Okay, so here’s my excuse: I was so engrossed in what was happening on screen (Karthik making his first movie in Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya) that I didn’t even notice that Aaromaley was playing in the background.
This weekend, I finally listened to this song. Really listened.
To the gentle plucking of guitar strings right at the beginning, somewhat reminiscent of Floyd’s Wish you were here. To that blues/rock/whatever wail in the foreground that you can’t make out a single word of other than the title. To the chant-like chorus in the background.
Amazing how much work that song does when you see it in context. The almost tortured lead vocals, sounding like they’re coming from a man who has had his heart torn out (which is exactly what has happened). The more sedate chorus, with lyrics about wishing a bride on her wedding day — which is sort of why that foreground is what it is. You might as well call those two tracks Karthik and Jessie.
This isn’t a sad song in the tradition of slow, melodious sad songs in Tamil cinema. Nor does it fit the stereotype of the angry, I’ll-show-her sort of song when the protagonist rises from the ashes of a failed relationship to build a life for himself/herself. This is the sort of blues-rock number that we thought fell into a different category from Tamil film music.
Until a man named Allah Rakha Rahman showed us different.
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