Bigil (soundtrack)

Bigil
Soundtrack album by
A. R. Rahman
Released27 September 2019
Recorded2019
Studio
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length26:35
LanguageTamil
LabelSony Music India
ProducerA. R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman chronology
Sarvam Thaala Mayam
(2019) 		Bigil
(2019) 		99 Songs
(2019)
External audio
audio icon Audio Jukebox on YouTube
Singles from Bigil
  1. "Singappenney"
    Released: 23 July 2019
  2. "Verithanam"
    Released: 1 September 2019
  3. "Unakaaga"
    Released: 18 September 2019

Bigil is the soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman, to the 2019 Indian Tamil-language sports action film of the same name, directed by Atlee, starring Vijay. The soundtrack album consists of 5 songs, with 2 bonus tracks, all of them were penned by lyricist Vivek. The soundtrack album was released digitally on 27 September 2019, through the Sony Music India record label.

Production

The soundtrack and background score was composed by A. R. Rahman, marking his second collaboration with Atlee after Mersal,[1] and also his fifth collaboration with Vijay.[1] The album features five songs with lyrics written by Vivek. The music rights of the film were acquired by Sony Music India.[2] Actor Vijay, sung one song titled "Verithanam" which was confirmed by a poster release on 8 July 2019. This is the first time Vijay, has sung for a film composed by Rahman.[3]

I have composed for sports genre films in Hollywood, but this would be the first time in South India. Atlee is a fan of my films like Lagaan and Pele. He’s heard these soundtracks and he is musically very passionate. I enjoy working with such director who gets involved in music composing.

— A. R. Rahman on composing music for Bigil in an interview with Hindustan Times[4]

A song from the film "Singappenney" was unofficially leaked through the internet on mid-July 2019; and following this, the song was officially released on 23 July 2019, as the film's first single.[5] The music video features Rahman and Shashaa Tirupati, rendering the song while lyricist Vivek and Atlee also made an appearance. Singapenney, considered to be a woman anthem, Vivek, who wrote the lyrics, stated that "This is a woman anthem, dedicated to mother, sister, wife and all women in the world" while also noting that "the song will change the stereotype of a woman, which considers that the stronger themes were denoted for men and the softer themes were denoted for women".

The second single track "Verithanam" was released on 1 September 2019, it is a peppy introduction dance number sung by Vijay.[6] The lyrical video crossed 1 million likes within few days of its release, thus becoming the first South Indian lyric video to achieve this record.[7][8] The third single "Unakkaga" was released on 18 September 2019, sung by Sreekanth Hariharan and Madhura Dhara Talluri, it is a melodious number.[9] The other songs were "Maathare" sung by Chinmayi, Madhura Dhara Talluri, Sireesha, Akshara and Vithusayni, and "Bigil Bigil Bigiluma" an instrumental track.

Release

The film's music was released at the audio launch event held on 27 September 2019 at Sai Leo Muthu Indoor Stadium, Sri Sai Ram Engineering College, Chennai, with the presence of the film's cast and crew and all the other celebrities.[10] Nayanthara did not attend the audio launch, the event was hosted by Mirchi Siva and Ramya Subramanian. Rahman and his musical team gave a stage performance at the audio launch.[11] The audio launch was telecasted through Sun TV on 29 September 2019.[citation needed] The songs were released at all digital platforms, the very same day, of the launch.[citation needed]

A month after the film's release, an album with two additional songs was released. While these two songs are also written by Vivek, the song "Kaalame" was sung by Bamba Bakya,[12] while the song "Idharkuthaan" was sung by Dhee with additional vocals from Sunitha Sarathy and Arjun Chandy.[13]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Vivek

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Singappenney"A. R. Rahman, Shashaa Tirupati6:04
2."Verithanam"Vijay4:05
3."Unakaga"Sreekanth Hariharan, Madhura Dhara Talluri4:26
4."Maatharey"Chinmayi, Madhura Dhara Talluri, Sireesha, Akshara, Vithusayni4:21
5."Bigil Bigil Bigiluma"A. R. Rahman2:02
6."Kaalame"Bamba Bakya3:55
7."Idharkuthaan"Dhee, Sunitha Sarathy, Arjun Chandy2:42
Total length:26:35

