Success in Film Scores & Soundtracks (2004 - 2007)




Yuvan Shankar's 2004 releases, 7G Rainbow Colony, another Selvaraghavan film, and Silambarasan's Manmadhan, were both critically and commercially successful films, featuring acclaimed as well as popular music by Yuvan Shankar Raja, which also contributed to the films' successes. His work in the former, in particular, got critically acclaimed and eventually led him to win the Best Music Direction Award at the 2004 Filmfare Awards South; receiving the award at the age of 25, he remains the youngest winning music composer of the award. From since, he has had nine to ten releases every year on average, turning him into one of the most busiest and prolific Indian film composers.
His first of nine album releases of 2005 was Raam. His score for the Ameer-directed thriller, labelled as "soul-stirring", fetched him further accolades and eventually yielded a win at the 2006 Cyprus International Film Festival for Best Musical score in a Feature Film, the first such award for an Indian composer. His success streak continued with his following releases of that year, low-budget films such as Arinthum AriyamalumKanda Naal Mudhal and Sandakozhi surprisingly becoming successful ventures at the box office, since also Yuvan Shankar's compositions like "Theepidikka", "Panithuli" and "Dhavani Potta" from the respective soundtracks became popular anthems among the masses and played an important role for the films's successes. After the release of the soundtrack for the S. J. Suryaah-starring romantic comedy, Kalvanin Kadhali that also enjoyed popularity post the film's release, his final album of 2005, Pudhupettai, released, which saw him once again collaborating with director Selvaraghavan. The ten-track experimental album, receiving exceptionally rave reviews, was considered Yuvan Shankar Raja's finest work till then and being hailed as a "musical masterpiece". The soundtrack and score of the film featured a traditional orchestral score played by the "Chapraya Symphony" of Bangkok, the first time in a Tamil film. Critics felt that this project, in particular, proved his abilities and talent to produce innovative and experimentative scores as well. Karthik Srinivasan from milliblog commented that "Yuvan’s imagination soars way beyond the confines of a Tamil movie OST", describing the album as "clearly one of the most innovative albums in recent times". The film itself, releasing only in May 2006, did average business, despite opening to outstanding reviews.
He next worked on the romantic comedies Happy and Azhagai Irukkirai Bayamai Irukkirathu and the gangster film Pattiyal, which all released in early 2006. His Happy songs and score received positive reviews, with critics labelling the "youthful music" as "excellent", and the film's "main strength", whilst his score for Pattiyal was highly praised by critics; a Sify reviewer wrote, "Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music and background score is the life of the film". Further more, both films went on to become very successful ventures, both commercially and critically. His subsequent releases that year include Silambarasan's debut directorial, Vallavan and the action entertainer Thimiru
Yuvan Shankar Raja was hailed as the "real hero" of the former, which featured some of the year's most listened tracks like "Loosu Penne" and "Yammadi Aathadi", while the latter film ranked amongst the year's highest-grossing films. In November 2006, the Paruthiveeran soundtrack album got released, which saw the composer foraying into pure rural folk music, using traditional music instruments. Though initially releasing to mixed reviews, with critics doubting whether the songs could attract modern youth audience, his first attempt at rural music turned out to be a major success, following the film's outstanding run at the box office. The film, Ameer's third feature film as well as Karthi's debut venture, received universal critical acclaim after its release in February 2007 and became a blockbuster, whilst particularly the song "Oororam Puliyamaram" was a chartbuster number in Tamil Nadu.
In 2007, he had a record ten album releases in one year. The first was the soundtrack of the romantic drama film Deepavali, following which the audios of the sports comedy film Chennai 600028, the Telugu family entertainer Aadavari Matalaku Ardhalu VeruleVasanth's thriller film Satham Podathey and the romantic films Thottal Poo Malarum and Kannamoochi Yenadareleased, with the former three being well-received besides garnering positive reviews. The films, Chennai 600028Venkat Prabhu's directorial debut, and Aadavari Matalaku Ardhalu VeruleSelvaraghavan's Telugu debut, in particular, were great commercial successes and one of the year's most successful films in Tamil and Telugu, respectively. 
In late 2007 then, the audio and the film Kattradhu Thamizh got released. The soundtrack album, which was released as Tamil M. A., as well as the film itself, had been met with exceptionally positive reviews and critical acclaim. The music was widely considered a "musical sensation" and noted to be a proof of Yuvan Shankar Raja's "composing skills". However, despite outstanding reviews by critics, the venture failed to evoke the interest of the audience and did not enjoy much popularity. His final release of 2007 was Billa, a remake of the 1980 Rajinikanth-starrer of the same title. This film, remade by Vishnuvardhan, starring Ajith Kumar in the title role, also featured two remixes from the original version. The film emerged one of the top-grossers of the year, whilst also fetching rave reviews for Yuvan Shankar's stylish musical score.

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