Disappointing. Review on Ji Songs

Vidhyasagar has become the most popular and commercial music composer in Tamil film music. In 2004, all his music albums were big hits which of course lacked quality. Some of his good albums like “Thendral” and “Sathurangam” went unnoticed. Vidhyasagar’s first release of 2005 is “Ji”. The expectations are quite high because his combination with Lingusamy, the director of the movie gave a musical blockbuster “Run” before. But does “Ji” repeat “Run” magic?

To put it straight the album is a big let down with usual dappanguthu numbers and inspired melodies. The “Ji” music runs miles away from “Run” in quality and freshness.

I never expected this from Vidhyasagar. There are totally six songs which includes two melodies and four fast numbers. I always don’t like writing a review on music albums which I don’t like but in this case I want to put my thoughts about Vidhyasagar deviating from good music frequently.

Vidhyasagar should concentrate more on quality music and return back to melodies. If he says that he need commercial success he very well know even “Run” was commercially successful but it had something fresh to offer. Even if he does dappanguthu numbers, there was something genuine and difference in those kinds of songs too but this album lacks that sincere effort. What more fame he is going to gain by doing routine numbers, already he has gained enough fame.

Unfortunately the best album of Vidhyasagar in 2004 “Swarabisekham” was in Telugu. The quality of music that he delivered in this Telugu album is no where near to that of in his so called hit Tamil albums in 2004 and also in “Ji” now. I don’t understand how a composer can give such extreme qualities of music at the same time.

One more thing that troubles me a lot is that he still uses Udit Narayan in his songs. It is a bad trend started by A.R.Rahman but even after he stopped it realizing his mistake, others aren’t ready to stop. It is the high point that he realizes the fact that how bad it is to hear Udit killing Tamil in each and every song, but we definitely can’t blame Udit for this.

“Ding Dong” is a very pleasant melody which reminds some old melodies. The song starts promisingly with flute and temple bell sounds. Madhu and Sadhana form a good pair for melody. The usage of Chendai, flute and Veena in the interludes shows the experience and passion of Vidhyasagar in composing melodies. The beats in the middle turns to routine tabla. Though this song will not get not into the list of best of melodies of Vidhyasagar, it is a good one.

“Kiliyae Kiliyae” is a usual folk number with foot tapping beats and rhythm. As I said Udit does his part to make this a hit number. Sujatha as always moulds her voice according to the mood of the song. The song gains momentum during the chorus part “Kiliyae Kiliyae”. There is nothing special about this song to write more on this. It will be definitely be a hit number if the TV channels air the song repeatedly.

“Sarala Kondayil” is a brief song sung by Karthik. When we are you about to think that it is has got a very simple catchy tune, an old number “Brindavanamum Nanadakumaranum” suddenly hits our mind. “Thiruttu rascal” is another usual run-of-mill folk number which has a mix of elements from his own previous hit numbers. Mano makes a come back through this song and Srilekha is another singer after Anuradha Sriram whose voice has been stereo typed, wasted and used badly by the composers. “Vambu Velaikku” sung by K.K is a typical hero introduction song with heavy beats and the tune of some of the lines are straightly ripped off from “Kasu mela” song from “Kadhala Kadhala” and also every other line reminds some other old song.

“Yethanai Yethanai” is again a sweet slow lullaby like song with a theme similar to “Jana gana mana” song from “Ayutha Ezuthu”. The lyrics are good and the melody is good too but again the background rhythm seems to be inspired from ARR songs. And the chorus part reminds us his own recent numbers from “Anbe sivam” and “Eyarkai”. Shankar Sampoke has a mellifluous voice and he adds some new flavor to the song.

Except for two melodies the album has nothing to offer and even these melodies have a sounds-like feel. Simply, avoid this album. Don’t waste your money; you will hear these songs many times in TV after the movie got released.