Mankatha (soundtrack)

2011 soundtrack album by Yuvan Shankar Raja

Mankatha

Original CD cover

Soundtrack album by

Yuvan Shankar Raja

Released| 10 August 2011
Recorded| 2010–2011
Genre| Feature film soundtrack
Length| 38:51
Language| Tamil
Label| Sony Music India
Producer| Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan Shankar Raja chronology
| Avan Ivan
(2011)  | Mankatha
(2011)  | Panjaa
(2011)

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Singles from  Mankatha

1. "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha"
Released: 20 May 2011

Mankatha is the soundtrack album, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, to the 2011 film of the same name, directed by Venkat Prabhu starring Ajith Kumar. The album features eight tracks, with lyrics penned by Vaali, Gangai Amaran, and Niranjan Bharathi.[1] Following a number of postponements,[2][3] 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".[4] The album features eight tracks, including one Theme music track and one club mix.[5] 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.[6]

## Production

[edit]

In mid-October 2010, during Navratri, Yuvan Shankar Raja started composing the first tunes for the film.[7][8] The "introduction song" of Ajith Kumar, "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha", for which he had taken "special care",[9] and the item number song "Machi Open The Bottle...", labelled as a "mass song",[4] were recorded first. In March 2011, sources claimed that a song titled "Vaada Bin Lada" was recorded with Krish and Suchitra,[10] which was called a "funky techno duet" and referred to as the "present day version" of the song "Sorgame Endralum",[4] while Yuvan Shankar Raja described it as a "futuristic duet".[11] The song's basic tune was based on the Carnatic raaga Madhuvanti.[12] 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.[13][14] The remaining songs were recorded from mid-June only,[15] with Yuvan Shankar Raja informing the following month, that he had scrapped one of the songs, since he was not satisfied with its tune, and composed a new song, starting from scratch.[16]

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,[17] while Madhushree and Yuvan Shankar himself had sung the other one titled "Nanbane".[4] The song "Nee Naan" was revealed to be the replacement for the scrapped song, which Yuvan Shankar Raja had composed within ten minutes of time,[11] with the composer going to pick that song as his favorite from the album.[18] 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.[19] She was persuaded into playback singing by Venkat Prabhu who had seen her performing on her wedding reception and was impressed by her voice.[20][21] The planned promotional track was excluded from the album in last minute.[22] 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,[23] 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.[24] The "Machi Open The Bottle..." song and the club mix of "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha" were notably orchestrated by Venkat Prabhu's brother Premji Amaran.[25] 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.[11]

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.[26] The music rights were sold to Sony Music Entertainment who had reportedly offered ₹ 1 crores.[13][27]

## Release

[edit]

The release of the soundtrack album was initially scheduled for 1 May 2011, coinciding with Ajith Kumar's birthday,[28] but had to be postponed to mid-May,[29] which too was missed, with the launch being pushed back to June.[30][31] 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,[32][33] which however was not approved by producer Dhayanidhi.[34] The master CD was eventually handed over to Sony Music on 22 July 2011,[35] which fixed the release date for 10 August 2011.[3]

Since Ajith Kumar informed that he wouldn't attend any promotional events of his films,[36] producer Dhayanidhi Azhagiri dropped the idea of a grand release function.[37][38] The album was eventually released in a "soft launch" [39] 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.[40] 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.[40] 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.[41]

## Response

[edit]

The album received overwhelming response,[42] as did the release function itself, with reportedly over 7 lakh listeners having tuned into Radio Mirchi during the premiere.[43] While the single track, "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha", had been declared a "smash hit" even before,[44] 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%.[45][46]

## Track listing

[edit]

