Cuckoo | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | 21 February 2014 | |||
Recorded | 2013–2014 | |||
Genre | Feature film soundtrack | |||
Length | 26:04 | |||
Language | Tamil | |||
Label | Think Music | |||
Producer | Santhosh Narayanan | |||
Santhosh Narayanan chronology | ||||
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Cuckoo is the musical album composed by Santhosh Narayanan to the 2014 Tamil film Cuckoo, directed by journalist-turned-filmmaker Raju Murugan in his directorial debut. The film starred Attakathi Dinesh and debutant Malavika Nair in leading roles, and was jointly produced by the companies Fox Star Studios and The Next Big Film Venture. The soundtrack album has six tracks, five of them being written by Yugabharathi and one song by Gaana Bala and R. K. Sundar.
The score and songs were composed with the use of live and acoustic instrumentation as the film's plot focused on a relationship between the blind couple, which needed a "lively and breezy album". Sean Roldan and Vaikom Vijayalakshmi made their debut in Tamil film music, by contributing to the soundtrack.
The album's release coincided with a promotional event held at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai on 21 February 2014. The same day, the tracks were distributed by Think Music through digital and physical formats. It received positive reviews from music critics, praising Narayanan's melodious compositions, production of the soundtrack and the choice of singers. At the 2014 Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, Narayanan won the Best Music Director award (also for his work in Jigarthanda and Madras ). The soundtrack further won the Mirchi Music Award for Best Tamil Musical Album.
On writing the storyline of Cuckoo, which focused on a visually-impaired couple, Raju Murugan approached Santhosh Narayanan to compose the film's musical score and soundtrack as he wanted the music to be "lively" and "heartwarming". [1] Narayanan, who received accolades for his work in the soundtrack and score composed for Soodhu Kavvum , had been roped in as a part of multiple projects since then, before signing for the film. [2] [3] According to Narayanan, Cuckoo was a "breezy film" and also a "totally different experience" for the composer.
The recording of the film's songs and score took place at Studio 301 located at Sydney, Australia. Narayanan collaborated with musicians who worked for veteran composers like Ilaiyaraaja, Deva and M. S. Viswanathan, while further working with Grammy-award winning artists and street musicians for few tracks in the album. [4] The soundtrack was recorded using acoustic instruments with a 60-piece orchestra from Australia being used in entirety. The film score was composed with the help of live instrumentation. [5] [4]
Narayanan's protégés Sean Roldan (his debut in Tamil cinema) and Pradeep Kumar, contributed to the soundtrack, before gaining popularity in the Tamil music scene as singer-composer respectively. Roldan, who was credited as R. Raghavendra, had recorded two of the songs — "Potta Pulla" and "Manasula Soora Kaathey", the latter was his first song in Tamil. Kumar had also gave vocals for two of the tracks, along with his wife, Kalyani Nair, also a playback singer. [4] Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, a visually-impaired singer, had recorded the track "Kodaiyila", which marked her first song in Tamil. Other artists such as Gana Bala, Anthony Daasan and Dhee too contributed vocals to the soundtrack. [4]
No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Enda Mapla" | Gana Bala, Sathish, Dhee | 4:23 |
2. | "Manasula Soora Kaathey" | Sean Roldan, Divya Ramani | 4:26 |
3. | "Potta Pulla" | Sean Roldan | 4:15 |
4. | "Agasatha" | Kalyani Nair, Pradeep Kumar | 5:02 |
5. | "Kalyanamam Kalyanam" | Anthony Daasan | 3:55 |
6. | "Kodaiyila" | Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, Kalyani Nair, Pradeep Kumar | 4:03 |
Total length: | 26:04 |
