''Vishwaroopam'' is the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

, composed by the music trio

Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy () is an Indian musical trio consisting of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. They have composed music for over 50 soundtracks across five languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and English. Amongst t ...

, for the

Tamil film Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

of the same name, directed by

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

. The album features five tracks, with lyrics penned by

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first ...

and Kamal Hassan himself. The soundtrack's

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

version ''Vishwaroop'', has lyrics penned by

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and political activist. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 200 ...

Production

Initially,

Yuvan Shankar Raja Yuvan Shankar Raja or Abdul Haliq (born 31 August 1979) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer-songwriter. He mainly scores music for Tamil films. Considered a versatile composer, he is particularly known for his use of Wes ...

was rumored to compose the film's musical score since the film was supposed to be directed by director

Selvaraghavan Selvaraghavan is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor who has directed and acted predominantly Tamil cinema, Tamil films. His directorial debut had with ''Thulluvadho Ilamai'' (2002) but his father is credited for business reasons, w ...

, a frequent collaborator of Raja. However, later Kamal was confirmed to direct the film himself and signed in the musical trio

to compose music for the trilingual, who had, in their early days, composed music for his trilingual ''

Aalavandhan ''Aalavandhan'' () is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Suresh Krissna and produced by S. Thanu. An adaptation of the novel ''Dhayam'' that was written by Kamal Haasan in 1984, The film stars Haasan in dual roles, ...

''. Lyricist

was confirmed for the Tamil version of the film, after Kamal Haasan had approached him and narrated the entire plot, to which he immediately agreed to work upon.

has penned lyrics for the Hindi version, while Ramajogayya Shastry has done the lyrics for the dubbed Telugu version.

Release

The audio was initially expected to release on 7 November 2012, coinciding with Haasan's birthday. The audio launch was planned to be launched simultaneously in Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai. However, due to

Cyclone Nilam Cyclonic Storm Nilam was the deadliest tropical cyclone to directly affect South India since Cyclone Jal in 2010. Originating from an area of low pressure over the Bay of Bengal on October 28, 2012, the system began as a weak depression 550&n ...

, it was postponed. The film's audio rights were sold to

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

. The album was released on 7 December 2012, at

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

on a grand event at ''

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

Royapettah'', after launching the audio in

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

and

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

. The first copy of the audio was released by

Ilayaraja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

, who had collaborated with Kamal on his previous productions. The function was attended by various celebrities including

Andrea Jeremiah Andrea Maria Jeremiah is an Indian actress, playback singer, and a musician, who works predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil and Malayalam language films. She made her acting debut in Tamil language, Tamil film ''Pachaikili Muthucharam'' (2007 ...

Pooja Kumar Pooja Kumar is an American actress of Indian descent who works in Tamil, Hindi, and English-language Indian films. After winning Miss India USA in 1995, she pursued a career as an actress and producer. She has appeared in a number of American f ...

Bharathiraja Bharathiraja (born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with ''16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films. ...

A.R. Murugadoss Murugadoss Arunasalam (born 25 September 1974), commonly known as A. R. Murugadoss, is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry. He is best known for directing action films mainly on ...

, K.S. Ravikumar,

Vasanth Vasanth is an Indian director well known in Tamil language films for directing films such as ''Keladi Kanmani'' (1990), ''Aasai'' (1995), ''Nerrukku Ner'' (1997), ''Rhythm'' (2000) and ''Satham Podathey'' (2007). Career Vasanth began his car ...

, Suresh Krishna,

Prabhu Solomon Prabhu Solomon (born 7 May 1969) is an Indian film director who has primarily worked on Tamil films. After making his debut in 1999, he had a middling career before rising to prominence with the success of the romantic tragedy film ''Mynaa'' (2 ...

Dharani Dharanis (IAST: ), also known as ''Parittas'', are Buddhist chants, mnemonic codes, incantations, or recitations, usually the mantras consisting of Sanskrit or Pali phrases. Believed to be protective and with powers to generate merit for the Bud ...

Gautami Gautami Tadimalla (born 2 July 1969), known mononymously as Gautami, is an Indian actress and politician who has worked mainly in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films in addition to Hindi, and Kannada films. She was one of the leading South India ...

, Lingusamy,

Jayaram Jayaram Subramaniam, (born 10 December 1965) known mononymously as Jayaram, is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam,Tamil films, along with a few Telugu films. He is also a chenda percussionist, mimicry artist, and occasiona ...

, Karthik,

Karunas Karunas (born 21 February 1970 as Karunanidhi Sethu) is an Indian actor, politician and comedian in the Tamil film industry. Appearing mostly in supporting roles, he has also played lead roles in films including '' Dindigul Sarathy'' (2008) a ...

, and

Prabhu ''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...

Track list

Reception

The soundtrack was met with positive response from music critics upon release. Musicperk.com noted, "SEL are one of the very few versatile composers around the country and that explains Kamal’s choice for their music. This album would rank as one of the best albums of SEL...The songs are quite ahead of its time & by the passage of time, will get even better recognition.". Music Aloud's review called the album "a must listen" Pavithra Srinivasan of ''

Rediff Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

'' described the album as "a pleasant listening experience" ''Behindwoods'' said, " hankar–Ehsaan–Loybring their A-game to the party and it’s a highly focused effort with absolutely no room for fillers. Seriously good!" ''IndiaGlitz'' praised the album saying," healbum draws a fine line between top-notch music and director-friendly music that prioritizes the storyline above everything else". ''Thamarai.com'' praised the album for its "exquisitely-penned lyrics and brilliant vocal performances".

Charulatha Mani Charulatha Mani (born 21 January 1981) is an Indian-born Australian Carnatic and playback singer. She has been performing Carnatic concerts since 1999. She has also sung for movies. Charulatha has appeared in numerous TV shows and radio progra ...

describes "Unnai Kaanadhu Naan" as the "piece-de-resistance of raga Jaijaivanti" in Tamil film music. The soundtrack, within hours of its release, climbed up to #3 in

iTunes Chart iTunes () is a software program that acts as a Media player (software), media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, ...

References

{{Authority control Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy soundtracks 2012 soundtrack albums Sony Music India soundtracks Tamil film soundtracks Hindi film soundtracks