A Walk Down Rahman Lane by Sid Srinivas

 If you are here for the first time, please read this post.

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A R Rahman and my life have always gone hand in hand. I would even call it a rain of destiny, because his songs have always been arriving at the right time, where I was able to relate to them with my personal happenings. I’ve mostly experienced A R Rahman’s songs for the first time through audio cassettes, CDs, FM stations, in theatres and now on YouTube. But one of my most memorable first time listens would be the time when I came across Rahman’s Malayalam song Padakali. At a concert of his.

I was well aware of the composer’s hits across the Tamil and Telugu industries, but Yodha is a world I had never heard of. Enjoying all the songs one by one at the concert which took place in Sharjah, I was taken aback by surprise when Benny Dayal and Haricharan started singing this Malayalam number which was like a vintage rap song. I remember asking my fellow friends and family members on whether this song was by another composer, only to later discover that it was indeed ARR’s own composition, and a brilliant one at that.

Now, Padakali has become one of the songs that I keep revisiting from time to time. The sheer pace of the song, the way the two veterans in KJ Yesudas and MG Sreekumar carry out the pronunciations, and the amount of the entertainment that one gets from the fun-filled video.

Equal credit to Benny Dayal and Haricharan, who were pitch perfect with their renditions on stage as well. Whatever ARR concerts I attend hereon, I will wait for this song to be performed live.

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Thank you Rahman, for this excellent song that is yet another stamp of your ever-widening versatility.
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About Sid Srinivas

Sidhu a.k.a Sid Srinivas is an Engineer turned Entertainment Journalist who loves his cinema as much as he loves his music and cricket.
A man of many hats within the review universe, Sidhu writes for Only Kollywood and Let's OTT apart from making brief appearances on YouTube to discuss movies. He is also a Marketing consultant for an upcoming movie in Tamizh. 
While his friends and family call him Sidhu/ Sid / Sidharth etc, he's known as 'EzhaigaLin Ilayathalapathy' amongst his ardent fans. Check this out to know why.
Fans can reach Sidhu here and here.