Reception

The music received positive reviews from critics,[14] with "Singappenney", "Verithanam" and "Bigil Bigil Bigiluma" being well received by audiences.[14] Behindwoods gave the album a rating of 3.25 out of 5, saying, "A. R. Rahman's perfect mix of class and mass music amplifies Bigil's verithanam [grandeur]!".[15] International Business Times gave the album a rating of 3 out of 5, saying, "A. R. Rahman delivered a hit music album for Vijay in the form of Bigil".[16] Moviecrow rated the album 3 out of 5, stating "A.R.Rahman's third successive collaboration with Vijay and fifth over the years is an amusing mix. Between an elastic spectrum of staying true to the likes of ARR and satisfying the monstrous hungry of the fans of a huge stardom, the album is more of a mixbag balancing both. Sometimes ARR overtakes and sometimes he gets ruthlessly overtaken."[17]

Chart performance

The song "Singappenney" reached #1 position on Radio Mirchi Top 20.[18] On year-end chart, the song reached #1 position in Big FM "Best of 2019" chart;[19] and also achieved #10 on The Times of India's "Top 15 Tamil Songs 2019", charts,[20] as "Verithanam", other song from the film, achieved #5 as well.[20] "Singappenney" was also listed in "5 best songs to cheer womenhood on International Women's Day" by News18.[21]

The album was listed in Top 2019 Tamil albums of Sify and The New Indian Express.[22][23] A review from A Humming Heart, ranked the album in 8th position in their Top 15 Tamil Albums.[24] On a January–September 2019 survey report from the music platform JioSaavn, stated "Verithanam" and "Rowdy Baby" became the most streamed songs in this intermediate period.[25] In September 2020, the song "Verithanam" crossed 100 million views on YouTube.[26]

Weekly charts
Chart (2019–20) Song title Peak position Reference(s)
Mirchi Top 20 Tamil Singappenney 1 [27][28]
Year-end charts
Chart (2019) Song title Position Reference(s)
BIG FM Radio Singappenney 1 [29]
Verithanam
Maathare
Bigil Bigil Bigiluma
TheTimes of India Verithanam 5 [30]
Singappenney 10
Movie Crow Singappenney 3 [31]
Verithanam 7
Unakkaga 17
Cinema Express Verithanam 20 [32]


Album credits

Original soundtrack

Credits adapted from the official website of Sony Music South.[33]

Producer(s)

A. R. Rahman

Songwriter(s)

Performer(s)

A. R. Rahman, Vijay, Shashaa Tirupati, Sreekanth Hariharan, Madhura Dhara Talluri, Chinmayi, Sireesha, Akshara, Vithusayni, Bamba Bakya, Dhee, Arjun Chandy, Sunitha Sarathy, Sarath Santhosh, L. V. Revanth, Anurag Kulkarni

Musician(s)

  • Guitar - Keba Jeremiah, Joseph Vijay
  • Flute - Naveen Kumar, Kareem Kamalakhar, Rasika Shekhar
  • Tabla - Sai Shravanam
  • Shenai - Balesh
  • Veena - Punya Srinivas
  • Nadaswaram - D. Balasubramani
  • Pakhawaj - Satya Narayanan
  • Sarangi - Manonmani
  • Clarinet & Saxophone - Sax Raja
  • Live Rhythms - V. Kumar, T Raja, Vedha, Lakshmi Narayanan, Raju, Vikram, Hariprasadh, Ranjit, Krishna Kishore, P Guberan, Vetri, Pyare Lal
  • Strings - Sunshine Orchestra (conducted by V. J. Srinivasamurthy), Chennai Strings Orchestra (conducted by R. Prabhakar), Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra (conducted by Oleg Kontradenko, Dzijan Emin)

Additional vocals

Sangeetha, Poovaiyar, Ka Ka Balachander, KR Arjun, Rakthaksh, Hriday Gattani, Hiral Viradia

Backing vocals

Arjun Chandy, Veena Murali, Deepthi Suresh, Rakshita Suresh, Abinaya, Ala B Bala, Sowmya, Soundarya, Nakul Abhyankar, Deepak, Niranjana Ramanan, Swagatha, Aravind Srinivas, Jithin Raj, Shenbagaraj, Santosh Hariharan, Vignesh Narayanan, Lavita Lobo, Madhura Dhara Talluri, Narayanan

