''Muthu'' is the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

composed by

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

for the 1995

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-language film of the same name starring

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 170 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, ...

and directed by

K. S. Ravikumar K. S. Ravikumar (born 30 May 1958) is an Indian film director, film producer, screenwriter and actor who primarily works in Tamil cinema and few Telugu films. He is one of the most commercially successful directors of Indian cinema. He has won m ...

. It is the first film where Rahman, Rajinikanth and Ravikumar worked together. The album has six tracks with lyrics by

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he firs ...

. The

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

version is titled ''Muthu Maharaja'' and had lyrics penned by

P. K. Mishra P. K. Mishra (13 January 1943 – 19 December 2008) was an Indian Hindustani poet and lyricist. He penned numerous hit songs such as ''Dil Hai Chhota Sa'', ''Bharath humko Jaan Se Pyaara Hai Hindustan Hamara'' etc. He has written 316 songs in ...

, whereas the

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

version of ''Muthu'' is penned by

Bhuvana Chandra Bhuvana Chandra is an Indian lyricist, renowned for his work in the Telugu cinema. He served in the Indian Air Force for 18 years before turning into a lyricist. He penned lyrics for more than 2000 songs. He also wrote more than 100 stories, a no ...

. Recording of the songs took place at the composer's

Panchathan Record Inn Panchathan Record Inn and AM Studios is composer/music director A. R. Rahman's studio on his street at Kodambakkam, Chennai in Tamil Nadu. History The Inn was established in 1989, attached to Rahman's backyard, and developed into one of the ...

studio in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. The soundtrack was released on 8 October 1995 under the Pyramid label. The Telugu version of the soundtrack was released under

Aditya Music Aditya Music India Private Limited is an Indian music record label company, which owns the label Aditya Music. It produces music for the Telugu cinema industry and is headquartered at Hyderabad, Telangana. Overview The company was founded b ...

, and

Saregama Saregama India Ltd is an Indian music record label and content company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is the oldest music label in India, established in 1901 as the Indian branch of the British Gramophone Company. It later became ...

distributed the Hindi soundtrack.

Development

Ravikumar considered "Thillana Thillana" the song "most difficult to crack". It initially had the lyrics, "Tamizh naatu makkal kootam unnodu dhaane, naan mattum thalli nippena" () which Ravikumar disliked. Vairamuthu eventually became irritated and said, "Ennanga neen , thanana thanana thillana thillana-nu" () catching Ravikumar's attention. He realised it was the hook the song needed, so Vairamuthu wrote "Thillana thillana, nee thithikindra meena". The word "meena" was replaced with "thena" at Ravikumar's suggestion since he had previously written "Meena Ponnu" for ''

Nattamai ''Nattamai'' () is a 1994 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by K. S. Ravikumar. It starred Sarathkumar, Khushbu and Meena. The film was released on 2 November 1994, during Diwali, and completed a 175-day run at the box off ...

'' (1994). The song

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

African humming which had been previously sampled by French group

Deep Forest Deep Forest is a French music project that originally began as a duo consisting of Michel Sanchez (musician), Michel Sanchez and Éric Mouquet. They compose a style of world music, sometimes called ethnic electronica, mixing ethnic with electro ...

in "Night Bird". Rahman composed a tune beginning with the gibberish word "kuluvalilae". When it came to writing lyrics, Vairamuthu could not find a substitute word for kuluvalilae that was equally long but made sense. He and Ravikumar wanted Rahman to change the tune slightly to accommodate a better word but realised it was not possible without disturbing the song. As a result, kuluvalilae was kept. Ravikumar recalled, "I just made it seem as though the song was set in this village called and put up a road sign indicating that it was the name of the village and then had the song start with the word". The background rhythm and beats of "Kuluvalilae" were borrowed from " Rescue Me" by

Fontella Bass Fontella Marie Bass (; July 3, 1940 – December 26, 2012) was an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter best known for her number-one R&B hit " Rescue Me" in 1965. She was nominated for a Grammy Award twice. Early life Fontella Bass was bor ...

. The song includes "

Omanathinkal Kidavo Omanathinkal Kidavo () is a lullaby in Malayalam that was composed by Irayimman Thampi on the birth of Maharajah Swathi Thirunal of Travancore. To date, it remains one of the most popular lullabies in the Malayalam language. History The lulla ...

