I am 20 ..you are 18 !?. Review on Enakku 20 Unakku 18 Songs

If I say I have a favourite that will mean I am satisfied with my work and once a person begins to feel satisfied with his work he will grow complacent and never strive for better quality.

A.R.Rahman (The Week),April 2000 (From Rahmanonline.com)

When asked about music,ARR once mentioned that it is spiritual and not a formula. But then,the Indian film makers have a formula for having songs .Each film has 2 romantic song(one by male,another by female),a duet , a sad song and a dance number. No doubt ,ARR is a genius.But I am sure even he will find it boring to compose such songs to some extent.So,he tries his best to innovate and experiment with the songs he composes. In Enakku 20 Unakku 18 (E20U18) which roughly means “I am 20.You are 18” , there are a few typical ARR experiments .But mostly, he adopts a safe path .But how is the album on the whole ? Is it worth buying?

Let us see…

Film : Enakku 20 Unakku 18 Lyrics : Pa.Vijay

1. Asathura Asathura

Singer(s) : Sreenivas , Chitra Sivaraman

This film has the tagline “Strictly for Uth” ..So I was not surprised when I listened to this song : a typical college song. The lyricist ,Pa.Vijay is no Vairamuthu.The lyrics are unimaginative and could have been better.But I am a bit surprised that he has not used any English words…but then u have a lot of words that acts as fillers like “sana na na “ , “oye o oye o” and so on.Sreenivas, a regular in all ARR Tamil albums,does a good job in this song.

2. Azhaginna Azhagi

Singer(s) : Surjo Bhattacharjee, Shreya Goshal

The situation for this song is very similar to that of the first song.But I found this to be much better than the first song. ARR experiments a lot when he uses Nadhaswaram(a south Indian traditional music instrument) in the interludes. Surjo and Shreya sound great in this song.The vocals seem very fresh.

3.Yedho Yedho

Singer (s) : Karthik, Gopika Poornima

Amazing song in all respects ! It is very similar to “Udaya Udaya” song from the album “Udhaya”. Check out the violin piece in the interludes..It takes you to a different world. This is a duet song..But then there is an element of sadness and pain also. The lyrics are very good for this song and adds to the feel of the song.

4. Oru Nanbaniruthal

Singer(s) : S P B Charan,Venkat Prabhu,Chinmaye..

A song about friendship ..how important a friend is .ARR had composed a song about friendship in “Kaadhal Desam” -- “Mustafa Mustafa “ which went on to become a big hit. This song is good ,but not a great song. The problem is it doesn’t have a repeat value.You get bored after listening to it 2 or 3 times..particularly the beats in the background…The lyrics are ok ..

5.Santhipoma

Singer(s) : Unnimenon,Chinmayi,Anupama,Chorus A very good song enhanced by the vocals. No prize for guessing what the situation is : a duet song..It seems the female wants to meet her lover in Jupiter and Neptune !!!

Check this out: “Santhipoma ..Santhipoma..July kaatril Jupiteril Santhipoma” It roughly translates as “Shall we meet..? Shall we meet in July in the planet Jupiter”

The lyricist should take a crash course in Astronomy. Where is the concept of January-December in the planet Jupiter?! If we ask,probably he might say “It is poetic license,Saar!”.Hmmm…. I am reminded of this famous song composed by Ilayaraja : ‘Anthimazhai Pozhigarathu “ from the film “Raja Parvai” when a blind man sings like this : “Andhi Mazhai Pozhigirathu…Ovvoru Thuliyilum Un mugam Therigirathu” It roughly means “ It is raining…I am able to see ur beautiful face in each one of the rain drops “…The question is how can a blind man see????….:-)

P.S: The duration of a year in Jupiter is 11.84 years in earth units!

6. Kama Kama

Singer(s) : Anupama ,Aparna,Kunal,Blaaze,George Peter

With so many singers, I was not able to identify which singer is singing which part.This song is a “Shaggy type” rap number…I liked it the first time I listened to it because it was very different from the usual college numbers..At least, ARR wanted to try something different…we should commend him for his efforts…

Overall, this album has three very good songs (“Kama Kama”,”Azhagina Azhagi” and “Edho Edho”) .

I would certainly recommend this album to others …