Mankatha (soundtrack)
Encyclopedia
Mankatha is the soundtrack album
, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja
, to the 2011 action thriller film Mankatha
, directed by Venkat Prabhu
that stars Ajith Kumar
in the lead role along with an ensemble cast
including Arjun
, Trisha Krishnan
, Vaibhav Reddy
, Lakshmi Rai
, Andrea Jeremiah
, Premji Amaren
and Anjali
. The album features eight tracks, with lyrics penned by Vaali
, Gangai Amaran
, and Niranjan Bharathi. Following a number of postponements, it was finally released on 10 August 2011 by Sony Music India
.
The soundtrack was described as a "mélange of techno, melody, a couple of duets and a mass song". The album features eight tracks, including one Theme music
track and one club mix
. The first track of the album, "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha
" was launched as a single release
in mid-May 2011, three months prior to the soundtrack release.
", for which he had taken "special care", and the item number
song "Machi Open The Bottle...", labelled as a "mass song", were recorded first. In March 2011, sources claimed that a song titled "Vaada Bin Lada" was recorded with Krish
and Suchitra
, which was called a "funky techno duet" and referred to as the "present day version" of the song "Sorgame Endralum", while Yuvan Shankar Raja described it as a "futuristic duet". The song's basic tune was based on the Carnatic
raaga Dharmavati
. Later that month, Venkat Prabhu made an announcement via Twitter
, disclosing that the soundtrack album would consist of nine tracks, including one promotional track, one theme music
track and one club mix
, further adding that six songs had been composed and three out of them recorded already. The remaining songs were recorded from mid-June only, with Yuvan Shankar Raja informing the following month, that he scraped one of the songs, since he was not satisfied with its tune, and composed a new song, starting from the scratch.
Reports in July 2011 revealed that the album would feature two more duets; "Nee Naan", which was sung by S. P. B. Charan
and Yuvan Shankar Raja's sister, Bhavatharini
, while Madhushree
and Yuvan Shankar himself had sung the other one titled "Nanbane". The song "Nee Naan" was revealed to be the replacement for the scraped song, which Yuvan Shankar Raja had composed within ten minutes of time, with the composer going to pick that song as his favorite from the album. Karthik
and Vijay Yesudas
had performed another song in the album, titled "Balle Lakka", which also features vocals of Anusha Dhayanidhi, wife of producer Dayanidhi Azhagiri, debuting as a playback singer. She was persuaded into playback singing by Venkat Prabhu who had seen her performing on her wedding reception and was impressed by her voice. The planned promotional track was excluded from the album in last minute. Earlier reports suggesting that one of the song would feature Yuvan Shankar along with his father Ilaiyaraaja
's vocals, and that Andrea Jeremiah
had sung another song, turned out to be false. Further Venkat Prabhu disclosed that S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
and Shankar Mahadevan
were approached to render one number in vain, with the former declining, explaining that the song was too high-pitched for his voice, and the latter being unavailable. The "Machi Open The Bottle..." song and the club mix of "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha" were notably orchestrated by Venkat Prabhu's brother Premji Amaran. The theme music was revealed to be inspired from a song by 50 Cent
, with Prabhu and Yuvan Shankar adding that due credits had been given in the film.
Besides, Vaali
and Gangai Amaran
, who usually write lyrics for Venkat Prabhu's films, renowned poet Subramanya Bharathi's great great grandson, Niranjan Bharathi had penned one song ("Nee Naan"), becoming his first work in a feature film. The music rights were bagged by Sony Music Entertainment
who had reportedly offered 1 crores.
was eventually handed over to Sony Music on 22 July 2011, which fixed the release date for 10 August 2011.
Since Ajith Kumar informed that he wouldn't attend any promotional events of his films, producer Dhayanidhi Azhagiri dropped the idea of a grand release function. The album was eventually released in a "soft launch" at the Chennai
station of Radio Mirchi
during the breakfast show Hello Chennai, with Venkat Prabhu, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Vaibhav, Mahat and Ashwin being present. All the tracks from the album were premiered on the channel and played repeatedly, with the event being simultaneously aired across Radio Mirchi's stations in Coimbatore
and Madurai
. Two days later, a press meet was arranged at a preview theatre in Saligramam, Chennai and a special screening of two songs and the trailer was held.
listeners having tuned in to Radio Mirchi during the premiere. While the single track, "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha
", had been declared a "smash hit" even before, the full album had achieved record breaking sales, with the associate director of Sony Music India South, Ashok Parwani, noting in a press release that Sony Music had registered a pre-booking of 60%.
Soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer, singer and occasional lyricist. He has predominantly scored music for Tamil as well as several Telugu films. His musical career began in 1996, at age 16, as he composed the film score for Aravindhan...
, to the 2011 action thriller film Mankatha
Mankatha
Mankatha is a 2011 Tamil action thriller film written and directed by Venkat Prabhu. It features Ajith Kumar in the lead role, starring in his 50th film, along with an ensemble cast including Arjun, Trisha Krishnan, Vaibhav Reddy, Lakshmi Rai, Andrea Jeremiah, Premji Amaren and Anjali...
, directed by Venkat Prabhu
Venkat Prabhu
Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren , better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu is an Indian filmmaker, who has worked as an actor, director and playback singer in the Tamil film industry...
that stars Ajith Kumar
Ajith Kumar
Ajith Kumar is an Indian film actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He began his career as a supporting actor in a Telugu film before gaining critical recognition in the Tamil thriller Aasai . A succession of high-grossing films followed where Ajith was usually depicted as a romantic hero, with...
in the lead role along with an ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
including Arjun
Arjun Sarja
Arjun Sarja is an Indian film actor and director. Son of Kannada film star Shakti Prasad, he has primarily acted in Tamil films, and also appeared in Kannada and Telugu films. The title "Action King" has been given to Arjun by fans, for the numerous roles he has portrayed in action films. He is...
, Trisha Krishnan
Trisha Krishnan
Trisha Krishnan is an Indian film actress and model, who primarily appears in Tamil and Telugu language films, but has also appeared in Hindi language films. She was noticed after winning several beauty pageants like the Miss Madras contest , which marked her entry into filmdom...
, Vaibhav Reddy
Vaibhav Reddy
Vaibhav Reddy is an Indian film actor and model. Son of noted Telugu film director A. Kodandarami Reddy, he made his feature film debut with the 2007 Telugu film Godava under his father's direction...
, Lakshmi Rai
Lakshmi Rai
Lakshmi Rai is an Indian film actress and model from Belgaum, Karnataka, predominantly appearing in Malayalam and Tamil films. While most of her Tamil releases performed poorly at the box office, she rose to fame with the popular Malayalam-language films Annan Thambi , 2 Harihar Nagar ,...
, Andrea Jeremiah
Andrea Jeremiah
Andrea Jeremiah is an Tamil playback singer, voice actor and a film and theatre actress. Beginning her career singing playback, Andrea has gone on to appear in critically acclaimed films such as Pachaikili Muthucharam and Aayirathil Oruvan, winning praise for her portrayals.-Career:Andrea was born...
, Premji Amaren
Premji Amaren
Premji Amaren is a Tamil playback singer, film composer, songwriter and actor. Son of veteran film composer and singer Gangai Amaran, he often composes rap songs in Tamil cinema and is known for his comical performances in the Venkat Prabhu films Chennai 28, Saroja and Goa...
and Anjali
Anjali (actress)
Anjali is an Indian film actress and model, who predominantly appears in Tamil films. Following a stint in modelling, she was cast in starring roles in two low-profile Telugu productions, before gaining attention with her critically acclaimed performance as Anandhi in Kattradhu Thamizh , for which...
. The album features eight tracks, with lyrics penned by Vaali
Vaali (poet)
Vaali is a Tamil poet and lyricist who writes Tamil poetry and film song lyrics. Most recently he has extended lyrics for a couple of songs in Engeyum Kaadhal for the music of Harris Jayaraj. He has also acted in several films, most notably Hey Ram, Parthale Paravasam and Poi Kaal Kudhirai...
, Gangai Amaran
Gangai Amaran
Gangai Amaran is a Music director, Lyricist, Script writer, Actor and Film director in Tamil films. He is the younger brother of noted music director Ilayaraaja and father of actors Venkat Prabhu and Premji Amaren.-As script writer:...
, and Niranjan Bharathi. Following a number of postponements, it was finally released on 10 August 2011 by Sony Music India
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
.
The soundtrack was described as a "mélange of techno, melody, a couple of duets and a mass song". The album features eight tracks, including one Theme music
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
track and one club mix
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
. The first track of the album, "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha
Vilaiyaadu Mankatha
"Vilaiyaadu Mankatha" is a song by Indian artist and film composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. A part of the soundtrack album to the Tamil film Mankatha, it was released as a single track on 20 May 2011...
" was launched as a single release
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
in mid-May 2011, three months prior to the soundtrack release.
