Muthal Kanavae: Mixed bag

Muthal Kanavae is a one-man show -- story, screenplay, dialogue, lyrics, and direction -- by Balamurugan. Srikanth Deva scores the music.

The album opens aesthetically with Mudhal mudhal, a lilting melody by Magadhi. The girl's love for her lover is so intense that she identifies herself with him. Lyrics are soaked with sentiment capably conveyed by Magadhi. But her voice becomes shrill when she scales the high notes.

Beer venuma is a bawdy piece rendered by Shobha Chandrasekhar and Vikranth. The lyrics are very bad. It starts in a rustic fashion with two tipsy characters putting forth their minimum demand: They do not want any stars like Namitha, Rakshitha, Nayanthara or even Aishwarya Rai but only a quarter bottle liquor and water to go with it.

In the next line, they are offered 'beer, brandy, gin and even a girl.'

These opening lines define the tone of the rest of the number. Balamurugan seems to have gone overboard.

Yaarai kaettu is a well-tuned captivating melody by Karthik and Kalyani. The background score starts on a sombre note followed by chorus. But immediately, the tone changes. What emerges is a soft and tender romantic duet with quaint imagery about love.

Prasanna Rao has rendered the male-voice version of Mudhal mudhal and is a notch better than Magadhi. There is more clarity in his diction. Prasanna's resonant voice captures the mood of the song.  The number is worth a repeat.

Aaruchamy Aaruchamy by Sabesh Murali has lyrics almost in the same genre as Beer venuma but it is a little less odious. But the orchestration is so loud that it almost obliterates the lyrics.

Wrapping up the album with Beer venumae is a condemnable exercise.

This could have been a 'pretty good' album from Srikanth Deva, but Beer venuma seemed to undo that.

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