Music Review: Sarkar (Tamil)

Composer(s): A. R. Rahman
Listen to the songs online here: Saavn

One listen to Sarkar and it may seem A. R. Rahman is actively seeking to annoy the hell out of music aficionados who grew up listening to his albums in the 90's. For so heavy is the electronic influence and so haphazard the song structure, it beggars belief that this is the same man who gave us Bombay, Dil Se.., Kandukondain Kandukondain, Rhythm and Alaipayuthey. But in a way what I said about NOTA also applies to Sarkar in that the music is mostly thematic, and while it's no Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, it's a solid improvement over Mersal, his previous outing with actor Vijay. Top Tucker (Mohit Chauhan) and CEO in the House are racy electronic/ hip-hop/ rap hybrids, Oru Viral Puratchi has Rahman and Srinidhi Venkatesh singing what's an inspirational protest anthem, a rousing call for electoral revolution, over an imaginative rock base, and Simtaangaran, despite its incomprehensible lyrics and jarring rhythm shifts à la Aalaporaan Thamizhan, is a gaana mash-up that, I must admit, is irresistibly catchy (read here how Bamba Bakya came about singing for Rahman, it's revealing). The soundtrack's best is OMG Ponnu, an addictive dance-floor scorcher sung by Sid Sriram and Jonita Gandhi that sounds as if Rahman took the best bits from Maacho and Endhira Logathu Sundariye and made a fusion out of it. There is no two ways about it. Sarkar's techno overdose may not strike a chord with everyone (your liking for it will be directly proportional to your tolerance for such kind of music), but it does have its moments.

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