Kaatru Veliyidai (soundtrack)

Kaatru Veliyidai () is the soundtrack album, composed by A. R. Rahman, to the 2017 Indian Tamil romance film of the same name written and directed by Mani Ratnam starring Karthi and Aditi Rao Hydari. The soundtrack album consists of six tracks each in original Tamil and Telugu version of the album. Four of the tracks for the original version were penned by Vairamuthu, one by his son Madhan Karky and another by Shellee. The lyrics to the Telugu version were written by Sirivennela Sitaramasastri. The album won Rahman the National Film Award for Best Music Direction in the Songs category at the 65th National Film Awards. The choreography for the songs were done by Brinda and the cinematography for the film by Ravi Varman.
Development.
In late 2016 Vairamuthu, the lyricist for this soundtrack revealed that this album would have seven songs but the original album could only retain six tracks. In the song Tango Kelaayo it was Haricharan himself who sang the female part with his vocal formant and pitch tweaked to modulate like a young sensuous female. A. R. Rahman also said in an interview to The Hindu that Tango Kelaayo was the song from the album that took maximum time to complete. When Diwakar was called to sing, he was given only a small part. But later, impressed by his singing, Rahman decided to use him for the whole song- Diwakar said this in an interview to Behindwoods. When the song "Vaan" was being composed, Rahman used only keyboard as the basic instrument for the bgm and Shaasha's voice to which Mani Ratnam agreed. Later Rahman added a flute bit to the song after Ratnam had actually shot it in Belgrade, Serbia. Rahman also stated that a few portions of the background score were composed in London. The song "Jugni" had been sung by Indian Idol 2017 contestant Tejinder Singh (the Punjabi portions alone). This, he revealed on his Twitter page. The trailer which was unveiled by Mani Ratnam and A. R. Rahman on 9 March had the unreleased track "Tango Kelaayo"'s bgm and the other "Jugni" track playing in the background. The theatrical print also had a track "Anbay" playing in the background sung by Rahman himself and the song "Vaan (unplugged)" sung by Shashaa Tirupati, both not included in the original motion picture soundtrack album.
Marketing.
A musical glimpse of the film was released on 26 January 2017, and it was announced that the first single will be released on 2 February 2017. A short teaser of the song "Azhagiye" was released on 1 February 2017, and the full song was released the later day. The Telugu version of the song, titled "Hamsaro" was released on the same day. The lyric video reached 1 million views within 24 hours of its upload. "Azhagiye", featuring the voices of Arjun Chandy, Haricharan and Jonita Gandhi, and lyrics by Madhan Karky (his second collaboration with Ratnam after "Kadal") seems to be a breezy number from A. R. Rahman. The full song (Tamil and Telugu version) has been released on Wynk Music for Android users and on iTunes for Apple users. The second single track "Vaan" was released on 14 February 2017, coinciding with the Valentine's Day. Before the single release, a promo of the song was released on 13 February 2017, on YouTube. It was released in Telugu as "Maimaruppaa" on the same day. The third single track "Sarattu Vandiyila" was launched on 1 March 2017 at midnight, also in Telugu.
Release.
The soundtrack album of the Tamil version was released on 20 March 2017 with the presences of actors Suriya and Sivakumar coming as a special guest at the Sathyam Cinemas, Chennai. The soundtrack of the Telugu version was released by Mani Ratnam and A. R. Rahman on 24 March 2017, at a promotional event held in Hyderabad.
Track listing.
Original.
The tracklist was released on 18 March 2017 by Madras Talkies on their Twitter account. 
The soundtrack also has an unplugged version of the song "Vaan Varuvaan", with a slightly varied lyrics by Vairamuthu and sung by Shashaa Tirupati which comes only in the theatrical version during the introduction of the female lead. The track does not include any instrumentation other than the keyboard being played in the background unlike the original song.
Reception.
The album received very positive response from critics. The film's background score received much critical acclaim upon release. The Soundtrack also marked the 25 year of collaboration of Rahman-Ratnam combo.
Hindustan Times gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stating "The composer has taken us back to the magical ‘90s, where he used to hit the bull’s eye with every given album." Sify gave the album 4 out of 5 stating "‘"Kaatru Veliyidai’" marks the 25th year for AR Rahman in the Tamil music scene. That, invariably means it has been 25 years since Mani & Rahman joined hands for the first time. The duo still has enough gas in them to surprise us and deliver an album that could make us look back and take notice. The best tracks in the album are already popular and that has indeed raised the stakes of the film. Fresh effervescence, stamp of authority, signature style, foot tapping numbers, and simple yet experimental tunes – the album ticks most boxes easily. It is very hard to not like this. And, guess what? The social media is going ballistic." Music Aloud gave the album 3.5 out of 5, stating "Kaatru Veliyidai has some good music, but, as a soundtrack, is not up to ARR-Mani Ratnam standards." 
Bollywoodlife gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stating "This is a Mani Ratnam-AR Rahman collaboration. You shouldn't miss it for the world. AR Rahman makes you fall in love again with love and music. There's a song of every kind that will give you a reason to reierate your fandom for the musical maestro." Moviecrow gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stating "Kaatru Veliyidai has the fair mix of melodies and Rahman's experimentations, However, the album is few notches below the usual Rahman- Maniratnam's soundtrack." Deccan Chronicle gave the album 3 out of 5 stating "‘Kaatru Veliyidai’ might not be Rahman’s best of works, but it still reiterates his unparalleled, orchestral charm and gives you that Déjà vu, you so often have been craving. At that, it excels, and how!" Milliblog commented it as "In the 25th year of their collaboration, Mani and Rahman prove that the spark is alive and kicking." The Quint commented it as "‘Kaatru Veliyidai’ proves, yet again, that AR Rahman seldom shies away from experimenting with unexplored melodies." Behindwoods gave 3.25 out of 5 to the album and summarised "It's yet another completely avant-garde set of songs high on romance from the master combination of Mani Ratnam and Rahman!"
Album credits.
Credits adapted from info published in the official CD cover.
Additional Vocal Supervision: VJ Srinivasa Murthy