Production
In mid-October 2010, during Navratri, Yuvan Shankar Raja started composing the first tunes for the film. The "introduction song" of Ajith Kumar, "Vilaiyaadu MankathaVilaiyaadu Mankatha
"Vilaiyaadu Mankatha" is a song by Indian artist and film composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. A part of the soundtrack album to the Tamil film Mankatha, it was released as a single track on 20 May 2011...
", for which he had taken "special care", and the item number
Item number
An item number or an item song, in Indian cinema, is a musical performance that has little to do with the film in which it appears, but is presented to showcase beautiful dancing women in very revealing clothes, to lend support to the marketability of the film...
song "Machi Open The Bottle...", labelled as a "mass song", were recorded first. In March 2011, sources claimed that a song titled "Vaada Bin Lada" was recorded with Krish
Krish (singer)
Vijay Balakrishnan popularly known by his stage name, Krish, is a Tamil playback singer. Other than working with reputable Indian film composers, including Harris Jayaraj, A. R...
and Suchitra
Suchitra
Suchitra Karthik Kumar is an Indian Tamil Radio Jockey and Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu playback singer. Born and brought up in Kerala, she had her school education in Bhavans Vidya Mandir Giri Nagar, Kochi. She is a graduate from the Kerala University...
, which was called a "funky techno duet" and referred to as the "present day version" of the song "Sorgame Endralum", while Yuvan Shankar Raja described it as a "futuristic duet". The song's basic tune was based on the Carnatic
Carnatic music
Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
raaga Dharmavati
Dharmavati
Dharmavati is a rāgam in Carnatic music . It is the 59th Melakarta rāgam in the 72 melakarta rāgam system of Carnatic music....
. Later that month, Venkat Prabhu made an announcement via Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, disclosing that the soundtrack album would consist of nine tracks, including one promotional track, one theme music
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
track and one club mix
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
, further adding that six songs had been composed and three out of them recorded already. The remaining songs were recorded from mid-June only, with Yuvan Shankar Raja informing the following month, that he scraped one of the songs, since he was not satisfied with its tune, and composed a new song, starting from the scratch.
Reports in July 2011 revealed that the album would feature two more duets; "Nee Naan", which was sung by S. P. B. Charan
S. P. B. Charan
Charan Sripathi Panditharadhyula Balasubrahmanyam, better known and creditted as S. P. B. Charan , is an Indian actor, producer and a playback singer. Son of popular Indian singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, he first worked as a playback singer in the Tamil and Telugu film industries...
and Yuvan Shankar Raja's sister, Bhavatharini
Bhavatharini
Bhavatharani is an Indian Tamil singer and music director. She is the daughter of film composer Ilaiyaraaja and her brothers are the noted film composers Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja and has mostly sung songs under her father and her brothers' direction...
, while Madhushree
Madhushree
Madhushree is an Indian singer, who sings in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. A familiar voice in A. R. Rahman's compositions, Madhushree hails from a musically inclined family, having previously been trained in classical music...
and Yuvan Shankar himself had sung the other one titled "Nanbane". The song "Nee Naan" was revealed to be the replacement for the scraped song, which Yuvan Shankar Raja had composed within ten minutes of time, with the composer going to pick that song as his favorite from the album. Karthik
Karthik (singer)
Karthik is an Indian playback singer.Karthik started his professional singing career as a backing vocalist and has since been a playback singer in Tamil cinema while also single in other Indian languages for various composers...
and Vijay Yesudas
Vijay Yesudas
Vijay Yesudas Kattassery , commonly credited as Vijay Yesudas, is an Indian playback singer, who has sung songs in Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Tulu and Telugu.-Early life:...
had performed another song in the album, titled "Balle Lakka", which also features vocals of Anusha Dhayanidhi, wife of producer Dayanidhi Azhagiri, debuting as a playback singer. She was persuaded into playback singing by Venkat Prabhu who had seen her performing on her wedding reception and was impressed by her voice. The planned promotional track was excluded from the album in last minute. Earlier reports suggesting that one of the song would feature Yuvan Shankar along with his father Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja is an Indian film composer, singer, and lyricist mainly in the Tamil film Industry. He is regarded as one of the finest music composers in India. Ilaiyaraaja is also an instrumentalist, conductor, and a songwriter...
