Songs and credits at the end.
The song lineup in Mohanlal’s soundtrack is quite akin to a Bollywood one – twelve songs made up of six original tunes, their unplugged versions and remixes, and even a “mashup” that brings together bits of the six songs, a la DJ Kiran Kamath and the likes. The only thing missing in the set is an old song remix (in fact one of the promos that came out did feature an adaptation of the cult Tonykuttaa song from Lalettan’s No. 20 Madras Mail; like with most Hindi remixes, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this one either, so kind of glad it isn’t part of this song list). Among the multiple, mostly new, names that feature in the composer credits, it is debutant Tony Joseph Pallivathukal who gets the lion’s share of the songs, and delivers two of the album’s best tunes. Thoovennila comes in three versions, and sounds most charming in the first, sung by Karthik. The ever-dependable singer delivers the lovely melody impeccably, while the song alternates smoothly between the delicate portions and the richer filmi qawwali-esque bits, seeing some delightful use of flute and veena along the way. A similarly arranged duet version of the song has Sanoop Kumar and Lakshmi Menon handling vocals, and is let down by the latter’s efforts. The vocals turn out to be a problem with multiple songs from the album, incidentally. A patchy sounding Nithya Menen in the unplugged variant of Thoovennila is another case in point. On the other hand, the actress/singer sounds much more in control rendering her other song, the lullaby titled Va Va Vo. Once again, the composer has a solid melody in place that he sets to a comforting guitar-led backdrop (yet again there is the flute punctuating the proceedings with some lovely pieces, like the brief Omana Thinkal Kidaavo reference in the interlude). Suchith Suresan, who supports Menen here gets to lead the singing in the alternate version which differs only on the vocal aspect.
Continuing on the theme of middling vocals weighing down songs is Naadum Vitte – a fun electronic-laden song built around some well written light-hearted lines from Manu Manjith – where the movie’s main man Indrajith Sukumaran is the singer. In fact, Indrajith’s processed vocals sit more comfortably in Seismic Resonance’s remix of the song where the electronic elements are amped up (quite enjoyed the 8-bit style incorporations). A movie centred on a Mohanlal fan’s life was bound to have tribute songs to the actor; and Mohanlal has two. Indrajith’s daughter Prarthana Indrajith leads La La Laletta, a seeming attempt at a cute homage of sorts, peppered with references to his movies and mannerisms. But all of that doesn’t come together well – the lines sound half-baked, the tune is just alright, and while I had really liked Prarthana’s singing in Kuttanpillayude Sivarathri, here her voice sounds almost tinny at times. Tony Joseph is joined by Nihal Sadiq here as composer. Prarthana is joined by Indrajith (I am guessing by the sound, there is no official credit given) in the unplugged version of the song, and that does not improve matters either. The guitar work in this one is worth a mention though. The other fan song – Changalla Changidippaane – is composed by Prakash Alex (who debuted earlier this year with Kalyanam) and the movie’s director Sajid Yahiya, who also doubles up as singer alongside Nihal Sadiq and Anil Kumar. Musically this one is more effective than the first, owing primarily to the energy levels. The lyrics, while an improvement over the earlier one, still don’t quite hit the mark. Prakash Alex has a better offering in the form of the bluesy Aaraanu Njaan sung by Justin Fernandez, but that unfortunately lasts just a minute and a half. Finally, there is Mohanlal Mashup, that does not serve much of a purpose aside of a quick recap of the songs.
Mohanlal. Commendable composing debut from Tony Joseph Pallivathukal that gets marred at times by the choice of singers.
Music Aloud Rating: 3/5
Top Recos: Thoovennila, Va Va Vo, Aaraanu Njaan
Musician Credits
Song: La La Laletta
Singer: Prarthana Indrajith
Music: Tony Joseph Pallivathukal & Nihal Sadiq
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Arrangers/Programmers: Tony Joseph & Prakash Alex
Song: Thoovennila
Singer: Karthik
Music: Tony Joseph Pallivathukal
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Arrangers/Programmers: Tony Joseph & Prakash Alex
Song: Va Va Vo
Singers: Nithya Menen & Suchith Suresan
Music: Tony Joseph Pallivathukal
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Arranger/Programmer: Tony Joseph
Song: Naadum Vitte
Singer: Indrajith Sukumaran
Music: Tony Joseph Pallivathukal
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Arrangers/Programmers: Tony Joseph & Prakash Alex
Song: Changalla Changidipaane
Singers: Sajid Yahiya, Anil Kumar & Nihal Sadiq
Music: Sajid Yahiya & Prakash Alex
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Arranger/Programmer: Prakash Alex
Song: Thoovennila (Unplugged)
Singer: Nithya Menen
Music: Tony Joseph Pallivathukal
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Arranger/Programmer: Tony Joseph
Song: VaVa Vo Vaave
Singer: Suchith Suresan
Music: Tony Joseph Pallivathukal
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Arranger/Programmer: Tony Joseph
Song: La La Laletta (Unplugged)
Singer: Prarthana Indrajith
Music: Tony Joseph Pallivathukal
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Arranger/Programmer: Tony Joseph
Song: Thoovennila (Duet)
Singers: Sanoop Kumar & Lakshmi Menon
Music: Tony Joseph Pallivathukal
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Arrangers/Programmers: Tony Joseph & Prakash Alex
Song: Naadum Vitte (Remix)
Singer: Tony Joseph Ft. Seismic Resonance
Music: Tony Joseph Pallivathukal
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Arranger/Programmer: Tony Joseph
Song: Mohanlal Mash Up
Singer: Tony Joseph
Music: Tony Joseph Pallivathukal
Lyrics: Manu Manjith
Arrangers/Programmers: Tony Joseph & Sibi Mathews
Song: Aaranu Njaan
Singer: Justin Fernandez
Music: Prakash Alex
Lyrics: Suhail Koya
Arrangers/Programmers: Prakash Alex
