The top five albums of Tamil Cinema for the year 2010 in my book would be
1. Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya
2. Nandhala
3. Paiyaa
4. Madrasapattinam
5. Engeyum Kaadhal
Engeyum kaadhal came at the end of the year and the only Harris sir album that got released this Year. The title track tops the charts which was fresh and had a great mix from the master. Dhimu Dhimu another song sung by Karthik became a charbuster once the tracks were released. Harris Sir who has become very choosy to sign projects is busy working on the soundtracks of Ezhaam Arivu and Ko. We can expect both the soundtracks to be released early 2011 along with another Prabhu deva film as well as K.V. Anand film other than Ko with Suriya.
G.V. Prakash has indeed had a great Year with five releases. His Ayirathil oruvan had around 10 songs including the remix and the club versions. The soundtrack was heavily plagarised from Mettalica and several other english rock albums. Songs like maalai neram, Thaai thindra Manne was a different experience even though it was plagiarized. His Madrasapattinam was another period film set in 1940's. Pookal Pookum stood out of the film because of the arrangements and the fantastic visuals shot by Nirav Shah. Madrasapattinam had a wonderful score to compliment the visuals and the songs. During the end of the year the soundtrack of the much hyped aadukalam was released. Aadulakam proved to be another version of veyyil with a wonderful mix of melody and rock. Ayyao and Yathe topped the charts! G V also was part of albums like Angadi theru and VA Quarter cutting. G.V had a rather successful year with his works. G.V has a interesting line up of films for 2011. Director Vijay's next film with Vikram, Selvaraghavan's next film with Dhanush and he has been signed by anurag kashyap for a 2 film deal in hindi cinema.
Yuvan has almost a dozen soundtracks to his credit this year. Starting from Paiyya in Jan till the Vaanam single that released the year end. Naan mahan alla had the wonderful Iragai Pole, Boss engira baskaran had Yaar intha pen dhaan and the Boss- title song. He was also part of the rural, rare low budget album Kungama Poovum Konji puraavum which had fresh tunes in the form of chinna siru. Paiyaa topped the charts for a long time till mid 2010 with wonderful simple and catchy tunes. The songs were superbly visualized by Mathi sir's cinematography which ensured the film had a success even though the plot wasnt good. Yuvan was also part of Goa, his brother Venkat prabhu's film and Ajith's Aegan. Come 2011 we have Vaanam, Mankatha, Thanga Meen, Vishnuvardhan's next film, Aadhi bagawan, Vettai and Avan Ivan to name a few. I am anxiously awaiting all these albums since the albums are from the best film makers of south india. Ameer, Bala, Ram subbu, Vishnuvardhan and Venkat prabhu.
Illayaraja Sir's Nandhala was exceptional. The soundtrack of the film helped the film achieve the cult status that has achieved. This is one of the best soundtracks that has come from Raja sir's label after quite 2-3 years. In 2011 we have Azhagar saami kudhirai by sussendran, Ameer's Kannabhiran to look forward to.
Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya was the kind of album which will be in you playist for years to come. Gautham Menon's visuals created breath taking visuals and released the audio at an event in BAFTA, United Kingdom. VTV turned out to be one of the best love story's of the year. A R rahman and Gautham worked together for the first time to create magic. Starting from Vinnai Thandi varuvaya sung by karthik till the Blues feel of Aaromale sung by alphonse. I feel this is the best soundtrack to come out from AR Rahman in the last two years till date. In the end of the year The bonus songs were released as an album called collectors edition which had the opening Humming of the film, Aaromale female version , the Aalap sung by shreya ghosal. The album also had regular ARR brand songs like Hosanna, Omana penne and Manipayya the love duet. ARR also had shankar's magnum opus Enthiran which had the techno feel. Kathal Anukkal and Arima Arima had the brand ARR. I would say Enthiran was a huge disappointment considering the expectations. Mani Ratnam's Raavan in my book was one of the difficult Albums and score that Rahaman has ever worked on. The film bombed at the box office but the album had sounds close to nature. Raavan would always be one of my favourite Rahman Albums. He has swept everyone with VTV and we can expect a lot of awards for that.
A few other interesting albums this year has been Imman's comeback film 'Mynaa'. Gv and Vijay anthony's Angadi theru, Kalavaani. Devi Sri Prasad gave good commercial tunes for Singam and Kamalahassan's Manmadan Ambu. Neela Vaanam sing by Kamal haasan was a little gem of a song from Devi Sri Prasad.
