjam

Mudhal Murai

Pengal Yendral

Pudikkala Maamu

Saindhu Saindhu

Sattru Munbhu

Vaanam mella

Yennodu Vaa Vaa

Kaatrai Konjam (Neethaanae En Pon Vasantham)

This is not a review, just an early word

Melody is vintage Ilaiyaraaja - lilting, breezy and romantic. Ilaiyaraaja gives the melody an extremely dense orchestration and yet it all feels so astonishingly tender and light.

Saxophone, Electric Guitar, Bass, Strings, Solo Violins, Chorus (Male chorus for a change), Piano, flute, oboe, Clarinet, Drums – you name any instrument that you associate with romantic mood, you have it in here. Yet, none of it knocks your ear drums harshly. I haven’t heard such an intricately orchestrated song (there are such orchestral pieces in background scores of Ilaiyaraaja’s recent films) in a while. It is not just in the interlude (as expected, interlude stands on its own as a mini symphony with its own motif and its variations), even the vocal portions are heavily supported by the orchestra with layers and layers of instruments playing phrases and doing magical things that is surprising, intriguing and enchanting.

The unique quality of such Ilaiyaraaja melodies is that though it is so soft and even predictable at times, it never feels slow, stretched or boring; there is an inherent implosion of energy that keeps me hooked.

Sound mixing is amazing. Especially I like that they didn’t chop off the strings that sustains on a note and fades out ever so gradually until it reaches its logical death, even after the section for which it was added ends and the next section begins with Karthik proceeding to sing the next stanza.

The sound of smooth Orchestral Rajaazz is so refreshing and the voice of Karthik goes beautifully well with this genre so much so that his voice becomes a part of the overall sonic texture. It sounds like what Kaadhal Kavithai (one of my all-time favorite Ilaiyaraaja album) songs would have sounded it if they were recorded with a live symphony orchestra and had absolutely no synth elements.

Those who get to listen to this stuff live at the audio launch are blessed souls. I don’t know yet if I can make it to the audio launch.

Can’t wait for the CD!

Aah! Finally

The Liner notes in the booklet that comes with Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya Collector's Edition Pack is written by yours truly (ursmusically P.S.Suresh Kumar). Thanks to Kaushik and others from Sony Music, who gave me this opportunity.

Needle Drops

Guess the movie from this background score piece. It is a Hindi film.

I love Inception score. The concoction of Synthesizers, psychedelic rock guitars, booming brass, and rushing strings is apt to a mixture of action-adventure-heist-sci-fi fantasy that the film is. The internet is already buzzing with discussions on whether Hans Zimmer's 'Inception' score is eligible for an Oscar? (Zimmer seems to have tweaked in an already available music material). However, there is also a parallel PR machine working overtime to boast the music as “Originally” inspired material.



Amidst so many romantic duets, I know that Endhiran – The Robot wouldn’t be a Science fiction film in the true sense of the word. However, I am curious about the background of the film. I am expecting a lot of electronica in the score, though I prefer to listen to more of a choral-orchestral score. John Williams, long time back, proved that flickering laser lights don’t need flanging and phasing synthesizers in the background to create an impact. And can we have a Score OST release at least this time? It was announced that Sivaji Score would be released after the film’s success but it didn’t happen.

For past few weeks, I have been watching episodes of Vidaadhu Karuppu and Sorna Regai from Marma Desam Series. I love the spine-chilling title music of these serials. It is composed by Rehaan, who also composed the Sun TV lead music. I don’t know what he is doing now. He could have become a good background score composer in Tamil films. Listen to the title music pieces Vidaadhu Karuppu Sorna Regai

It seems Raavanan soundtrack may be released with 5 additional songs from the background score of the film. The track listing is here

1. Naan Varuvene
Singers: A.R.Rahman, Jali Fily Cissokho

2. Lament of the leaves
Singer: Bruno Conn
Played by Bruno Conn

3. Restless Mystic
Played by Seenu

4. Yaaro Ivalo
Singers: Chinna Ponnu, Sangeetha (End Credits in the film shows Malgudi Shubha’s name also)

5. Kalingathu Bharani
Singers: Naresh Iyer, Rahul Nambiyar, Dr.Narayanan, Haricharan Sesh

The End Credits in the film also lists following songs, but it seems they are not getting released

6. Kora
Singer: Jali Fily Cissokho

7. Maayamaa (Bulgarian Vox)
Singer: Thvasthunga Versova

Gautam Vasudev Menon’s 'Nadunisi Naigal’, a glimpse of which we already had in ‘Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya’, is a psycho thriller that would have no songs and it also may not have background score.

Here is a high quality version of Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya theme used aptly for a video by A.R.Rahman



Shruthi Haasan has won ‘Best Background Score’ Isaiaruvi Award for her Score in Unnai Pol Oruvan. Ilaiyaraaja presented the trophy to her. I recall Kamal Haasan, in one of the press meet before the release of Unnai Pol Oruvan, saying, how happy he felt when he heard Shruthi Haasan talking about minimalism in a film score. He also said that Ilaiyaraaja, who left most of the scenes silent in his initial days, was accused by the film producers for not adding enough music for the money he charges.