's vocals, and that Andrea Jeremiah
Andrea Jeremiah
Andrea Jeremiah is an Tamil playback singer, voice actor and a film and theatre actress. Beginning her career singing playback, Andrea has gone on to appear in critically acclaimed films such as Pachaikili Muthucharam and Aayirathil Oruvan, winning praise for her portrayals.-Career:Andrea was born...
had sung another song, turned out to be false. Further Venkat Prabhu disclosed that S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam is a multilingual Indian playback singer, actor, music director, voice actor and a film producer. He is referred to as S. P. B. or Balu by the media. He has won the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer six times closely following K. J. Yesudas...
and Shankar Mahadevan
Shankar Mahadevan
Shankar Mahadevan is an Indian music composer and singer. He is a part of the Shankar Ehsaan Loy trio team that composes for Indian films and a playback singer.-Early life:...
were approached to render one number in vain, with the former declining, explaining that the song was too high-pitched for his voice, and the latter being unavailable. The "Machi Open The Bottle..." song and the club mix of "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha" were notably orchestrated by Venkat Prabhu's brother Premji Amaran. The theme music was revealed to be inspired from a song by 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
, with Prabhu and Yuvan Shankar adding that due credits had been given in the film.
Besides, Vaali
Vaali (poet)
Vaali is a Tamil poet and lyricist who writes Tamil poetry and film song lyrics. Most recently he has extended lyrics for a couple of songs in Engeyum Kaadhal for the music of Harris Jayaraj. He has also acted in several films, most notably Hey Ram, Parthale Paravasam and Poi Kaal Kudhirai...
and Gangai Amaran
Gangai Amaran
Gangai Amaran is a Music director, Lyricist, Script writer, Actor and Film director in Tamil films. He is the younger brother of noted music director Ilayaraaja and father of actors Venkat Prabhu and Premji Amaren.-As script writer:...
, who usually write lyrics for Venkat Prabhu's films, renowned poet Subramanya Bharathi's great great grandson, Niranjan Bharathi had penned one song ("Nee Naan"), becoming his first work in a feature film. The music rights were bagged by Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
who had reportedly offered 1 crores.
Release
The release of the soundtrack album was initially scheduled for 1 May 2011, coinciding with Ajith Kumar's birthday, but had to be postponed to mid-May, which too was missed, with the launch being pushed back to June. With the filming getting further delayed and the recording of the remaining songs not being completed yet, the projected release date of June had to be changed as well and Venkat Prabhu announced the new date as 18 July, which however was not approved by producer Dhayanidhi. The master CDMaster recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
was eventually handed over to Sony Music on 22 July 2011, which fixed the release date for 10 August 2011.
Since Ajith Kumar informed that he wouldn't attend any promotional events of his films, producer Dhayanidhi Azhagiri dropped the idea of a grand release function. The album was eventually released in a "soft launch" at the Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
station of Radio Mirchi
Radio Mirchi
Radio Mirchi is a nationwide network of private FM radio stations in India. It is owned by the Entertainment Network India Ltd , which is one of the subsidiaries of The Times Group....
during the breakfast show Hello Chennai, with Venkat Prabhu, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Vaibhav, Mahat and Ashwin being present. All the tracks from the album were premiered on the channel and played repeatedly, with the event being simultaneously aired across Radio Mirchi's stations in Coimbatore
Coimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
and Madurai
Madurai
Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...
. Two days later, a press meet was arranged at a preview theatre in Saligramam, Chennai and a special screening of two songs and the trailer was held.
Response
The album received overwhelming response, as did the release function itself, with reportedly over 7 lakhLakh
A lakh is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand . It is widely used both in official and other contexts in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and is often used in Indian English.-Usage:...
listeners having tuned in to Radio Mirchi during the premiere. While the single track, "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha
Vilaiyaadu Mankatha
"Vilaiyaadu Mankatha" is a song by Indian artist and film composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. A part of the soundtrack album to the Tamil film Mankatha, it was released as a single track on 20 May 2011...
", had been declared a "smash hit" even before, the full album had achieved record breaking sales, with the associate director of Sony Music India South, Ashok Parwani, noting in a press release that Sony Music had registered a pre-booking of 60%.
Track listing
Instruments
- Live drums & percussion: V. Kumar
- Additional keyboard program: Premgi Amaren
- Strings conducted by: Prabhakar
- String instruments: Babu Base
- Guitar: Keith Peters
- Guitar: Keba
- Trumpet: Maxi & Babu
- Mandolin Veena: Devi
- Mridangam: Srinivas
- Tapes & Tavil: Sunder & Jeycha
- Additonal percussion: V. L. Prasad, Sundar, V. Ramana, Jaicha
Production
- Program Manager: V. Karthik
- Program Co-ordination: A. S. Subbiah
- Recorded at: Prasad Studios & S.a.s.i Studios, Chennai
- Recorded by: M. Kumaraguruparan, Baranidharan, Prabhakar & Sekar
- Mixed at: Pinkstone Studios
- Mixed & Mastered by: M. Kumaraguruparan