New composers and varied singers have led to the Tamil film heroes doing more than just the romantic duet and the kuththu song. With this new wave of musicians entering the industry, we have the heroes shimmying to hip-hop and techno and also rocking it hard to metal tunes. While AR Rahman introduced the Kollywood buffs to genres right from the 90s, the past few years have seen an increased use of these alternate genres by other composers too.
Techno talk
From Simbu crooning Evan Di Unnai Petthan… to Rajinikanth’s robotic version serenading Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Endhiran, techno music has suddenly become a rage with the masses. Most of the soundtracks now offer club mixes of the popular love ballads too, which are even made into special song promos. A lot of retro songs being rehashed with techno beats have also become quite the hit.
Be-bop to hip hop
Thaman’s song Parvathy… in the Siddharth-Amala Paul-starrer Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi tried to infuse the acapella style, which was an instant hit with the youngsters. The 3 soundtrack by Anirudh too took the youngsters by storm. From the mish-mash Why This Kolaveri… to the more bluesy Po Nee Po… the soundtrack has a mix of differnt beats and tunes.
Rocking tunes
Rock and metal too have seen their entry, with young composers choosing to use guitar riffs and drums aplenty in their tunes. Who can forget the rocking Adiye Kolluthey… track from Varanam Aayiram, which was good enough to be part of a good rock album. Similarly, a lot of young composers come from rock bands, and their influence shows in their music music.