The soundtrack album featured six tracks with one song being written by Gana Bala and the rest of the tracks are written by Yugabharathi. The audio rights were secured by Think Music. It was launched on 21 February 2014 at a promotional event held at Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai. [6] The event saw the attendance of actors Kamal Haasan, [7] Suriya and Vijay Sethupathi along with directors Atlee, Karthik Subbaraj, Pa. Ranjith, Cheran, Vetrimaaran, Vijay Kumar and Naveen, with the cast and crew of the film. [8] Two songs from the film and a theatrical trailer were screened at the event, which was followed by a live acapella performance organised by Santhosh and his musical team, received well by the celebrities and the crew members. [9] [10]
The album received positive reviews from critics and audiences. Behindwoods gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and stated that the album is "alluring and immersive". [11] The Times of India rated the album 3.5 out of 5 and called the album as "blissful". [12] Vipin Nair of Music Aloud rated the album 8.5 out of 10, reviewing it as "The best soundtrack that composer Santhosh Narayanan has produced yet!" [13] Moviecrow gave the soundtrack 8 out of 10 saying " Santhosh Narayanan mesmerises you with his lilting melodies. The songs in Cuckoo are definitely one too many. Yet the quality of the songs is such that you do not mind it." [14] Indiaglitz gave 3.25 out of 5 and "Santhosh has captivated us with the right notes to grab our attention and draw audience towards this different and compelling film". [15] Karthik Srinivasan of Milliblog wrote "Santhosh soars far beyond his familiar style and produces a cracker of a soundtrack!" [16] Haricharan Pudipeddi of The New Indian Express wrote, "Santosh Narayanan's life-affirming music makes you ignore fewer flaws you may across in the film". [17] Sify wrote that the "outstanding music and BGM" was a "major plus". [18] Karthik Krishnaswamy of The Indian Express gave 3.5 out of 5, saying that the "songs gives the same pleasant appeal as of Santhosh Naryanan's earlier ones". [19]
In the review round-up for Best of Tamil Music in 2014, by Moviecrow, Cuckoo was listed in the second and sixth position, regarding to "Top 10 Albums" and "Top 10 Background Scores". [20] Milliblog listed the album as the second-best Tamil soundtrack of 2014, while "Manasula Soora Kaathey" was listed in the second position. [21] Two of the tracks: "Manasula Soora Kaathey" and "Agasatha" were placed in the Top 25 Tamil Film Songs, in the annual review round-up titled Music Aloud Playback – Best of 2014. [22]
Award [lower-alpha 1] | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards | Best Music Director | Santhosh Narayanan (Also for Jigarthanda and Madras ) | Won | [23] [24] |
Filmfare Awards South | Best Lyricist – Tamil | Yugabharathi | Nominated | [25] |
Mirchi Music Awards South | Best Music Album – Tamil | Cuckoo – Santhosh Narayanan | Won | [26] [27] |
Best Lyricist – Tamil | Yugabharathi | Nominated | ||
Best Female Playback Singer – Tamil | Kalyani Nair for "Agasatha" | Nominated | ||
Vaikom Vijayalakshmi for "Kodaiyila" | Nominated | |||
Best Music Director – Tamil | Santhosh Narayanan | Nominated | ||
Song of the Year – Tamil | "Manasula Soora Kaathey" | Nominated | ||
Upcoming Male Vocalist – Tamil | Sean Roldan for "Manasula Soora Kaathey" | Nominated | ||
South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Lyricist – Tamil | Yugabharathi | Won | [28] [29] |
Vijay Awards | Best Music Director | Santhosh Narayanan | Nominated | [30] [31] |
Best Lyricist | Yugabharathi | Nominated |
Santhosh Narayanan is an Indian film composer and musician who has worked predominately worked in Tamil cinema, while also having some Telugu and Malayalam films to his credit.
Cuckoo is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Raju Murugan in his directorial debut, produced by Fox Star Studios. The film stars Dinesh and Malavika Nair as a visually challenged pair, while Aadukalam Murugadoss plays a pivotal role. The film was released on 21 March 2014 and received positive reviews and was critically acclaimed.
Madras is the soundtrack album of the 2014 Tamil drama film of the same name written and directed by Pa. Ranjith and produced by Studio Green. Santhosh Narayanan composed the soundtrack album and background score for the film. The album consists of seven tracks with five songs and two themes. While Gana Bala penned the lyrics for the two songs sung by him, the remaining three were penned by Kabilan and Umadevi. The soundtrack album was released on 27 June 2014.
