In the film's 18th anniversary, Abhishek Bachchan replied to one of the ardent fans of the film, praising the film and added that its songs still feel fresh to listen even after several years. A critic from Sify, considered the background score and the songs (particularly "Azhagiya Theeye"), as the "highlight" of the film. In its review for The Hindu, Savitha Padmanabhan praised the film's music and picturisation as "stylish" and "youthful". The soundtrack received critical acclaim and was a major contributor to the film's commercial success. The composer's musical team performed the songs on stage, with dance choreographer Brinda's team danced to the tunes. Actors Madhavan, Vivek, Vikram and Manoj Bharathiraja among other celebrities from the film industry were present at the event, excluding Reema and Abbas, who could not attend the function due to busy schedules. The album emerged as a breakthrough for Carnatic musician Bombay Jayashri, who became a leading playback singer in films.Ī promotional event to distribute the film's audio cassetes and CDs was held at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai on 12 January 2001 with the film's songs were also screened. The track "Venmathiye" is a peppy but sad track, which was reflected in the lyrics of poet Vaali, set in Darbari kaanada raga. The recording of the song finished within two hours. Harris played the tune first and asked Jayashri to sing, with lyricist Thamarai too joined the session. She presumed it was Malayalam director Jayaraj with whom she had worked before in movies such as Paithrukam and Kudumbasametham, but later came to know as Harris Jayaraj. Jayaraj approached Carnatic-musician Bombay Jayashri to record the song, during which Jayashri arrived in Chennai from Coimbatore by train and received a phone call from the composer, addressing him as Mr. "Vaseegara" was the first song composed by Harris Jayaraj for the film, which is set in Natabhairavi raga. Initially, producer Kalaipuli Thanu wanted Harris to score for Kamal Haasan-starrer Aalavandhan, in his debut, but Harris refused to do so as he owed to work with Menon. Apart from composition, Harris Jayaraj took charge in programming, recording, mixing and mastering of the songs, as well as dubbing, when the film and its soundtrack was dubbed and released in Telugu as Cheli. The album and score in its entirety was recorded within 11 months. While Menon roped in Harris, for the film's soundtrack, he wanted to ensure the quality of the music production, not only for the songs but also for the film score, as songs constitute only 25 minutes of the film's runtime, than its score, which will be about two hours.
Harris Jayaraj reused five tracks in the Hindi remake of the film Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein, excluding four songs from the original, and also composed two tracks originally for the film.īefore his debut as music composer, Harris worked as an instrumentalist, synthesizer and keyboard programmer for more than 600 films and with various composers ranging from A.
The soundtrack was dubbed in Telugu as Cheli, with lyrics written by Bhuvanachandra. The song "Vaseegara" became a chartbuster, and also served as breakthrough for the lyricist Thamarai, and carnatic musician Bombay Jayashri, who later became a prominent playback singer in films.
It also fetched Jayaraj his first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director in Tamil, which is the second time ever for a debutant after A.
The soundtrack which was distributed by Saregama and Cee (I) TV Audio, was released at a function held in Chennai and received critical acclaim, thus becoming a major contirbutor to the success of the film. The film's soundtrack comprised nine songs, written by Vaali, Thamarai and C. Minnale is the debut soundtrack album composed by Harris Jayaraj for the 2001 film of the same name, starring Madhavan, Abbas, Reema, Vivek and Nagesh, and directed by Gautham Menon in his directorial debut.