Mouna Ragam (soundtrack)

Mouna Ragam
Mouna Ragam
Soundtrack album by Ilaiyaraaja
Released	1986
Genre	Film soundtrack
Length	22:43
Language	Tamil
Label	Echo
Producer	Ilaiyaraaja

The soundtrack to the 1986 Tamil-language romantic drama film Mouna Ragam features five songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja and written by Vaali. The album was released through Echo on double LP, which features three songs on each side of the record, with "Nilaave Vaa" appearing twice. The film and its soundtrack was dubbed in Telugu, under the same name, whose adapted lyrics were written by Rajasri.

Background

Mouna Ragam is Ilayaraaja's fourth and Vaali's second collaboration with Mani Ratnam;^[1]^[2] the composer had previously worked with Ratnam on the latter's debut film Pallavi Anu Pallavi (1983) and the lyricist worked on Pagal Nilavu (1985).^[3]

According to Martin Clayton, Trevor Herbert and Richard Middleton's 2003 book The Cultural Study of Music: A Critical Introduction, "Oho Megam Vandhadho" (featuring several teenage girls dancing) is a resemblance of Broadway and MTV style singing-and-dancing, that combined American music with Indian vocals (S. Janaki was the playback singer);^[4]^[5] the book further added that the song is a reworking of Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain".^[6] The instrumental theme was partially inspired by the "Love Theme from Flashdance" from Flashdance (1983).^[7]

The majority of songs are set in Carnatic ragas; "Mandram Vandha" is set in Keeravani,^[8] with Natabhairavi notes.^[9]^[10] "Chinna Chinna Vanna Kuyil" is set in Gourimanohari,^[11] "Nilaave Vaa" is set in Sankarabharanam,^[12] and "Panivizhum Iravu" is set in Natabhairavi.^[13] The soundtrack accompanies classical instruments such as sarangi, nadaswaram, sitar used in the background score, while synth instruments and orchestral music is also included.^[14]

Track listing

Tamil
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Oho Megam Vandhadho"	S. Janaki	4:25
2.	"Nilaave Vaa"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam	4:36
3.	"Chinna Chinna Vanna Kuyil"	S. Janaki	4:24
4.	"Panivizhum Iravu"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. Janaki	4:32
5.	"Mandram Vandha"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam	4:46
Total length:			22:43

Telugu
No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Thadi Thadi Thalapu"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, S. P. Sailaja	4:46
2.	"Cheli Raavaa"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam	5:00
3.	"Oho Meghamochene"	S. Janaki	4:27
4.	"Chinni Chinni Koyilale"	S. Janaki	4:27
5.	"Mallepoola Challagaali"	S. P. Balasubrahmanyam	4:48
Total length:			23:28

Reception

A review from Ananda Vikatan named Ilaiyaraaja's music as one of the main aspects, beside the cinematography and performances.^[15] Jayamanmadhan's review for Kalki was however critical of the song "Panivizhum Iravu" as one of the film's minus points, due to its pacing.^[16]^[a] However, Shruti Ramakrishnan of The Hindu praised its composition as "brilliant" with the "percussion gets you hooked and the chorus is almost eerie".^[18] Rakesh Mehar of The News Minute said that "Ilaiyaraaja's wonderful songs stay with you long after the film fades from memory".^[19] On the film's 30th anniversary, Sify's Mahesh Pallavoor Raghunathan praised Ilayaraaja for using silence as music "to bring about an impact within the minds of the viewers".^[20] Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com described the music as "impeccable".^[21]

Other versions

"Mandram Vandha" was later adapted by Ilaiyaraaja and used twice in the 2007 Hindi film, Cheeni Kum as its title track and "Sooni Sooni".^[22]

Notes

^ In their review, the duo did not mention the name of the song, but instead hinted that it was shot in Agra.^[16]^[17]

References

^ "Mouna Raagam Tamil Film LP Vinyl Record by Ilayaraja". Mossymart. Archived from the original on 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
^ "Mouna Raagam (1986)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
^ Rangan 2012, p. 289.
^ Clayton, Herbert & Middleton 2003, p. 293.
^ Rangan 2012, p. 40.
^ Clayton, Herbert & Middleton 2003, p. 294.
^ "Superhit Tamil songs that were inspired from other songs". Suryan FM. 1 June 2018. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
^ Sundararaman 2007, p. 143.
^ "The Firstpost Playlist: The Beatles' heartbreak, Ilaiyaraaja's classical strains and Chitra Singh's ghazal". Firstpost. 4 June 2016. Archived from the original on 7 June 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
^ Lalitha, M. (7 January 2012). "Natabhairavi's Jewish connection". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 9 May 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
^ Sundararaman 2007, p. 126.
^ Sundararaman 2007, p. 148.
^ Sundararaman 2007, p. 152.
^ Clayton, Herbert & Middleton 2003, pp. 292–294.
^ Vikatan Review Board (31 August 1986). "மௌன ராகம்: சினிமா விமர்சனம்" [Mouna Ragam: Movie Review]. Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 14 May 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b ஜெயமன்மதன் (7 September 1986). "மௌன ராகம்". Kalki (in Tamil). p. 64. Archived from the original on 29 July 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
^ Rangan 2012, p. 170.
^ Radhakrishnan, Sruthi (2 June 2016). "The eclipsed gems from Raja and Ratnam". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 7 June 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
^ Mehar, Rakesh (31 August 2016). "30 years since 'Mouna Ragam': the Mani Ratnam we miss". The News Minute. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
^ "30 years of 'Mouna Ragam': Love, divorce and marriage like never before!". Sify. 25 August 2016. Archived from the original on 1 September 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
^ Srinivasan, Pavithra (9 June 2010). "Looking at Mani Ratnam's landmark movies". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
^ "Old is the new tune for Bollywood". The Times of India. 25 September 2007. Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2014.