Kids vocals

Riya K S, Nikhil P S, K R Arjun, Vidhya Rupini, K U Kokilapriya

Vocal Arrangement

Arjun Chandy, Nakul Abhyankar, Kumaran Sivamani

Personnel

Music Supervisors

T. R. Krishna Chetan

Additional Arrangements and Programming

T. R. Krishna Chetan, Jerry Silvester Vincent, Pawan CH, Santosh Dayanidhi, Kumaran Sivamani, Jim Sathya

Sound engineers

Production

  • Musicians Fixer - R. Samidurai
  • Musician Coordinators - T. M. Faizuddin, Abdul Hayum Siddique
  • Mixed by - T. R. Krishna Chetan, P. A. Deepak, Pradvay Sivashankar, Jerry Silvester Vincent, Pradeep Baskaran
  • Mastered by - Suresh Permal
  • Mastered for iTunes - S. Sivakumar

Original score

Credits adapted from the official website of Sony Music South.[34]

Producer

A. R. Rahman

Orchestra

  • Orchestra conductor
    • Fames Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra - Oleg Kontradenko, Dzijan Emin
    • Sunshine Orchestra - V. J. Srinivasamurthy
    • Chennai Strings Orchestra - R. Prabhakar
  • Sound Engineer - Alen Hadzi Stefanov
  • Protocol Operator - Koca Davicodenic, Igor Vasilev
  • Stage Manager - Ilija Grkovski, Teodora Arsovska
  • Orchestrator - Joaquim Badia
  • Additional Orchestration - Neelesh Mandalapu
  • Orchestra Coordination - Andrew T. Mackay (for Bohemia Junction)

Instruments

  • Guitar - Keba Jeremiah, Sunil Milner, Chris Jason
  • Flute - Naveen Kumar, Kareem Kamalakhar
  • Shenai - Balesh
  • Veena - Punya Srinivas
  • Nadaswaram - D. Balasubramani
  • Violin - Suresh Lalwani, Vignesh
  • Cello - Balaji, Sekar
  • Sarangi - Manonmani
  • Live Rhythms - V. Kumar, T Raja, Vedha, Lakshmi Narayanan, Raju, Vikram, Hariprasadh, Ranjit, Krishna Kishore, P Guberan, Vetri, Pyare Lal
  • Strings - Sunshine Orchestra (conducted by V J Srinivasa Murthy), Chennai Strings Orchestra (conducted by R. Prabhakar), Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra (conducted by Oleg Kontradenko, Dzijan Emin)

Additional vocals

Arjun Chandy, Veena Murali, Deepthi Suresh, Hiral Viradia, Reema, Uthara Unnikrishnan, Rakshita Suresh, Abinaya, Ala B Bala, Sowmya, Soundarya, Nakul Abhyankar, Deepak, Niranjana Ramanan, Swagatha, Aravind Srinivas, Jithin Raj, Shenbagaraj, Santosh Hariharan, Vignesh Narayanan, Lavita Lobo, Madhura Dhara Talluri, Narayanan, Sana Moussa, Tanvi, Shiv

Personnel

Music Supervisor

T. R. Krishna Chetan

Additional Programming and Arrangement

Jim Sathya, Nakul Abhyankar, Pawan CH, A. R. Ameen, AH Kaashif, Jerry Vincent, Santhosh Dhayanidhi, Harsha Vardhan Upadrashta, Chitti, Ramesh

Sound engineers

  • Panchathan Record Inn, Chennai - T. R. Krishna Chetan, Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Suryansh, Barath, Riyasdeen Riyan, Nakul Abhyankar, Kumaran Sivamani
  • AM Studios, Chennai - S. Sivakumar, Kannan Ganpat, Pradeep Menon, Krishnan Subramaniyan, Manoj Raman, Aravind MS
  • KM Music Conservatory, Chennai - Harsha Vardhan Upadrashta, Aravind Crescendo

Production

  • Musicians Fixer - R. Samidurai
  • Musician Coordinators - T. M. Faizuddin, Abdul Hayum Siddique
  • Stereo Mixing - S. Sivakumar, Pradvay Sivashankar

