Music                      : Ilaiyaraja
Direction               : Thangar Bachaan
Producer               : Panchu Arunachalam
Cassette cover    : Simple design with Lyrics printed inside
Released by :Best Audio

Coca cola and Pepsi may quench your thirst instantly and may taste better but you cannot live drinking them alone. Imagine drinking a glass of cool water from an earthen pot after feeling thirsty. “Solla marantha kathai” is one such album.

Ilaiyaraja's combination with directors like Bharathiraja, Balumahendra, Maniratnam, Balachandar, Fazil etc. were all super duper hits. Thangar Bachaan is a recent addition in this list.

“Solla marantha kathai” is directed by thangar Bachan and produced by Panchu Arunachalam who introduced Raja to tamil film music . Critics are not always good creators. But Thangar bachaan broke this belief and made people turn towards decent cinema by his “Azhagi”.

It is really amazing that though being a school dropout, apart from wonderful musical talents, Ilaiyaraja  is very good in writing tamil poems and he had even tried his hand in writing lyrics  in films like “Naadodi thendral”, “Kaadhal Kavithai”, “Hey Ram”, “Azhagi”. Here in “Solla marantha kathai” he has written the lyrics for all the songs and no doubt they are far better than those written by some lyricists in tamil film music. Unbelievable fact about this album is that, he gave out the tunes for all the songs in 40 minutes.

The album starts with “Kaatula thalai” song by Vidhu Pradapan. Nowadays Raja is introducing many new voices and Vidhu Pradapan is sure to become a  leading playback singer in tamil film music. His tamil accent is fine and has sung the song without spoiling the spirit of the song. Along with Vidhu Pratapan, flute has flowed all over the song . The tune is so catchy and gets into us on first hearing itself.

Next comes “Gundu malli” , a beautiful duet by Shreya Goshal and Harish Ragavendra.

Devdas fame Shreya Goshal’s second song in tamil after “Album”. Though her voice resembles Sadhana sargam, Shreya is much better in tamil pronunciation. The tune is a bit complex and requires two to three hearings to get the feeling. The song has the authentic seal of Ilaiyaraja all over.

Raja’s songs with mother sentiments will run as a long list and all were super hit. “Amma sonna” is sure to join that list. Ilaiyaraja himself has sung the song. His voice rightly suits the song. In the B side the same song comes with Vijay Yesudas singing the second “charanam” of the same song. His voice has changed and matured and sounds better than Raja’s version. Try listening to this song  in a calm night time without light, you are sure to be abducted by the song to a different world.

Then comes “Panam mattum” another song by Raja himself. This must be “Un kuthamaa” kind of song to be played back in a serious sequence. Already Raja has composed many such songs and this is nothing new.

Ilaiyaraja teams up with Mayilsami for “Jakkaamaa” song. I am not sure whether this can be categorized under song or dialoque. It is “Anne Anne Sepoy Anne” kind of song and Raja has experimented singing in different voices, which ultimately irritates the listener. This song must have been composed keeping the rural population in mind as you can hear the “Urumi melam” as the only instrument used.

Last but not the least is the pick of the album, “Etho onnu” by the “Azhagi” fame successful pair Karthik and Bhavatharini. The song resembles “Oliyile therivadhu” at times, but a  variety song with Bhavatharini sounding very innocent. Here also the tune is a bit complex and once the listener gets familiarized with the song it is sure to captivate.

Ilaiyaraja once said in an interview that he is serving his fans only snacks like Pappads and pickles and has not yet served the full meals with desserts. Listening to “Solla marantha kathai”, it looks as if he has started serving delicious treat to his fans.

With A.R. Rehman infecting the people worldwide with “Kaadhal Virus” and Harris Jeyaraj with “Lesa Lesa” trying to steal people’s hearts, still Ilaiyaraja thrives with his usual style of music (Without much musical domination, using only flute, violin, dholak and tabla).

“Solla marantha kathai” is like feeling a natural southern breeze after being in just cool air-conditioning. No doubt that “Solla marantha kathai”  is a “Must Buy” album with mesmerizing music and appreciable decent lyrics.