Bharath Hanna's Tamil film, Adaavadi, was earlier named Reel no 15. The new title of this Satyaraj-starrer is probably the result of the government granting tax exemption to films with Tamil titles.
In Adaavadi, Satyaraj plays a film director who gets story ideas by investigating real life crimes.
After a self-imposed sabbatical, Deva is back on the scene as the music director of Adaavadi. Though there is nothing sublime about his music score in this film, you cannot write it off as mundane. Sparks of the old Deva, who gave us good music in films like Basha, Valee and Panchatantram, are there.
Deva opens his score with the soft melody En anbe. The poignant romantic duet is rendered soulfully by Karthik and Mrinalini. Karthik's voice takes you down memory lane reminding you of songs rendered by the legendary Jesudas. Lyrics by Snehan are good. En anbe comes as a breath of fresh air. The song is enriched by good orchestration including the sitar and violin.
Idhu one day match illaida is a number in the gana genre. Keeping today's fad in mind, lyricist Praisoodan has used images connected with cricket. Malaysia Vasudevan's voice with a resonant timbre is ideal for this type of songs. He goes full throttle making this a dynamic piece. Again, this song brings to mind old M S Viswanathan songs.
Thisai ettum is a fast track rendered by Sriram Parthasarathy. The number starts like a choir song, changes tempo and goes on like a martial song. Senthil Kumaran's lyrics glorify the hero.
Dindugal poottu is a racy duet rendered with conversational ease. Melodious humming of the En anbe has been incorporated as interlude.
On the whole, not a bad comeback for Deva.
Rediff Rating: 