Ilaiyaraaja’s part Starts at 2:20



Background Score – 71 is still ON.

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya Complete Score

Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya Complete Score



Voiceless Score Ripped by SpED - equalize@hotmail.co.uk

Edited and Compiled by - www.backgroundscore.com

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Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya Background Score

The moment I heard those flamboyant piano runs in the theatrical trailer of ‘Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya’, I had a gut feeling that this film is going to be an A.R.Rahman musical. Since this is a Gautam Vasudev Menon film, I was initially surprised by the quirkiness of the soundtrack of the film. However, in few days, the music totally embraced me or rather I totally embraced it. I knew that these melodies would make base for delightful instrumental pieces for the background score of the film. There is a scene in ‘Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya’ in which after setting the frame and explaining how the camera should move to capture a shot for a film being canned within the film, K.S.Ravi Kumar says, ‘Inga Rahman background music potturuvaaru’ (Rahman will put some background music here). While making this film, I guess Gautam Menon would have told the same to his crew for almost every single scene. There is so much music in this film.

Usually, pure love stories are a composer’s delight to write background score for. Though it does not challenge with any freshness in what happens, the challenge is how to score for the freshness in how it all happens and bring within it the aura of romance through music. Gautam’s love stories have lots of silence in it, and little awkward dialogues and conversations with too many bits, pieces and phrases concatenated into full sentences. It provides a lot of scope for a composer to fill these silences with music and add to the romance that Gautam wants to ooze.

That conversation between Madhavan and Reema Sen in Reema’s house, after a power cut, just before the song ‘Verenna’ is one such instance where Harris Jeyaraj had his moment of glory in the background score. That saxophone bit did wonders in sparkling a chemistry and attraction in every meeting between Maaya and Anbuchelvan in "Kaaka Kaaka". There is this stirring orchestral version of ‘Uyirin Uyirae’ melody wells up in Anbachelvan’s eyes, when he carries a wounded Maaya to Hospital. I do not remember much of ‘Vettaiyaadu Vilayadu’ or ‘Pachaikili Muthucharam’.

This film is full of conversations between a boy and a girl in love - before, after and much later. They either they talk about loving each other or about parting ways. The moment we hear the stirring string section that flaunts the inner butterflies of a man, who falls in love with a girl on the very first sight, it is evident that Rahman is going to shower this film with his musical rains. He does and How! The score lightens the film, sprinkles romance in the air, and builds drama and adds momentum to a film that is packed with a series of conversations between a boy and a girl.

Melodies of all the songs in the film are used beautifully in the background score. Hosanna melody fills in for that initial euphoria of Karthik in finding his soul mate. The little funny moments in between them before they begin to talk to each other is filled with Vibraphone version of the song. The lyrical melody of the poetic “Yen Idhayam Udaithaai Norungavae Yen Maru Idhayam Tharuvaen Nee Udaikkavae" plays on flute and angelic female voice to enhancing the serenity of silences, where it is, throughout the film. The cello theme from ‘Kannukkul Kannai’ is aptly used whenever Jessie walks out of a conversation in the scenes preceding the song. The best used song musically and thematically is ‘Mannippaya’, the lines of which reveal the whole story of the film. The title track is almost used entirely as a background score. Aah! That female version of ‘Aaromalae’ for Jessie is heavenly.

Apart from the melodies of the songs, there are many music themes in the film. The shocker bangs followed by symphonic strings swirling is for Jessie’s reaction to Karthik’s sudden proposal in the middle of the road. This theme recurs many times for all such twists and turns that arises out of the unpredictability in Jessie’s character. A mild piano theme that borders on ‘Kahin Toh’ melody from ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’ gives a serene touch to the scenes of intimacy. There is another all strings theme that pumps in chokes with pauses in between phrases and also momentum into the scenes whenever something unfathomable happens to Karthik. Rahman mildly introduces a disturbing Guitar melody creating a subtle discomfort in the aura when the conversation between Karthik and Jessie is about to turn into a conflict. The folk-rock fusion in that odd boxing scene also works well for the effect of the scene. The only misfire in the whole background score is that rock-jazz number (this is the first song played when the end credits begin to roll) that loudly overpowers the scene in ODE cafe where Jessie speaks of break-up. However, may be the loudness and the genre chosen is intentional to imply how torturing it is for a guy to deal with a fickle girl like Jessie. Oh! Now that I think of ODE café, I recollect the scene where the camera zooms in from the shot of giant Wind chimes, for which Rahman also begins to play his music on wind chimes to set the atmosphere.

And there is so much more music in the film which I have not talked about here. This is just a random rambling that I scribbled out of excitement immediately after watching the film. The background score of this film requires a detailed scene by scene analysis, which I am sure I will do later, after I get a DVD of the film. Until then, I am going to watch this film again, again and again in theatres, as many times as I can. The repeated viewing of the film is as much for the film as a whole as for its background score.