Venkat's Blog

Sakkarakatti – 2008 – A R Rahman

Taxi Taxi

Singers: Benny Dayal, Blaaze, Viviane Chaix, Javed Ali

Lyrics: Blaaze, Na.Muthukumar, Viviane Chaix

Marudaani

Singers: Madhushree, A.R. Rahman, Hentry

Lyrics: Vaali

I Miss You Da

Singers: Chinmayi, Indai Haza

Lyrics: Na. Muthukumar

Chinnamma

Singers: Benny Dayal, Chinmayi

Lyrics: Pa. Vijay

Elay

Singers: Krish, Naresh Iyer

Lyrics: Na. Muthukumar

Naan Epodhu

Singers: Reena Bharadwaj

Lyrics: Pa. Vijai

Its quite easy to pick the best song right away – a rarity in Rahman’s albums – Chinnamma of Meenaxi fame stands out as the best even after repeatedly listening to this album for the past two days. May be the tunes were familiar, may be I’m hearing a Chinmayi song after a long time, may be Benny Dayal just rocks or simply because the lyrics are so good. But the other songs do not stick on as much – ok, Taxi Taxi is an exemption with refreshing beats and complementary lyrics.

Madhushree disappoints with Marudhaani. Pathetic pronunciation and frankly it sounds like some weepy mega-serial’s title song. Sigh, so much for the much awaited dream combo.

Muthukumar’s lyrics in Elay is all crap. For Chrissake, Charlie Chaplin acted in silent movies – why should he learn Tamil now. And the “Masa masanu valandhu vittom” line is … eh… well, ever heared of imagination, Muthu?

Chinmayi impresses again with I Miss You Da. Such variations in modulation!!! Can’t imagine its her voice actually – quite a performance.

But the bottom line is – we’ve had better Rahman hits.

Note: This post is not about the movie.

“vAraNam Ayiram SUzha valam Seidu
nAraNan nambi naDakkinRAn enRedir
pUraNa poRkuDam vaittup puRam engum
tOraNam nATTak kanAk kaNDEN tOzhi nAn”

Vaaranam Aayiram is the composition of Kodhai Natchiar, popularly known as Andal. It is a paasuram from Natchiyar Thirumozhi – a heart-warming rendition of Andal’s desire to wed her ideal husband – Lord Krishna.

In Vaaranam Aayiram, Andal confides to her friends about a dream in which she sees Lord Krishna walking towards her with a procession of a thousand elephants (Vaaranam Aayiram) to wed her. She sees her people welcoming him with poornakumbham and thoranam.

To know more, I suggest this post and this one.

Looks like Google throws up this link when people search for Balram Naidu’s Ringtone. Unga saabam enakku vendam  – I’m providing the Cooltoad link here. Hope this is what you are looking for.

A car powered with a wind-turbine on its top!!! Sounds interesting right, no? Well, how about a car with a long sail on top? Still no takers? Okay, these were the suggestions doing rounds on internet forums in response to Totota’s announcement last week.

Toyota has decided to ship its Prius model with Solar Panels on top to power the car’s A/C. And most skeptics are laughing their asses off at this move, saying the panel can’t even power a couple of fans inside a car. Toyota’s claims are considered absurd unless they have developed a truly path-breaking solar technology.

What could dampen the prospects of a solar car? in the developed markets?

• Predominantly overcast weather and little overhead (perpendicular) sunlight
• Reduced efficiency due to accumulation of dust/snow

Still, solar-powered roof arrays on cars are not new. Such cars are around since 1985, but aren’t quite popular. Lets see what Toyota dishes out next year.