OVERALL COMMENTS:

Music Director Siva is one of the least-known music directors in the Tamil cinema industry. He is most famous for composing music for the Vijay-Suvalakshmi starrer "Love Today." Recently, he composed a more average album for "Arputham," the Lawrence starrer.

And now here he comes with "Kaadhal Sugamaanathu," a movie starring Tarun Kumar (hero of "Punnagai Desam"; still most famous for being the big brother in the Maniratnam movie "Anjali") and Sneha.

How is it? Well, it's nice. It's just that there's nothing new here, nothing startlingly good, nothing dismayingly bad, and anything but "nice." Every single song on this album is "nice." But none of them go above or beyond that; none of them are hummable and stick in my head.

There's nothing I mind on this album; but there's nothing I really like, either.

SONG-BY-SONG REVIEW:

1. Ailu Jenmangal -- S.P. Balasubramaniam. We really have nothing "new" or "innovative" in this song, but we do have a very listenable song with above-average lyrics, good singing by SPB, and an okay tune. It's a sad song, and a very usual sad song. This song gets a: Nice.

2. Muttham Muttham Kodu -- Mano, Swarnalatha. This song begins, hilariously enough, with a Swarnalatha in heat saying supposedly hypnotically, "You are a man; I am a woman... love me, love me," and ridiculous things like this. Certainly a segment that should have been cut out. Then the real song starts. It has a pretty good tune, okay lyrics, and pretty good singing by both Mano and Swarnalatha. This one is also a: Nice.

3. Sollathaan Ninaikkiraen -- S.P. Balasubramaniam. We have another sad love song sung by SPB here. Another usual unninovative tune, good singing by SPB, and okay lyrics (though they get funny at times -- "Valantharnthum vetta, oru nagam alla kaadhal"). Here, we have yet another: Nice.

4. Sollathaan Ninaikkiraen -- Chitra. We have a repeat of song #3 now, except this one is a little happier and it has different lyrics and it has been sung by Chitra. This song is also the one where the title of the film "Kaadhal sugamaanathu" is taken from. The lyrics are okay, the singing is okay, and the tune is same-old same-old. This album has been very steady in quality so far -- this is yet another: Nice.

5. Adi Sugamaa -- Karthik. And finally, we get something faster in tune. Here's a happy love song rendered by Karthik. Unfortunately, a faster tune does not necessarily mean "better." This tune also suffers from being uninnovative. The lyrics are okay. Karthik's singing is good. Guess what? Here's another: Nice.

6. Vachirukkaa Vachirukkaa -- Unknown, Sujatha. And here we have yet the most youthful song on the album. Unfortunately, the beat isn't that good, or danceable. The lyrics are mediocre, as is the trend with youth songs, talking about "Bill Gates" and "passports" and nonsense like this. And the singing is competent. So, to round out the album, this song is also a: Nice.

VIJAY VANNIARAJAN