Padayappa (soundtrack)

Development

Before the film's release, Rahman had asked Ravikumar whether the soundtrack could be released in August 1999. Ravikumar informed Rahman that he had spoken to the press about the completion of the film's making, and that Rahman would be blamed if the film had a delayed release. As a result, Rahman did a live re-recording of both the soundtrack and score to finish them on time.

The credits for the song "Vetri Kodi Kattu", which was sung by Palakkad Sreeram, initially went to Malaysia Vasudevan, who publicly stated that the credits for the song were attributed to Sreeram and not to him. Rahman requested the company who manufactured the audio cassettes to make the change. The song "Minsara Kanna" is based on the Vasantha raga, while "Vetri Kodi Kattu" is based on the Keeravani raga.

Reception

Singer Charulatha Mani, in her column for The Hindu, "A Raga's journey", called "Minsara Kanna" "a mind-blowing piece" G. Dhananjayan, in his book Best of Tamil Cinema, says the songs are "mass entertraining", also citing that the songs contributed to the film's success. Srikanth Srinivasa of the Deccan Herald wrote, "The music by Rehman, to Vairamuthu’s lyrics, sounds good while the movie is on, though whether without the presence of Rajanikanth they would have, is another thing.[sic]" S. Shiva Kumar of The Times of India was more critical of the soundtrack, and called it "lacklustre".

Track list

All lyrics written by Vairamuthu.

Album credits