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Ramanujan (soundtrack)

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Ramanujan
Soundtrack album by
Ramesh Vinayakam
Released13 June 2014
Recorded2013–2014
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length34:37
LanguageTamil
LabelDivo
ProducerRamesh Vinayakam
Ramesh Vinayakam chronology
A Common Man
(2013) 		Ramanujan
(2014) 		Mosakutty
(2014)

Ramanujan is the soundtrack composed by Ramesh Vinayakam to the 2014 biographical film Ramanujan based on the life of Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. The film, directed by Gnana Rajasekaran starred Abhinay Vaddi in the lead role and featured an ensemble cast of Suhasini Maniratnam, Bhama, Kevin McGowan, Abbas Mirza, Nizhalgal Ravi and Michael Lieber. Vinayakam composed three songs for the film with the lyrics of Vaali and Na. Muthukumar, with one song being based on a poem written by Thirumalisai Alvar. The songs featured vocals performed by Vani Jairam, P. Unnikrishnan, Kaushiki Chakraborty, Karthik Suresh, Vinaya and Vinayakam himself.

The soundtrack accompanied the three songs used in the film, with an alternate of one of the tracks and four instrumental themes composed for the film. Much of the music being conceptualized with the help of old-world sounds using instruments from the early 20th century and the background score which blends contemporary and classical styles were utilized with the help of an orchestra. The album was released on 13 June 2014 through digital and physical formats and received positive reviews from critics with praise for the instrumentation, soundscape and setting. Vinayakam won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director in 2013 for his work in the film.

Production

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The film's soundtrack and score were composed by Ramesh Vinayakam, who was involved in the project by mid-2013. According to Gnana Rajasekaran, Vinayakam was recruited due to his extensive knowledge of both Carnatic and Western music.[1] As the film was set in the period between late 19th and early 20th century, Vinayakam attempted to create an ambience of that period, and refrained using modern instruments and instead used old-world instruments in order to reflect that period.[2][3]

Score

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The film score juxtaposed traditional Indian classical music with jazz. For the first segment, Vinayakam composed the gamakas in tune with the period, but as the storyline progresses from Madras to London, he utilized modernistic music with European sounds.[4][5] Vinayakam wanted to score the film in the United Kingdom during late-2013, but due to Christmas and New Year, he then chose Germany to record it.[2] He worked with the GermanPops Orchestra from Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany to record four orchestral pieces which were mostly based on contemporary and classical styles.[4] Much of the score being recorded at the Bauer Studios in Ludwigsburg.[2]

In the climactic sequences, where the teacher (Thalaivaasal Vijay) heard the villagers' refusal to be a part of Ramanujan's last rites, Vinayakam wanted to show the "narrow-mindedness of people who couldn't understand the greatness of Ramanujan".[5] Hence, he made use of silence in that particular scene to convey the loneliness of Ramanujan's journey.[5] For the English version, Vinayakam tweaked a minor portion of the score, while it was mostly same as the original versions.[5]

Songs

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As the film is based on the mathematician, the songs were related to mathematical terms as well.[6] Vaali had written lyrics for the song "Narayana", that incorporated the idea of infinity and nothingness and "Vinkadandha" based on a poem written by Thirumalisai Alvar thousands of years ago, indicated that numbers are absolute.[6][7] The only exception being "Thuli Thuliyai" which had two versions with both male versions were performed by Vinayakam himself and the female counterpart, being sung by Vinaya and Kaushiki Chakraborty, respectively.[7]

The six-minute instrumental piece "One to Zero" was described as a "musical metaphor" as it was based on numbers.[4] The song uses a set of notes upto nine—where one is represented by one note, two by two notes and so on, while zero is represented by the rest. After the initial exposition, the three layers juxtapose each other from one beat distance.[6]

Vinayakam further added that the characters and their representing melodies indicated him clearly on whose voice would be appropriate for it, attributing his choice of singers as "need-based and a combination of intuition and deliberation." Vani Jairam sang the track "Narayana Narayana" who was instructed to sing in the pitch (shruthi) which was less than what she usually sings in, to match the singing style of that time period.[4]

Release

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The soundtrack album of Ramanujan was released at the Suryan FM radio station in Chennai on 13 June 2014 with the cast and crew in attendance.[8][9] The album was released in digital and physical formats distributed by the record label Divo.[10] In October 2021, Ultra Media & Entertainment licensed and distributed the film's soundtrack for digital platforms.[11]

Reception

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Vipin Nair of Music Aloud rated 9 out of 10 and summarized "Ramesh Vinayakam expertly draws from Carnatic and Western classical styles to produce one of the finest period film soundtracks ever".[12] A reviewer from Behindwoods gave it 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Ramanujan enthralls the listener by transporting them to a bygone era of classical music".[13] Karthik Srinivasan of Milliblog was appreciative of Vinayagam's music and cited it as the best Tamil album of the year,[14][15] as did Deccan Music.[16]

A reviewer from The Indian Express wrote "Ramesh Vinayakam's music is life affirming. It is in sync with the era in which the film is set, oscillating between classical music and tunes of strings. A refreshing bhajan by Vani Jayaram in the beginning is one of the best tracks of the album."[17] S. Saraswathi of Rediff.com described the music as "sensational [...] with a lovely blend of Indo-Western classical".[18] Anupama Subramanian of Deccan Chronicle wrote "Ramesh Vinayagam’s carnatic and western blend of music beautifully sync with the mood of the film and one of the highpoints of the movie."[19] Baradwaj Rangan of The Hindu also praised Vinayakam's music and the song "Vinkadantha" which was "particularly exquisite, and its placement in the narrative is perfect."[20]

