Yuvan tries his Sandakozhi-sound again in Adada mazhaida, besides inserting his favorite folk bit he has already overused in Where is the party – unnecessarily. Despite the punchy rhythm, Suthudhe’s tune is a complete letdown, but Poongatre works pretty well, with a catchy tune reminiscent of Jeniffer Lopez’s Waiting for tonight. The composer truly scores in the 2 brilliant melodies – Thuli thuli, with addictive and scintillating rendition by Haricharan and En kadhal solla, a trademark-Yuvan track with his own vocals that has now become a genre by itself! Paiya’s good tracks more than make up for the average ones.

Keywords: Karthi Sivakumar, Tamanna, Yuvan Shankar Raja

Yenu helabeku is constructed like a Hindi song, and Sonu makes it work quite well. However, Sonu’s best in the soundtrack is Nee sanihake bandare; mildly reminiscent of Rahman’s Tu hi meri dost, but Harikrishna builds on the simple, endearing tune well. The title song passes muster, as does Yaara ninna mummy, overdosing on a mishmash of sounds. Shuruvagide is a good package thanks to Shaan and Shreya, even as Harikrishna’s arrangements make a mark. The pick of the soundtrack is Ganesh’s Haalada heartalli – his earthy vocals and a joyous, Goan-styled tune do the trick! Competent winner from Harikrishna.

Keywords: Golden Star Ganesh, Jayant Kaikini, Harikrishna

Dishyum didhyum is annoyingly silly at many levels – lyrics, tune and some made-up attitude. Nagulan, the film’s hero surprises with his fantastic rendition of a Bharadwaj-styled melody in Eppadi ennul kaadhal vandhadhu. Kaadhal paambu is humdrum, with all elements working towards making a song that is completely predictable. Tippu should refuse to sing songs like Kal kal kal kandha kottai – he’s getting typecast and composers continue to churn such stupidity regularly. Unnai kaadhali is a good enough – a good tune and Naresh helping with his vocals, but the stock rhythm gets slightly boring. Below par Dhina soundtrack

Keywords: Nagulan, Dheena, Dhina, Kandhakottai

Tring tring is a stale carry-over from Vijay Antony’s earlier body of work – cringe-worthy and nursery rhyme like! Indha kaadhal has a fairly likeable melody, wrapped in ambient orchestration very reminiscent of early Rahman, but the predominant rhythm of Suthugira bhoomi is musty stock recycled and it manages to spoil even the decent folk’ish tune. Minsarame is a catchy, ebullient track that works for the neat vocals by Mahesh Vinayakaram and Sangeetha, while Paniyara kondakkaari is plain mundane and a wannabe kuthu-style track that refuses to work at any level. Strictly average stuff from Vijay; nothing was expected anyway.

Keywords: Karan, Vijay Antony, Kanagavel Kakka

Karthik and Ritisha’s techno-dance track Maja maadoke and Baruve odi odi offer a pretty neat start to the soundtrack – Mano’s arrangements and the catchy tunes are groovy enough to warrant tapping your feet. Sonu’s soulful cry in Neene helu nannadaavudu is strictly average while One by two jeevana is perfectly attitude-tuned; Tippu doing his usually impressive work on the vocals. The Sonu-Shreya duet Aaramaage iddenaanu is the toast of the soundtrack, however; vintage Mano melody, with the singers thoroughly relishing the rendition! Gokula has enjoyable music from Mano, who, thankfully, gets over the melodic monotony he got himself into.

Keywords: Vijay Raghavendra, Pooja Gandhi, Mano Murthy, Sonu Nigam

Mama mia holds groovy hip-hop appeal, while O baby baby falls more in the Harris Jeyaraj-style, with some exotic orchestration thrown in. The Madonna’ish I wanna talk to you works for Neekita Nigam’s husky vocals, even as Kalti kalti’s curious mish-mash of interesting sounds don’t add up to anything. Lite le lo’s instantly catchy rhythm compensates for the predictable tune while in Freak out, the joyously-unabashed orchestration helps. Swargam narakam is short and very Chowta’ishm and Poolu gusa gusa is the soundtrack’s highlight, with an unconventional tune that invokes Pancham in an entertaining way! Sandeep Chowta’s cool quotient is intact!

Keywords: Sandeep Chowta, Mohan Babu, Manchu Vishnuvardhan Babu, Ileana

Mudhi mudhi (and Udhi udhi) is one of the trendiest songs of the year; zingy, superbly sung by Shilpa Rao and exceptionally orchestrated! Gumm summ, after its various versions – one in Hindi itself (Aur ek prem kahani’s Sunday ko), still sounds as lilting as the original, Olangal’s Thumbi vaa. Hichki is muddled, at best, while the intentionally-kiddish Mere paa is barely saved, by the theme interlude. Balki imports Halke se bole’s tune again, after using it in a Kissan Jam commercial – the chorus versions is disappointing, though. But, Paa’s soundtrack is worth the price for Mudhi mudhi alone!

Keywords: Ilayaraja, Putham pudhu kaalai, Thumbi vaa, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Balki

All izz well is no doubt funky and does a 2.0 version of Anu Malik’s pet sound (dhumpachikitha anyone?), but this one-hook-trick can only go so far. Zoobi doobi with its faux-retro-filmy sound is almost pedestrian with extraordinarily predictable sounds, while Shaan’s evocatively penned Behti hawa is perhaps the best this soundtrack has to offer. Give me some sunshine’s thought-provoking dialogs do little to salvage what is a standard, often poorly-sung track. Jaane nahin’s louder portion is the WTF musical equivalent of Parineeta’s Thodo Shekhar – Sonu significantly overdoing the feel! Shantanu does what he usually does, mindless of Aamir’ish expectations!

Keywords: Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani, Kareena Kapoor, Shantanu Moitra

Aasa aasa’s unconventional use of Kannan’s vocals is pretty cool, as is the format-breaking tune. With a Celtic touch, the Simbu-Devi Sri Prasad sung duet is a jolly good listen, including that crow’y chorus! Sunitha Sarathy’s Kooda kooda works not so much for the tune as much for the retro-fused orchestration that James confidently weaves in. Naan pogiren is a sure-fire melody that, with SPB and Chitra’s vocals makes it even better. The title song with its Tamil rock ambitions is a nifty attempt and with Ranjith singing it, sure makes a mark. Effectively trendy endeavor from composer James Vasanthan.

Keywords: Sibiraj, Prasanna, SP Balasubramaniam, Ramya Rai, Ragini, James Vasanthan, James Vasandhan, Nanayam

Appan policeda is banal, while Uyirodu uyiril is pleasant enough, but is something Vidyasagar would’ve composed 10 years ago. Belly Raj and Padmanabhan gel amazingly well with the chorus, in the gentle, friendship track, Gangai nadhi. Much like Ilayaraja’s Amma endrazhaikkadha and Rahman’s Uyirum neeye, James gets his own memorable amma-sentiment song in Thaaye thaaye that, with only mild orchestration, rides beautifully on Srinivasan’s vocals. The best however is Sharreth and Priya Hemesh’s duet Kodi kodi aasaigal – a convincing melody packaged with scintillating backgrounds that really showcases the composer’s creativity! Highly recommended, at least for the last 3 songs!

Keywords: James Vasandhan, Kaavalar Kudiyiruppu, Anis Thejaswar, Sonu, Sharan