Directed by Balaji Mohan, Dhanush’s Maari 2 reached cinemas yesterday. Yuvan Shankar Raja replaced Aniruddh Ravichander as the music composer, and the film reunited him with Dhanush after a gap of 10 years. The duo’s previous collaboration came in 2008 with Yaaradi Nee Mohini. Though the world largely came to know about Dhanush as a singer through the 2011 viral hit ‘Why This Kolaveri Di’, the actor had, in fact, made his singing debut under Yuvan Shankar Raja with the song ‘Naatu Sarakku’ in Pudhukottaiyilirundhu Saravanan.
‘Rowdy Baby’ from Maari 2 is the latest song to have born out of this collaboration.
While Yuvan Shankar Raja’s discography is replete with romantic tracks and dance numbers, songs like ‘Rowdy Baby’ – duets with high energy – is something the composer hasn’t forayed into much. We take a look at his career spanning 21 years, comprising more than 130 albums to try and find the other Rowdy Babys – songs that make you want to drop everything else, get up and shake a leg.
‘Vaa Vaa’ – Dass (2005)
The song was probably Yuvan Shankar Raja’s hat tip to Vidyasagar and his ‘Appadi Podu’ which released a year before. Even Jayam Ravi and Renuka Menon’s costumes in a portion of the song are strikingly similar to Vijay and Trisha’s. Nevertheless, the composer along with Shankar Mahadevan and Mahalaxmi Iyer, does a fine job in creating a fast-paced duet.
‘Kodaana Kodi‘ – Saroja (2008)
Though it sounds and looks every bit like an item number, one can’t deny the foot-tapping quality of the song. Also, the portion resembling the snake charmer’s tunes is addictive. With lyrics by Gangai Amaren, the song has been sung by Ranina Reddy, SuVi, Mohammad Aslam and Rahul Nambiar.
‘Adada Mazhada’ – Paiyaa (2010)
Sung by Rahul Nambiar and Saindhavi, the lyrics and the music are simple in style, which in today’s day and age is a rare occurrence. In fact, the entire soundtrack of the movie composed by Yuvan was a huge hit.
‘Ek Do Theen’ – Anjaan (2014)
The song marked Suriya’s singing debut. Here, Yuvan Shankar Raja creates a song with tempo fast enough to make you want to dance, yet doesn’t fall into the trappings of a ‘gaana’ song. The song was the only saving grace in an otherwise underwhelming soundtrack.
