NGK music review: Yuvan delivers an adequately punchy soundtrack for Suriya's political thriller

Selvaraghavan is one filmmaker who has always extracted the best out of Yuvan Shankar Raja’s talent. Some of Yuvan’s most enjoyed and admired soundtracks have come in Selvaraghavan’s filmography, and there is no denying the fact the album of Suriya’s NGK was eagerly anticipated by music lovers ever since the collaboration was announced. When Selva and Yuvan joined forces for Nenjam Marappathillai in 2016, almost a decade after Dhanush’s Pudhupettai, the album was met with rave reviews on the internet from both critics and the duo’s ardent fans. Unfortunately, the film, which stars SJ Suryah in the lead role, has been lying in the cans for nearly three years. That’s also one of the reasons for the anticipation surrounding the release of NGK because it’s been six years since the release of Selva’s last directorial, Iraandam Ulagam in 2013. [caption id=“attachment_6086291” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Suriya in a still from NGK. Image via Twitter/@TrollVeriyans[/caption] Although NGK doesn’t have the intensity of Pudhupettai or the repeat-worthy flair of 7G Rainbow Colony, Yuvan delivers an adequately punchy and entertaining soundtrack which gels well with the film’s genre as a political drama. The album comprises of just four tracks but is packed with genuinely impactful tunes that are bound to resonate even more with the visuals once the film releases. ‘Thandalkaaran’ ‘Thandalkaaran’ is an enjoyable offering from Yuvan Shankar Raja. The reasonably consistent vocals of singer KG Ranjith make the song a good listen. Ranjith has delivered a lot of chartbusters for Yuvan such as ‘Variya’, ‘Naatu Sarakku’, and ‘Vilaiyadu Mankatha’ to name a few. And, he never disappoints. With his mild-sounding instruments and an anthemic tune, ‘Thandalkaaran’ efficiently works well as the first song of the album. It was released by the team fittingly as the first single track. ‘Thimiranumda’ ‘Thimiranumda’ is easily the best song of the album. Yuvan concocts a heady mix of instruments and a thumping tune to deliver an evenly paced and rhythmic number. Crooned brilliantly by Jithin Raj, who rose to fame in Tamil through ‘Un Mela Oru Kannu’ from Sivakarthikeyan’s blockbuster Rajini Murugan, the song is beautifully punctuated by the wacky chorus portions. Vignesh ShivN’s catchy lyrics are also one of the highlights of the track, which looks like the first song in the movie. ’Anbae Peranbae’ ‘Anbae Peranbae’ is the only duet song in the album, which is headlined majorly by solo singers. Shreya Ghoshal and the in-demand Sid Sriram team up for this track, which doesn’t play out well as one would expect. Yuvan is long-known for delivering some of the best melodies (‘Theenda Theenda’, ‘Vayadhu Vaa Vaa’, ‘Nenjodu Kalanthidu’) in Selvaraghavan films and ‘Anbae Peranbae’ surely doesn’t live up to the mark despite some great rendition effort from Shreya Ghoshal and Sid Sriram. [caption id=“attachment_6725331” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from ‘Anbae Peranbae’. YouTube[/caption] ‘Pothachaalum’ ‘Pothachaalum’ is my second favourite track in the album. Although it’s irresistible to overlook the hangover of the iconic instrumental score of ‘Celebration of Life’ from Aayirathil Oruvan, Yuvan takes excellent control of the song and accentuates it beautifully to a different territory. Written by Selvaraghavan himself, the song has already become quite famous thanks to the trailer and teaser cuts which were backed by the same score. Produced by SR Prabhu’s Dream Warrior Pictures, NGK stars Rakul Preet and Sai Pallavi as female leads. The project is all set to hit the screens worldwide on 31 May and marks the return of Suriya to the silver screen after a long gap of nearly 15 months. His last film Thaanaa Serndha Koottam released for Pongal festival in 2018 January.