36 Vayadhinile is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Rosshan Andrrews, which is a remake of his own Malayalam film How Old Are You (2014), and produced by Suriya Sivakumar under his production studio 2D Entertainment, marking his debut as a producer. The film stars Jyothika marking her comeback to films after an eight-year hiatus, while Rahman, Abhirami, Nassar, Delhi Ganesh and Siddhartha Basu appear in other prominent roles. The film's soundtrack was composed by Santhosh Narayanan, with cinematography and editing handled by R. Diwakaran and Mahesh Narayanan respectively.
Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogum is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Nalan Kumarasamy in his second feature film after Soodhu Kavvum. Produced by C. V. Kumar under his Thirukumaran Entertainment banner, with K. E. Gnanavel Raja also co-producing the film under Studio Green, it stars Vijay Sethupathi with Madonna Sebastian, the latter in her Tamil film debut. It is an official remake of the 2010 Korean film My Dear Desperado.
Bairavaa is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Bharathan, and produced by B. Venkatarama Reddy. The film stars Vijay in the titular role alongside Keerthy Suresh, Jagapathi Babu, Daniel Balaji, Sathish, Thambi Ramaiah, Mime Gopi, Sija Rose, Harish Uthaman and Aparna Vinod.
Gypsy is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language romantic road film written and directed by Raju Murugan. The film stars Jiiva, Natasha Singh, Lal Jose, and Sunny Wayne. This film marked the Tamil debut of actress Natasha Singh, director Lal Jose and actor Sunny Wayne. The film was produced by Ambeth Kumar under the banner of Olympia Movies. The film's soundtrack was composed by Santhosh Narayanan and cinematography and editing were handled by Selvakumar S. K. and Raymond Derrick Crasta, respectively.
Velaiilla Pattadhari popularly referred to as VIP, is the soundtrack album, composed by Anirudh Ravichander of the 2014 Tamil film of the same name starring Dhanush. This film marks the second collaboration of Anirudh with Dhanush, after his debut film 3 (2012). The film's soundtrack was launched on 14 February 2014 to positive response from critics and audiences.
Remo is the soundtrack album composed by Anirudh Ravichander, for the 2016 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film of the same name, starring Sivakarthikeyan.
Kabali is the soundtrack album, composed by Santhosh Narayanan for the 2016 Indian Tamil-language action crime film of the same name written and directed by Pa. Ranjith and produced by Kalaipuli S. Thanu, starring Rajinikanth, Radhika Apte and Winston Chao. The soundtrack album featuring five songs with lyrics written by Kabilan, Vivek, Umadevi and Arunraja Kamaraj was released on 12 June 2016, at Chennai and was also released in Telugu, Hindi and Malay languages. Santhosh Narayanan won the Best Music Director Award at the 2017 Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards. Initially, he was nominated for the Best Music Director – Tamil award at the 2017 Filmfare Awards South, along with Arunraja Kamaraj, for Best Lyricist – Tamil, Best Male Playback Singer – Tamil for the song "Neruppu Da". However, Shweta Mohan won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – Tamil for "Maya Nadhi".
Master is the soundtrack album composed by Anirudh Ravichander, for the 2021 Indian Tamil-language film of the same name, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, and produced by Xavier Britto under his production house XB Film Creators, starring Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi. This film marks Anirudh's first collaboration with Lokesh Kanagaraj and his second collaboration with Vijay after Kaththi and third collaboration with Vijay Sethupathi after Naanum Rowdy Dhaan and Petta. The soundtrack album features eight songs written by Arunraja Kamaraj, Gana Balachandar, Arivu, Vignesh Shivan, Vishnu Edavan and Bjorn Surrao, with three of them were released as singles. The tracks were released digitally through Sony Music India on 15 March 2020. The film also features an extended soundtrack album with two songs "Vaathi Kabaddi" and "Master The Blaster" being released on 13 and 14 January 2021. The soundtrack album has been streamed by 1.5 billion times in music platforms, and was the highest-streamed Tamil album of the year 2020.
