Sad to see Alexandre Desplat doing pastiches of Hans Zimmer's action scores, particularly those ostinatos accentuated with bombastic brass. Desplat could have taken the score of 'War of the Worlds' by John Williams as an influence (rather reference) while scoring Godzilla.

There are occasions in the movie where subtle notes in piano and harp punctuate silence, and one would expect Desplat to sustain this with adequate support of restrained, but serene strings, but instead he chooses to go for environmental synth mumbo jumbo. 

Though, Desplat made his Hollywood entry sometime in the early 2000's, I became a huge admirer of him, after watching 'The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button'. I fell deeply in love with the score, and the very thought that another French maestro has announced his arrival in Hollywood excited me. I thought the scene would change, as the ideal successor to Maurice Jarre has arrived! But he too has resorted to aping Zimmer!

Poovaname Punnarame...

                          

Poovaname Punnarame, a simple but spellbinding composition by Sharreth from 'Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty'. The melody in the Pallavi, the pattern of chords and the backing strings in the 'kannippoovani thennale' portion are signature Ilaiyaraaja stuff.

After the first BGM filled with heart-warming strings, Sharreth returns to his 'Manjuneeril' (Thirakadha) style in the charanam. Rendered to perfection by Alka Ajith!

It has been almost two years since the release of the Amal Neerad film, Bachelor Party. The DVD of the film remains one of my most prized possessions. Not for the story, not for the characters, not for Amal Neerad's lensmanship, but for that stunning original [background] score by Rahul Raj.

The score was composed and produced in less than 18 days. Despite working under ridiculously constrained schedules, the resultant score was in my opinion, the finest ever electronic and percussive action score produced in Indian Cinema.

Each cue is intricately layered with riveting guitar riffs, pulsating rhythms and inventive synth sounds resulting in intriguingly dense sonic textures, never before heard in Indian film scores. I know this is one of those films, which Malayalis 'love' to hate, or rather consider a 'fashion' to hate, lamenting on 'style over substance'. But the score definitely is a flamboyant display of the composer's extraordinary talent and exceptional craftsmanship!

Ilaiyaraaja's song from Vyaamoham (1978)
 


LINK:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj9J3zteEb0



'Neeyo Njaano' composed by Ilaiyaraaja for his Malayalam Debut 'Vyaamoham' (1978), directed by K.G. George. The film was also Ilaiyaraaja's FIRST Non-Tamil venture.

The song was well ahead of its times. Be it the stylish flute prelude or the counterpoint from 1:44 to 1:59; the song alone would have sufficed to judge his sheer genius!

Back in those times, I believe Ilaiyaraaja and Salil Chowdhury were the only Indian composers with contrapuntal mastery.