Track listNo.| Title| Lyrics| Music| Singer(s)| Length

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1.| "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha"| Gangai Amaran, Rita (Hindi), Yuvan Shankar Raja (English)| Yuvan Shankar Raja| Yuvan Shankar Raja, Ranjith, Anitha Karthikeyan, Premgi Amaren, Rita| 6:02
2.| "Nee Naan"| Niranjan Bharathi| Yuvan Shankar Raja| S. P. B. Charan, Bhavatharini| 4:07
3.| "Vaada Bin Lada"| Vaali,Gangai Amaran| Yuvan Shankar Raja| Krish, Suchitra| 4:29
4.| "Machi Open The Bottle"| Vaali| Yuvan Shankar Raja| Mano, Premgi Amaren, Haricharan, Tippu, Naveen Madhav, Suchith Suresan, D. Sathyaprakash, Rahul Nambiar, MK Balaji| 4:46
5.| "Nanbane"| Vaali| Yuvan Shankar Raja| Madhushree, Yuvan Shankar Raja| 5:02
6.| "Balle Lakka"| Gangai Amaran| Yuvan Shankar Raja| Karthik, Vijay Yesudas, Anusha Durai Dhayanidhi| 5:15
7.| "Theme Music"| —| Yuvan Shankar Raja| Instrumental| 3:04
8.| "Vilaiyaadu Mankatha (Extended Dance Mix)"| Gangai Amaran, Rita (Hindi), Yuvan Shankar Raja (English)| Remixed by Premgi Amaren| Yuvan Shankar Raja, Ranjith, Rita, Anitha Karthikeyan, Premgi Amaren| 6:05
Total length:| 38:51

## Personnel

[edit]

### Instruments

[edit]

* Live drums & percussion: V. Kumar
* Additional keyboard program: Premgi Amaren
* Strings conducted by: Prabhakar
* String instruments: Babu
* Bass Guitar: Keith Peters
* Guitar: Keba
* Trumpet: Maxi & Babu
* Mandolin Veena: Devi
* Mridangam: Srinivas
* Tapes & Tavil: Sunder & Jeycha
* Additional percussion: L. V. Prasad, Sundar, V. Ramana, Jaicha

### Production

[edit]

* 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

## References

[edit]

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2. ^ "The Wait For Mankatha Goes On - Mankatha - Yuvan Shankar Raja - Ajith - Venkat Prabhu - Trisha - Arjun - - Tamil Movie News". Behindwoods.com. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
3. ^ a b "Mankatha audio release confirmed". Sify. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
4. ^ a b c d "FIR on 'Mankatha' music". Indiaglitz.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
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7. ^ "Yuvan starts playing 'Mankatha' - Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz. Archived from the original on 13 October 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
8. ^ "Mankatha - Tamil Movie News - Mankatha first tune! - Mankatha | Ajith | Yuvan Shankar Raja | Venkat Prabhu". Behindwoods.com. 12 October 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
9. ^ "Mankatha - Tamil Movie News - Yuvan's second tune for Mankatha - Mankatha | Yuvan Shankar Raja | Ajith | Venkat Prabhu". Behindwoods.com. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
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11. ^ a b c "The wait is over for 'Mankatha' - IG's exclusive tidbits on each song". IndiaGlitz.com. 2011. Archived from the original on 27 April 2012.
12. ^ "Twice as nice". The Hindu. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
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14. ^ @vp_offl (14 March 2011). "Six songs composed!!! Three songs recorded!!There will be a promo song!!! One club mix and a mankatha theme music!! 9tracks!! U1 rocks!!" (Tweet) - via Twitter.
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24. ^ "Mankatha Exclusive: Venkat Prabhu Interview videos". Indiainteracts.in. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
25. ^ "'Machi open the bottle...' for 'Mankatha'". Indiaglitz.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
26. ^ Raghavan, Nikhil (6 August 2011). "Itsy Bitsy". Chennai, India: thehindu.com. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
27. ^ "Yuvan's Mankatha audio to rock". Sify. Archived from the original on 18 March 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
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35. ^ @vp_offl (21 July 2011). "Mankatha master cd ready guys!! Reaching sony tomorrow!! Whatta relief!!! So very very soon it's "Machi open da bottle" time!!" (Tweet) - via Twitter.
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*[No.]: Number