Malayalam film composer M. Jayachandran, praised Vinayakam for his music in Ramanujan.[21]

Track listing

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No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."Narayana"VaaliKarthik Suresh, Vani Jayaram4:33
2."Thuli Thuliyai" (Version 1)Na. MuthukumarRamesh Vinayakam, Vinaya4:58
3."Vinkadantha"Thirumalisai AlvarP. Unnikrishnan3:38
4."Thuli Thuliyai" (Version 2)Na. MuthukumarRamesh Vinayakam, Kaushiki Chakrabarty4:58
5."Mystic Mind" (Theme)—Instrumental3:00
6."Ramanujan" (Theme)—Instrumental3:16
7."English Notes" (Theme)—Instrumental6:58
8."One To Zero" (Theme)—Instrumental3:16
Total length:34:37

Personnel credits

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  • Music composer and producer – Ramesh Vinayakam
  • Recorded at – Music Temple Studios, Voice & Vision Studios, Chennai and Bauer Studios, Germany
  • Recording engineers – Tamizharasan Sekar, Lijesh, Kranthi, Johannes Wohlleben
  • Mixed and mastered by – Biju James at VGP Studios, Chennai
  • Harmonies – Aiyyappan, Krishna Iyer, Renjith Unni, Ranjith, Ganga, Veenaa-Murali, Sowmya, Saraswathi, Kranthi, Srividhya, Varsha, Dharani, Shivani, Manasvi
  • Flute – Kareem Kamalakar, Bala Sai
  • Tabla – Madhu, Ranjith, Shruti Raj, Prasad
  • Percussions – Vedha
  • Sarod – Kishore
  • Dilruba – Saroja
  • Shenai – S. Ballesh
  • Clarinet and saxophone – Sax Raja
  • Veena – Parthasarathy
  • Keyboard programming – Ramesh

Accolades

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Award Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result Ref(s)
South Indian International Movie Awards Best Male Playback Singer – Tamil Vani Jayaram – ("Narayana") Nominated [22]
[23]
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Best Music Director Ramesh Vinayakam Won [24]
[25]

References

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  1. ^ Latha Srinivasan (14 July 2014). "Rajasekaran's new film remembers Ramanujan and his brilliance". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Charukesi (6 February 2014). "Evocative notes". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  3. ^ IANS (14 June 2014). "'Ramanujan' music represents his life's tribulations: composer". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d Srinivasa Ramanujam (23 June 2014). "Of music and mathematics". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 July 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d Malathi Rangarajan (27 November 2014). "The 'R' Factor". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 1 December 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  6. ^ a b c TNN (23 June 2014). "Ramanujan to feature songs on numbers". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  7. ^ a b TNN (5 July 2014). "Ramesh Vinayakam open up on composing for 'Ramanujan'". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  8. ^ "Ramanujan's Audio Hits the Airwaves". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  9. ^ PTI (13 June 2014). "Music album of Tamil film 'Ramanujan' released". Business Standard. Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  10. ^ TNN (14 June 2014). "Ramanujan audio launched". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
  11. ^ Ramesh Vinayakam (1 October 2021). "Ramanujan (The Genius)". Ultra Media & Entertainment. Archived from the original on 25 October 2024. Retrieved 25 October 2024 – via iTunes.
  12. ^ Vipin Nair (20 June 2014). "Ramanujan – Music Review (Tamil Movie Soundtrack)". Music Aloud. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  13. ^ "Ramanujan (aka) Ramanujan songs review". Behindwoods. 13 June 2014. Archived from the original on 22 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  14. ^ Karthik Srinivasan (11 June 2014). "Ramanujan (Music review), Tamil – Ramesh Vinayagam". Milliblog. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  15. ^ Karthik Srinivasan (13 December 2014). "Milliblog Annual Music round-up 2014". Milliblog. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  16. ^ "2014 Best of Tamil Music". Deccan Music. 12 December 2014. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  17. ^ "'Ramanujan': Inspiring biopic, but doesn't resonate (Tamil Movie Review)". The Indian Express. Indo-Asian News Service. 11 July 2014. Archived from the original on 15 August 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  18. ^ S. Saraswathi (11 July 2014). "Review: Ramanujan is a must watch". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  19. ^ Anupama Subramanian (11 July 2014). "Movie review 'Ramanujan': Is a film that is not to be missed". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  20. ^ Baradwaj Rangan (12 July 2014). "They got the formula wrong". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 4 December 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  21. ^ TNN (18 September 2014). "M Jayachandran loves the music of Ramanujan". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 30 June 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  22. ^ "SIIMA 2015 nominations". South Indian International Movie Awards. 16 June 2015. Archived from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  23. ^ "SIIMA Awards 2015 Tamil winners list". The Times of India. 8 August 2015. Archived from the original on 9 August 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  24. ^ "Tamil Nadu announces the State Film Awards for six consecutive years in surprise move. Here's the complete list of winners". The Indian Express. 14 July 2017. Archived from the original on 21 July 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  25. ^ "TN Govt. announces Tamil Film Awards for six years". The Hindu. 14 July 2017. Archived from the original on 21 July 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
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