If you ever thought an amalgamation of Ilayaraja and A.R.Rahman is not possible, then listen to Aanandha Yaazhai. It has the soul of Ilayaraja's music and the mind of A.R.Rahman's. Yuvan Shankar Raja, take a bow ! Sriram Parthasarthy renders a heartfelt performance keeping his emotions in check. The spoken word intro by Ram draws the outline for each song on the album, possibly even for the entire story.

The gentle harmonics and percussions take a back-seat early on to give impetus to the remarkable melody. Rahul Nambiar can do no wrong with his soulful voice, be it the demands of the highs and the understated low ends. Yuvan’s master stroke features half way into the tunes as he introduces the dramatic string section and later towards the end with his ambient sounds. The song also features some nifty bass playing.

The haunting vocal intro makes way for racy strumming on the acoustic guitar and Alphons Joseph joins the party with his vocal. The promising melody sets up the song nicely for Middle-eastern percussions to take over, but it’s all too short.

A song readymade and delivered for and by children. The composer does well to keep the vocal melodies simple and gives the kids several fun sing-along moments. What does stand out is the kids’ high pitched wailing, which sounds strained but it is still retained in the mix only to indicate the beauty in the imperfections of children, which may as well serve as a good lesson for the adults who harp on seriously on such matters.