2018 – Top 20 Tamil Songs >> 3

Song: Vasantha Kaalangal
Movie: 96
Composer: Govind Vasantha
Singer: Chinmayi
Lyricist: Uma Devi

It is a like a painting that vibrates hypnotically. The composer has gone full Zen here! It’s a minimalist’s dream. The sheer meditative quality in Mithun Raju’s serene guitar play elevates this track to a league of its own. If guitar had a heart on its own, then its valves are the strings between Mithun’s fingers. Chinmayi is a treasure to the world of singing. Her voice of gold sways to the brilliance of the notes as though she wrote it in her mind before the composer even thought of them. When her voice soars at “Paarvayin, Paaramaiyil”, it makes you gasp in wonder for a fleeting moment. She lives through the lovely words of Uma Devi who masterfully describes the gut wrenching pain of separation. This song has the quality of a necessary evil, which can scavenge your heart for the deeply quarantined memories and then shore them up painfully until your throat and no further. On first hear, when the song ended abruptly after 5 minutes, I was let down like a kid stripped off from the first bite of a chocolate. I was even scraping the internet to see whether the full version was available anywhere. However, the song’s ending is perfect in the movie’s context as she leaves him abruptly without the strength to prolong it further as they both know it can never happen in reality. Only memories and wishful thinking can prevail. What better composition to blend with the ending! Govind Vasantha is a musical alchemist.