Mersal Audio Review- Tamil (2017)

Movie: Mersal (2017)

Director: Atlee

Producers: N. Ramasamy, Hema Rukmani, R. Mahendran & H. Murali

Cast: Vijay, Samantha & Kajal Agarwal

Music: A.R.Rahman

Lyrics: Vivek

Mersal (English: Stunning) is an Indian 2017 Tamil language periodthriller film starring actor Vijay in triple roles with Kajal Agarwal, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Nithya Menon playing the female-lead roles. The film is directed by Atlee and co-written by K. V. Vijayendra Prasad, S. Ramana Girivasan and Atlee with background score and soundtrack composed by A. R. Rahman while the cinematography is done by G. K. Vishnu and editing is by Ruben.

The film began its production in February 2017 with actors Sathyaraj, S. J. Surya, and Vadivelu amongst others in supporting roles. Vijay along with A.R.Rahman marking their 25th year in the film industry as film actor and music composer respectively. Thenandal Studios Limited celebrates their 100th film as Mersal. The film is scheduled to release on Diwali 2017.

The producers announced in January 2017 that three lead actresses –Kajal Aggarwal, Nithya Menon and Samantha, would portray roles in the film. Actors S. J. Surya and Sathyaraj also joined the cast, with comedians Vadivelu, Kovai Sarala, Sathyan and Rajendran also working on the film.S. J. Surya is playing villainous role in the movie. Composer A. R. Rahman was also added to the technical team, as were editor Ruben, costume designer Neeraja Kona and debutant cinematographer G. K. Vishnu, an erstwhile assistant of Richard M. Nathan. Vadivelu finally acts alongside Vijay after 6 years since his last film with Vijay, Kaavalan.. The production team of Mersal told Jyothika would play main heroine but due to some unavoidable reasons she walked out of the film. The makers were choosing a perfect replacement over her role some very popular actress like Asin Thottumkal was also considered but due to post marriage she rejected the chance. the role went to Nithya Menon.

A launch event for the film was held at Adityaram Studios in Chennai on 1 February 2017, with production beginning thereafter. A few days after the shoot began, Jyothika opted out of the project and the makers signed Nithya Menento replace her.The team has decided to shoot a song in Jaisalmer during the summer despite the hot weather.The steam engine named 7161WP AKBAR was used in this movie while shooting in Rajasthan.Some of the filming was conducted in Gdańsk, Poland.The shooting is currently held in Chennai, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan and Konaseema in Andhra Pradesh, while the songs would be filmed overseas.The movie satellite rights were acquired by Sun TV (India). Vivek penned all the lyrics.

Maestro A.R.Rahman composed 4 tunes, I'am so excited, so lets first see how they have fared the songs.

01. Alaporan Tamizhan

Singers: Khailash Kher, Satyaprakash, Pooja & Dheepak

Rating: 4.5/5

First song is a completely situational song, it narrates the greatness and nativity of Tamizihans. It celebrates the culture and greatness of Tamizhihans. Rahman has really delivered an outstanding tune to set the audience in a great festive mood. I'am sure that it makes us to tap our feet till the end of the song. Vivek has done a great job, his lyrics were aptly right suiting the situation and rhythm. This song is a solid proof that Maestro yet did'nt lose his charm and magic in delivering wonderful tunes like this even after 25 years of his successful musical journey. Song started with a wonderful recorder sound and as usual female chorus joins the song then enters Sathyaprakash with a boom and just steals the show. I'am surprised to hear Khailash Kher with perfect Tamil accent and amazing vocals, his vocals needs a special mention. But Sathyaprakash was too dominant and stole the whole show. Pooja and Dheepak's sufi vocals served as a icing on a cake. And coming to instrumentation, its beyond our imagination, Rahman proved once again that he is best at this type of songs. The heavy drums and tabala dominating the song is a feast for ears. Next to that, was usage of one of the finest instrument Nadaswaram, which stood as highlight of the song. Whole credit goes to Rahman for creating extraordinary song like this. This song can be played to the tourists who do not know the rich heritage of Tamil Nadu, this song really made all Tamizhians to feel proud.

02. Neethane Neethane

Singers: Shreya Ghoshal & A.R.Rahman

Rating: 4.5/5

Second song is a romantic ballad composed amazingly. The poetic lyrics of Vivek steel the show. Shreya Ghoshal came as a surprise and melted our hearts straight away, Oh my god!!...what a voice? what a singing? what an expression? what an accent? Mam take a bow!!. She did complete justice to the song. She sounded angelic, her voice was from heavens. To our surprise Rahman himself sang the male portion, which was one more plus to the song. The looping of few words in first and second stanza gave a good feel. Veena sounded too modern and amazing. The couple of beats which went on repeating till the end was perfect. A perfect arrangement of instruments. When all lyrics, vocals & music excells this would be the result. The surgum portion by Rahman in second interlude was like a blend of "Kannnalane" and "Tere Bina" from Guru.

03. Maacho

Singers: Sid Sriram & Shwetha Mohan

Rating: 3/5

Third song is given for youth. Whole song was filled with youthful exuberance and modern technical sounds. Vivek blended Tamil with English and made it to sound modern. But is it necessary, that always these songs require the blend of English words? Probably no. This song was like somewhat Anirudh's tune, but the interludes had complete Rahman's signature. Sid Sriram was a perfect fit to the tee and sounded excellent. Shwetha too was amazing but at few places lacked energy and could'nt give as best as Sid.

04. Mersal Arasan

Singers: G.V. Prakash Kumar, Naresh Iyer, Viswa Prasadh & Sharanaya Srinivas

Rating: 3.5/5

Last song of the film is mixture of all above tunes and genres. Mostly sounded like Alaporan song, the beats were same. As usually, the song started with kid's chorus and continued with its own pace. All the singers were fine, the tune was too common and did'nt have Rahman's signature except the interludes. May be this song works on repeated hearings, this probably works on the first benchers in Theaters.

Picks of The Album: Alaporan & Neethane

OVERALL RATING: 7.7/10

Remarks: Rahman has given what the film demanded, and amazed the fans. Nothings more to talk about this album, as the songs were few in number and proves that the film concentrated more on story rather on music. But Rahman is a maestro and gave the best. It had a mixture of genres, so lets hope the film to be huge success which is gonna hit screens to this Diwali.