3 (soundtrack)
3 is the debut soundtrack album composed by Anirudh Ravichander, which features lyrics by Vijay, for the 2012 Indian Tamil film [3 (2012 Tamil language|Tamil film)|of the same name], starring Dhanush and Shruti Hassan, and was directed by Dhanush's wife Aishwaryaa R. Dhanush. The film features seven songs, with three instrumental compositions.
The single track, "Why This Kolaveri Di" was released on 16 November 2011, prior to the soundtrack release, and became one of the most streamed songs of all-time. It was officially released, after a leaked version, becoming popular on the internet. All the songs have lyrics written by Dhanush, except "Idhazhin Oram" was written by Aishwarya Dhanush.
The entire soundtrack album was released on 23 December 2011, and gained positive reviews. Behindwoods.com, listed the soundtrack album of 3, as one of the composer's best works till date. It also fetched the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for Anirudh Ravichander, and Best Male Playback Singer for Dhanush.
Following the success of the original version, the dubbed versions of the soundtrack was released in Telugu and Hindi, with the lyrics for the Hindi version was written by Kumaar and Telugu version was written by Bhuvanachandra.
Background
According to the composer Anirudh, the film's director Aishwarya R. Dhanush, wanted a light hearted song about love failure, with the former quickly composed the tune within 10 minutes. Dhanush then began working on the lyrics, for about 20 minutes, in which the first line he sang was "Why This Kolaveri?". Dhanush sang the song in broken English, as a Tamil person might if his knowledge of English was limited. The song is also called a 'Soup' song, where 'Soup' is a colloquial Tamil word which refers to young men experiencing love failure after a beautiful relationship.Development
All the songs in the film were recorded at A. R. Rahman's AM Studios in Chennai. The song "Why This Kolaveri Di", which was adjusted in downtempo has been built around an ancient south Indian folk rhythm using ancient folk instruments like nadaswaram, shehnai, saxophone, urumee, thavil, drums, acoustic guitar, keyboards mixed with electronic synths and scratches, utilizing the singing style of Tamil folk culture. The words of the song are in a simple form of Tanglish, a mixture of Tamil and English, which strikes a chord with the college students that lap up songs in this genre. The words have been described as "nonsensical" by some and an evocation of "Tamil street humour". Dhanush has stated that the choice of words allows it to be a very relatable song.The song "Idhazhin Oram" was written by his wife Aishwarya R. Dhanush, while all the other songs were written by Dhanush. The song was sung by Ajesh, a winner of the Airtel Super Singer. Another nominate Sathya Prakash, rended the remix version of "Po Nee Po", the original was sung by Mohit Chauhan, of "Sadda Haq" fame.
Marketing and release
A preliminary version of "Why This Kolaveri Di" was leaked on through the internet, and to counter the leak, the makers released the original version of the number on 16 November 2011, having noticed its popularity. The song became the most searched YouTube video in India, attracting more than 20 million views within 28 days, and was listed by YouTube under the "Recently Most Popular " videos.The soundtrack album was released on 23 December 2011 at the St. George's School, Chennai, under the presence of the film's cast and crew members. Although Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan were expected to attend the event, only Latha Rajinikanth was present. Dhanush and Anirudh, performed the song "Why This Kolaveri Di" on stage.
Music video
The original music video features Dhanush singing the song at AM studios, accompanied by composer Anirudh on a keyboard, while Shruti Haasan and Aishwarya Dhanush appear in the background. The video was cinematographed by Abinandhan Ramanujam. The video of the song, was filmed in a set made to replicate the crowded shopping street of Chennai Marina beach. It featured Dhanush and Sunder Ramu along with other extras singing the song, while Shruti Haasan makes an appearance towards the end of the video.The music video of "Idhazhin Oram" featured Dhanush, Sivakarthikeyan and Shruti Haasan, picturising their school life love stories. The song "Kannazhaga" features an intense romantic sequence between the lead pair. The song "Come on Girls" was picturised in a pub, where Dhanush and Shruti Haasan seen dancing, along with Sunder Ramu and Sivakarthikeyan. "Nee Paartha Vizhigal" is picturised upon Dhanush and Shruti as they live their life after marriage. The song "Po Nee Po" was picturised upon Dhanush as he is suffering from bipolar disorder in the film.