It was the year 2001. I was preparing for my Pharmacology University theory examinations in a friend's room in Men's Hostel II of Medical College Thiruvananthapuram when I heard the song “Vaseegara En Nenjinikka Un Pon Madiyil Thoonginal Pothum….” from the next room. At a time when the Tamil and Hindi film music industry was overfilled and overflowing with Rahman’s music and when the air was thick with music from Rhythm, Thenali, Kandukonden Kandukonden and the critically acclaimed Alaipayuthe from the previous year, I naturally assumed the next one from ARR is out, for the music was so soothing and addictive. I heard it in full but could not investigate further as my exams were hardly two days away and I had cartloads to prepare.
After the exams, I realized that it was not an album from A R Rahman. There was this new music director who made those five songs in the movie Minnale (2001) which were super hits instantly. His name was Harris Jayaraj, a music director turned audio engineer. Minnale marked the birth of a new era in Tamil film music where the classy A R Rahman, the traditional Yuvan Shankar Raja, the peppy Imman and DSP had all grown deep roots. Harris Jayaraj breathed in bouts of fresh air to Tamil film music, merging Western verses/notes with Tamil lyrics effortlessly. The subsequent years saw the boom of a magician whose songs sounded the best on any audio system with deep basses and perky mid-tones, all distinctly heard even on the worst speakers. Singers sounded more mellifluous under his wand and he gave super hits that challenged even the mighty A R Rahman. The recording quality was so extraordinarily brilliant that he was very soon lauded as the perfectionist in Tamil Cinema Music.
Director Gautham Vasudev Menon (GVM) gave him the first breakthrough through his 2001 debut directorial venture Minnale which featured the superhit "Vaseegara" song from where he went on to compose music for seven of GVMs later films. The music of Kakka Kakka, Varanam Ayiram and Ghajini soon became timeless classics in South Indian cinema and has had a cult following ever since. He has worked for almost all major directors in Tamil Cinema excluding Mani Ratnam who had been loyal to A R Rahman for the last thirty-one years. Veteran Malayali director Priyadarshan utilised his scores in Lesa Lesa, the Tamil remake of Summer in Bethlehem and Shankar utilised him in two films when apparently A R Rahman was busy with other projects - Anniyan and Nanban. Kakka Kakka (2003) got him the Tamilnadu State Award for the best music director, which was only the first of the three he received in his career to date, the later ones being Anniyan and Ghajini (2005) and Ko (2011). His Tamil song “vellaikkara mutha” from the movie Chellame, "Aaagaya Chooriyanai" from Samurai and his Telugu original song “ye chilipi kallalona” from the movie Gharshana sung by Sreenivasan, are two of my all-time favourites.
Harris Jayaraj's orchestration is what sets him apart from other music directors of all times up to but not excluding A R Rahman. His recording perfection was superior even to A R Rahman’s. His final mix for any track is a joy to listen to, for all those with a pinch for acoustic perfection in the songs they hear. He built his own studio The Studio H in Chennai, the most technologically advanced music production studio in South India and recorded the track "Helena" from Irumugan as his first in the studio. His association with Udayanithi Stalin gave us superb songs from Oru Kal oru Kannadi, Ithu Kathirvelan Kaadhal, Nanbenda and Gethu. His collaboration with actor Suriya gave us Ayaan, Aadhavan, 7am Arivu and Kappan all of which have unforgettable songs. His tracks from Engeyum Kadhal were super hits in 2010. His theme music for Thuppakki is one of the best Tamil Cinema has ever heard in decades. He collaborated with Padmashree Jayashree Ramanathan a.k.a "Bombay" Jayasree for 15 original songs from Vaseegara (Minnale) to Maya Mayakkari (Legend) all of which were unforgettable melodies and were classrooms of recording perfection.
After Kappan (2019) he did only one movie, the over-enthusiastic "Legend" (2021) conceived by businessman Saravanan of Saravana Stores Chennai. Though the success of these two movies is debatable, the music did its rounds for long for sure. Music lovers always had the disappointment that the songs “Mosalo Mosalu” and “Mayakkari” from the movie Legend would have been monumental hits if they found themselves in any other mainstream movie.
Harris Jayaraj is just 48 and he has plenty of music left in him. Though accused of plagiarism, and of the overuse of C major scale for his tracks, he has left a mark in the industry that will stay for generations to come. His absence from Tamil Cinema cannot under any circumstances be termed as a natural decline over time but is only because of the Tamil industry's overreliance on Anirudh Ravichander since 2013 who has made songs, few of which are hummable a second time or even worth recollecting after the hype of the movie ebbs. I would accuse Anirudh of bringing down the quality of Tamil film music which had a proud lineage from the times of Ilayaraja or even earlier. There is not a single factor comparable between Anirudh and Harris as Harris’ tracks are far superior musically and technically and many of them serve as textbooks for students of professional music production.
I genuinely await his comeback. But at the same time I do not want him to make YouTube singles or compose music for Tamil short films or even worse, compose music for Malayalam films like Vidyasagar did when he lost his feet in Tamil cinema. I want him to get back to mainstream Tamil cinema which is his domain and shine a star like he did before.
Harris has the GVM movie Dhruvanachathiram coming out on 24/11/2023, the tracks and score of which I seriously wish, reminisce Tamil movie directors of what is being missed, not just in the state of Tamil Nadu, but wherever people enjoy Tamil film songs.
2023, Anoop Prathapan
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