Aathi - Rollicking rhythms

Music Review
IndiaGlitz [Friday, December 30, 2005]

Ramana, Vijay and Vidyasagar had teamed up together to render a musical hit in Thirumalai about a couple of years ago.

Now the trio is back with Aathi, which has five catchy numbers set to tunes by Vidyasagar.
Quite typical to Vijay's earlier films, Aathi has predominantly foot-tapping and racy numbers. For such songs the usual suspects of Anuradha Sreeram, S P Balasubramaniam, Tippu, Karthik and Sujatha have come together.

Olli Olli Iduppae (Karthik, Anuradha Sriram)
A rocking beginning for the album. A vibrant Anuradha Sreeram and an energetic Karthik belt out a zinger of a song. The rhythms are heavy. Understandably so. The Punjabi beats set your beats going. The pulsation is splendid. Vidyasagar shows that he has a way with mass appeal songs.

Lealakku Lealakku Leala (Kay Kay, Sujatha) This is also a thundering song that tries to fuse western and the rural music. A typical village beat coupled with a western orchestration is the highlight. More than the tune, Vidyasagar's shrewd orchestration stands apart. Sujatha, with her natural melody, and Kay Kay, with a spontaneous flow, give a good account of themselves.

Thadakku Thadakku (Hariharan, Sujatha)
The Hindustani inspiration is obvious. Hariharan is on home turf as fleshes out the nuances in the tune brilliantly. His voice stands rock solid as he goes through the higher octave with aplomb. Sujatha is more than an able foil to him. The highlight of the song is the use of tabla and flute at appropriate places by Vidyasagar. The brisk pace of the tune also adds an extra allure.

Athi Athikka (SP Balasubramaniam, Sadhana Sargam)
A music-director can relax if he has a singer like S P Balasubramaniam at his command. And SPB is at his commanding best, even though the tune is not the most original. The song deserves a special mention for it has less instrumentation and does not over ride the lyrics.

Yeai Durra (Tippu, Syndhavi)
Sure to bring the roof down is this foot-tapping number. Vidyasagar seems to have used all percussion instruments on earth to get the right feel for such a racy number. It is a rocking number that will have Vijay’s fans bringing the roof down.