Kaansen Khronicles #3: Revisiting songs from years past, that have been lost in the chaos of the social media-era content explosion!
Composing music for a Rajini movie is a double edged sword - on the one hand, the songs are guaranteed unconditional love and a far reach, but equally the tight constraints of a commercial formula really narrow the room for experimentation.
For several decades, Rajini movies have had a predictable construct for songs - an opening SPB song praising the Super Star, a dance-around-the-trees duet, and a rise again from the ashes inspirational song. A.R.Rahman is the master of this formula as he demonstrated first with in the mid 1990's with Muthu, Padayappa, and much later in the late 2000's, with Sivaji, Enthiran. Nestled in between these two eras, his one attempt at experimentation, Baba, was panned by an irate fanbase because it deviated from the formula.
Needless to say, the tight window on composing music for a Rajini movie is a sufficiently difficult assignment in itself. When the goal is to experiment, though past history suggests it is a bad idea, it takes the challenge up a notch. But if above and beyond the usual drama, this is Rajini's long awaited come back movie after a significant health scare, the pressure is unbelievable.
Kochadaiyaan is not one of the Superstar's most memorable movies. Ambitious in its attempt to roll out half-baked motion capture technology to Indian cinema audiences, the movie was very quickly forgotten and is rarely shown on TV or talked about. But it did have Super Star flashing his sword (albeit only in animations), and his usual repertoire of songs, with some delightful music composed by A.R.Rahman. And the stand-out piece from the album - an entry song for Rajini called Engae Pogudho Vaanam.
The song begins with a long and elaborate prelude from a philharmonic orchestra producing remarkable dramatization for a War Hero leading the army back home after Victory - unstoppable and wanting to soar through the sky and conquer the universe. The dramatic prelude leads into powerful vocals from SPB and an energetic chorus. Who would've thought trumpets and a brass ensemble would fit with mythological Indian kings. And if that association intrigues you, there is more to look for in the song.
About halfway into the song, after the anu-pallavi, the song transcends to a whole different level when it marches into the interlude, with the unmistakably sounds like bagpipes!! While it is not outside the realm of possibilities that Rahman hired a skirl of bagpipers to record the song, it is far more likely that a synthesizer was used to produce the sound of a bagpipe - still a sound not often heard in Indian movie songs. And as your brain comes to accept the bagpipe as a classical instrument celebrating a mythological Hindu Warrior, and seamlessly enters "I'm-loving-this" mode, another element is introduced to further blow your mind away. In a flash of creative genius, the bagpipe is accompanied by a rather mismatched choice of percussion - a mridangam!! Who else but Rahman would marry the Mridangam to a Bagpipe in an Indian mythological setting, while ensuring neither of these elements feels out of place!!
The peak of the song undoubtedly comes when Rajini thanks his fans for their prayers in bringing him back to life. The line, "Ungalil Vaazthugalal Uyir Kondu Ezhundhu Vitaen, Vazhthiya Manangalukku, En Vazhkayai Vazhangi Viten", appropriately features the highest notes of the song with the violins literally rising to the occasion.
Kochadaiyaan is one of A.R.Rahman's least celebrated albums. This album, and more specifically, this song deserves to be remembered as a specimen that represents the best of his musical abilities delivered tactly within the boundaries of the commercial cinema in India - as an artful song packaged beautifully into a masala setting, and as a World Song with exotic instruments presented ingeniously in a mythological context.