Uttama Villain is the soundtrack album composed by Ghibran, for the 2015 Tamil film of the same name directed by Ramesh Aravind. The film stars Kamal Haasan in the leading role, who also wrote the script and co-produced the film under the banner Raaj Kamal Films International, alongside Thirrupathi Brothers and Eros International. The film marks Ghibran's first collaboration with Kamal Haasan for the first time. The soundtrack album featured seventeen tracks in total; having seven songs, karaoke versions for three of the tracks and seven instrumental compositions from the film score.
Jagame Thandhiram is the eleven-song soundtrack album composed by Santhosh Narayanan for the 2021 Tamil film of the same name, starring Dhanush and directed by Karthik Subbaraj. Continuing his association with Subbaraj after Anirudh Ravichander being roped in for Petta, the film also marks Santhosh's third collaboration with Dhanush after Kodi, Vada Chennai and Karnan. The album which featured lyrics written by Vivek, Dhanush, Arivu, Anthony Daasan and Madurai Babaraj was released by Sony Music India on 6 June 2021.
Irudhi Suttru is the soundtrack album for the 2015 bilingual film of the same name starring R. Madhavan and Ritika Singh. The film directed by Sudha Kongara, is produced by YNOT Studios and UTV Motion Pictures.
Navarasa is the soundtrack album for the Netflix original series of the same name jointly created by Mani Ratnam and Jayendra Panchapakesan. The series consists of nine short films based on the nine Indian aesthetics and has music composed by A. R. Rahman, Santhosh Narayanan, Sundaramurthy KS, Rajesh Murugesan, Karthik, Ron Ethan Yohann, Govind Vasantha, Justin Prabhakaran and Vishal Bhardwaj.
Vada Chennai is the soundtrack album for the 2018 action crime film of the same name directed by Vetrimaaran, starring Dhanush in the lead role. The film featured music composed by Santhosh Narayanan in his maiden collaboration with Vetrimaaran. Vada Chennai also marks the 25th film of Narayanan as a composer in his career. The album in its entirety was released on 23 September 2018 to positive response from critics and audiences. At the 12th Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards held in Chennai, Santhosh received an award for Best Music Director also for his work in Kaala and Pariyerum Perumal.
Mersal is the soundtrack of the 2017 Tamil action film of the same name directed by Atlee, which stars Vijay in a triple role with Nithya Menen, Kajal Aggarwal and Samantha as the female leads. The film, which marked the 100th production of Thenandal Studio Limited, has a soundtrack album features four tracks composed by A. R. Rahman, in his first collaboration with Atlee and his third collaboration with Vijay after composing for Udhaya (2004) and Azhagiya Tamizh Magan (2007), whilst Vivek penned the lyrics for all the songs in the film's soundtrack, also in his first association with Rahman.
Meyaadha Maan is the soundtrack album jointly composed by Santhosh Narayanan and Pradeep Kumar for the 2017 film of the same name directed by Rathna Kumar. The album had seven tracks written by Vivek, Pradeep Kumar, Rathna Kumar and Mirchi Vijay. Prior to the album release, three songs – "Thangachi Song", "Enna Naan Seiven" and "Address Song" released as singles on 7, 25 August and 13 September, and the full album was unveiled on 27 September 2017, to positive reviews from critics and audience. Post-release, the tracks "Address Song" and "Thangachi Song" gained popularity.
Pyaar Prema Kaadhal is the soundtrack to the 2018 film of the same name directed by debutant Elan, starring Harish Kalyan and Raiza Wilson. The soundtrack to the film features 12 songs composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja with lyrics written by Niranjan Bharathi, Vivek, Madhan Karky, Mohan Rajan, Oviya Oompathy and Elan himself. It was preceded with two singles: "High On Love" and "Dope Track", before the full album being released through Yuvan's music label U1 Records and Divo on 29 July 2018.
Petta is the soundtrack album composed by Anirudh Ravichander, for the 2019 Indian Tamil-language action drama film film of the same name, starring Rajinikanth.