Music Review of Guru-Malayalam movie-Ilaiyaraja

In 1997, Maestro Ilaiyaraja composed music for a malayalam film called "Guru." It had malayalam superstar Mohanlal in the lead role. The music of this movie was simply scintillating to say the least. The unique thing about this movie was that the orchestration was played by the famous Budapest Symphony Orchestra. So most of the songs were recorded in Hungary. This made the music even more magical. It had the following 5 songs:
1. Thatharam-This is my favourite song from this movie. It is sung by M.G.Sreekumar & Chorus. It starts with a beat sound created by a unique instrument and gradually becomes a full-fledged symphony song. the tune and the background music are just what a genius like Ilaiyaraja would compose.
2. Aruna Kirana Deepam-This song is considered to be one of the best songs ever in Indian cinema in terms of it's mind boggling orchestration. It is sung by Padmashree K.J. Yesudas. Ilaiyaraja has used so many instruments in this song that when you hear them in unison, you will be transported to some other world.
3. Guru Sharanam-This is a classical based chorus song which is very melodious and it grows on you after continuous listening. It is sung by Venugopal & Chorus.
4. Devasangeetham-This song is another masterpiece composed like a symphony. It is sung by Yesudas & Jyotsna.
5. Minnaram Maanathu-This is a very melodious song sung by Sujatha. It has excellent violin pieces.
The best thing about this album is that each song is very different and covers almost all the genres like western classical, classical, light music etc. Though Ilaiyaraja has composed 3 songs in Western classical orchestration, each of them is different and great to hear. Any fan of music should not miss this soundtrack, after all it is composed by Ilaiyaraja.