In Thalaimagan, Sarath Kumar's hundredth film, the actor commemorates the occasion by turning both director and singer.

The album with six tracks is a youth-oriented sizzler. The intro-song Penakkara (journalist) is a lively foot-tapping number. Vairamuthu's lyrics are rendered in a bubbly fashion by Kailaskar, Yogeswari & co.

Next is the duet Deen tena sung by S P Balasubramanyam and Chinmayi. Starting with a shloka, the song gathers tempo and turns into a love-duet, oozing more passion than sentimentality. Not surprising, considering glamourous Nayantara [Images] is in the female lead!

The scintillating Nooru nooru will certainly generate more hype for the singer than the music or lyrics. Sung by Sarath Kumar himself with verve along with Priyadarsini, it depicts the protagonist's self-absorption. Lines from an earlier hit -- Kotta pakku kolunthu vethalai from Nattamai -- spice it up. It is in the genre of old MGR songs and will definitely be an all-time favourite with Sarath Kumar fans. It will be an excellent propaganda tool too for the party Sarath favours during election times. One can expect to hear the number blaring from all street corners. As a singer, Sarath Kumar has passed the litmus test. But the track's mixing could have been better.

The other side has two racy tracks, Uppumoottai and Vellikinnathil. There's nothing too exciting about the first two tracks except that both have a comic flavour, and Vellikkinnathil has sexual undertones.

It has recently become common practice to repeat a racy number but with a different singer at the end of the album. Thalaimagan also follows the same trend, with Tippu trying out Nooru nooru. This alternate version has more clarity and Tippu's singing is, as one expects, a notch higher.

Thalaimagan's music is by Paul Jacob and Sreekanth Deva. Sharath's first film had music by Shreekanth's father Deva and now it is the son's turn.

On the whole, Thalaimagan is an album worth listening to.

Rediff Rating: