Karthik’s best!- A countdown (Top 1-7)

Continued..

7) Oru ooril (Kaakha kaakha, 2003)

A song that really drew me towards Karthik’s voice. One of his early songs where his typical “enthu” and energy are vibrant throughout. The start of the song itself is beautiful and the picturization is awesome. The ending lines of each of the charanams (enna solla.., etho etho thanithuvam..) have a lot of verve in them, while the final “manadhai eerpale” is truly magnetic. A song that stunned me with it’s positive enrgy, which later went on to become the trademark of Karthik.
The lyrics too are amazing and it remains one of my personal favorite songs, for the past six years now.

6) Aval ulaga azhagiye (Laysa laysa, 2002)

I must confess I just love this song, not just for karthik, but for the instrumental interludes and the lyrics too! But seriously one of Karthik’s best. This song really drew me towards his voice and it’s energy. I have tried it and I realize how tough it is to sing. The violins used really complement Karthik’s voice and the fast interludes, one on the veena and next on the violin-percussion combination are special. And Karthik’s double voices are too good.
“Kondaatam kondaatame” – captures the essence of the song.

5) Nenjae thullipo (University, 2002)

Heard this song first time on the FM radios. Nenjae thullipo was one of it’s kind.The video wasn’t that good, the film a flop but the singing was awesome. It was probably the first time Karthik sung with his full “enthu” which gave many later hits. So stylishly sung. And music director Ramesh Vinayagam himself remarks it was probably a first in tamil cinema with so much rock music content, hats off to Karthik, the way he sung this song established his versatility very early in his career. High octane stuff!
“Vinveliyai thottu vitten” – the second time, he really hits the roof!

http://www.dishant.com/album/university.html

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The top spot is shared – all four songs being completely different from each other, and all efforts of the highest class, I thought long about it and decided this was the fairest way.

1) Kan pesum vaarthaigal (7/G Rainbow colony, 2004)

A truly significant superhit song for Karthik, once again just proved his versatility at the right stage in his career. So much emotions were packed into his singing for this song. The suddenness of the song in the movie combined with Yuvan’s extraordinary score make it even more special. The first charanam is a voice of longing and in the second it changes to one of anger and despair (almost) and Karthik has given his all to bring that effect and pulled it off with elan. Great lyrics and Karthik’s soulful singing.

1) Uyire en uyire (Thotti Jaya, 2005)

A favorite for so many reasons. Karthik himself has gone on record saying how he worked on “Oru maalai” and “uyire en uyire” for Harris around the same time and he thought Uyire was definitely a great song and how Oru maalai was marketed well and went on to create a super hit of it’s times. Karthik shares this song with two of the most talented female singers of his day, Bombay Jayashree and Anuradha Sriram. But the fact that they had to share the song is a clear testimony to the range of Karthik’s voice. The song itself has many awesome moments – “Nijam thaane keladi”, the ensuing flute bit, the way Karthik starts and ends “ithu varai engirunthom”, Karthik’s pronunciation and stress throughout the song, the double voice on the final “nijam thaane”…

“Ho.. oru nimidam” – None can sing it better, even come close! One word to describe the song and it’s lyrics -beautiful!

1) Girl friend (Boys, 2003)

The most popular song of its time among people of my age. The lyrics are legendary and it was a genius’ composition and score. And the rest of the kudos belong to Karthik, totally. Karthik revealed in an interview that Rahman had asked him, literally, to sound like a saxophone, for the beginning “paal pole” bit. It is pure delight to hear that lead up and Karthik reaches the crescendo effect, before the lines “Enaku oru girlfriend”. The start of each of the charanams (Friends oda kavithaigal, Bike yeri oor sutha) are sung really stylishly and with so much enthu. A song that became the anthem of its time among the youth. Richly deserves it’s place here.

1) Oru maalai (Ghajini, 2005)

Arguably, Karthik’s most popular song and the biggest hit of his career. Harris’s refreshingly original tune, Surya’s growing stature at that time and the stylish picturisation, all contributed towards this song becoming the most heard song of that year. Karthik’s energetic singing gave that something extra that made the song even better. Karthik has added beauty to the lyrics with stress and intonation. The start of the charanam “Pesum azhaginai” with the double voice, and Surya matching the energy of the singing with his expressions, are unforgettable.

“Thalai saithu paarthale, thadumaari ponene” – the voice matches the lyric perfectly, as does Surya’s acting.

Of course, Behka is also extremely well sung, but to me, it can never match Surya and Oru Maalai. Personally it remains a dream solo song for me!

🙂