", a lullaby composed by

Irayimman Thampi Iravivarman Thampi, better known as Irayimman Thampi (1782–1856), was an Indian Carnatic musician, music composer and poet from the Kingdom of Travancore. He was a vocalist in the court of Swathi Thirunal. His compositions include the lullab ...

. The concept of "Oruvan Oruvan", a song reflecting philosophies relevant to society through its lyrics, was inspired by "Aandavan Ulagathin Muthalali" from ''

Thozhilali ''Thozhilali'' () is a 1964 Indian Tamil-language film directed by M. A. Thirumugam and produced by Sandow M. M. A. Chinnappa Thevar who also wrote the story. Inspired by Thevar's early life as a milk supplier before he became a wealthy film p ...

'' (1964). Ravikumar told Vairamuthu what he wanted the lyrics to portray. The song stresses that "God is above all and that greed will be the end of life".

Paravai Muniyamma Paravai Muniyamma (25 June 1937 – 29 March 2020) was an Indian folk singer and actress. She got the adjective Paravai as she was born in a village called Paravai in Madurai. She featured in many Tamil films mostly in supporting roles an ...

was originally asked to sing "Kokku Saiva Kokku", but declined, and the song was instead sung by

Theni Kunjarammal Theni Kunjarammal (died 18 April 2008) was an Indian actress and playback singer who has worked in the Tamil film industry. As a playback singer, she has worked extensively with A. R. Rahman during the late 1990s and early 2000s for folk songs, ...

. It is set in the

Carnatic raga A Carnatic raga refers to ''ragas'' used in Carnatic music. It has several components: a primordial sound (''nāda''), tonal system (''swara''), pitch (''śruti''), scale, ornaments ('' gamaka''), and important tones. Origins and history Carnati ...

known as

Kalyani Kalyani may refer to: Film and television * ''Kalyani'' (1940 film), a Hindi film * ''Kalyani'' (1952 film), a Tamil film * ''Kalyani'' (1971 film), a Kannada film * ''Kalyani'' (1979 film), a Telugu film * ''Kalyani'' (1983 film), an Oriya ...

while "Vidukathaiya" is set in Chakravakam. Recording of the songs took place at the composer's

studio in

Track listing

Release

The soundtrack album was released on 8 October 1995 at Kalaivanar Arangam in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

(now

), where Rajinikanth and

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

along with Ravikumar, Rahman and Vairamuthu unveiled the audio cassettes to the public. Over cassettes of ''Muthu'' soundtrack were sold on the release date. It was the most popular foreign soundtrack in Japan. "Thillana Thillana" was adapted by

Nadeem–Shravan Nadeem–Shravan is an Indian composer duo in the Bollywood film industry of India. They derive their name from the first names of Nadeem Akhtar Saifi (born 6 August 1954) and Shravan Kumar Rathod (13 November 1954 – 22 April 2021). Nadeem� ...

into "Deewana Deewana" for the 1996 film, ''

Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of over 20 books, illustrator, and correspondent, Jung was a c ...

''. The songs from ''Muthu'' were later retained in its

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

remake in 2004, ''

Sahukara ''Sahukara'' is a 2004 Indian Kannada-language masala film directed by Om Prakash Rao and produced by K. Manju. It stars Vishnuvardhan, V. Ravichandran, Shashikumar, Rambha, and Anu Prabhakar. It was a remake of the Tamil film '' Muthu'' (1 ...

'', though

Rajesh Ramanath Rajesh Ramanath is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer. He has scored music for Kannada films. Career Rajesh Ramanath debuted as a music composer in 1995 for the film ''Shubha Lagna'' and has composed for over several commercial and ...

was credited for its music.

Reception

D. S. Ramanujam of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' appreciated the soundtrack, particularly "Thillana Thillana", "Kuluvalilae" and "Kokku Saiva Kokku". ''

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not publishe ...

'' praised the song sequences for their vibrancy.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{A. R. Rahman 1995 soundtrack albums A. R. Rahman soundtracks Hindi-language albums Tamil film soundtracks Hindi film soundtracks Albums recorded in India