References

  1. ^ a b "AR Rahman on Thalapathy 63: I haven't worked on this genre in south India". Hindustan Times. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  2. ^ "Of Course We Are In! A Privilege To Be On Board! This One Is Going To Be Bigger Than Ever Before!". SonyMusicSouth. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  3. ^ Ramanujam, Srinivasa (8 July 2019). "Actor Vijay turns singer for AR Rahman in 'Bigil'". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 8 July 2019 – via www.thehindu.com.
  4. ^ "AR Rahman on Thalapathy 63: I haven't worked on this genre in south India". 5 February 2019.
  5. ^ "'Singa Penney' from Vijay's 'Bigil' released officially". The Hindu. 23 July 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  6. ^ "Vijays Verithanam from Bigil sets new record- News". IndiaGlitz. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Bigil: Vijay shakes a leg to the peppy dance number". Times of India. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Verithanam song out: Vijay and AR Rahman go local for Bigil". India Today. 2 September 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  9. ^ "Bigil third single out: AR Rahman treats Vijay fans with melody Unakaga". India Today. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  10. ^ "'Bigil' audio to be launched on September 27 – Times of India". The Times of India. 13 September 2019. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  11. ^ "Vijay's Bigil audio launched – Times of India". The Times of India. 27 September 2019. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  12. ^ Bigil – Kaalame Lyric Video (Tamil), retrieved 26 November 2019
  13. ^ Bigil – Idharkuthaan Lyric Video (Tamil), retrieved 26 November 2019
  14. ^ a b "Tracing how music is still a big commercial pull in Tamil cinema, with films like Asuran, Comali benefiting from hit songs". Firstpost. 20 January 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  15. ^ "Bigil (Aka) Vijay 63 songs review". 20 September 2019.
  16. ^ Upadhyaya, Prakash (27 September 2019). "Bigil songs review: AR Rahman and Thalapathy Vijay have a winner in hand". ibtimes.co.in. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  17. ^ "Bigil Songs – Music Review". moviecrow.com. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  18. ^ "#Bigil yet again on the @RadioMirchi charts!". @SonyMusicSouth. 14 September 2019. Archived from the original on 15 September 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  19. ^ "#Singappenney from #Bigil ruled the radio charts in 2019 #Number1 song of the year as voted by all of you magic of @arrahman as always #bigfm watteee combo @actorvijay @Atlee_dir @SonyMusicSouth #Top100pic.twitter.com/IxyvC9X3aR". @BIGFMTamil. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  20. ^ a b "Top 15 Tamil songs of 2019". The Times of India. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  21. ^ "International Women's Day 2020: 5 Soul-stirring Songs to Cheer Womanhood". News18. 8 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  22. ^ "Analysis: Top Albums of 2019". Sify. Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  23. ^ "The 2019 jukebox". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  24. ^ Natarajan, Nagarajan (10 January 2020). "Top 15 Tamil Film Music of 2019". A Humming Heart. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  25. ^ Kumar, Pradeep (19 October 2019). "'Verithanam' and 'Rowdy Baby' most streamed songs by Tamil music fans". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  26. ^ "AR Rahman & Vijay's Verithanam video reaches 100 million views milestone on YouTube - Times of India". The Times of India. 12 September 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  27. ^ "Latest Tamil songs on Tamil Mirchi Top20 countdown". radiomirchi.com. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  28. ^ "#Bigil yet again on the @RadioMirchi charts!". @SonyMusicSouth. 14 September 2019. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  29. ^ "#Singappenney from #Bigil ruled the radio charts in 2019 #Number1 song of the year as voted by all of you magic of @arrahman as always #bigfm watteee combo @actorvijay @Atlee_dir @SonyMusicSouth #Top100pic.twitter.com/IxyvC9X3aR". @BIGFMTamil. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  30. ^ "Top 15 Tamil songs of 2019". The Times of India. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  31. ^ "Top 20 Tamil Songs | Tamil Songs Ranking | Recent Tamil Songs Ranking". moviecrow.com. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  32. ^ "CE Year in Review: Our top 20 Tamil songs of 2019". Cinema Express. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  33. ^ "Bigil - Official Jukebox (Tamil)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  34. ^ "Bigil (Original Background Score)". YouTube. Retrieved 20 October 2020.