Bigil (soundtrack)

The soundtrack and background score was composed by A. R. Rahman, marking his second collaboration with Atlee after Mersal,[1] and also his fifth collaboration with Vijay.[1] The album features five songs with lyrics written by Vivek. The music rights of the film were acquired by Sony Music India.[2] Actor Vijay, sung one song titled "Verithanam" which was confirmed by a poster release on 8 July 2019. This is the first time Vijay, has sung for a film composed by Rahman.[3]

I have composed for sports genre films in Hollywood, but this would be the first time in South India. Atlee is a fan of my films like Lagaan and Pele. He’s heard these soundtracks and he is musically very passionate. I enjoy working with such director who gets involved in music composing.

— A. R. Rahman on composing music for Bigil in an interview with Hindustan Times[4]

A song from the film "Singappenney" was unofficially leaked through the internet on mid-July 2019; and following this, the song was officially released on 23 July 2019, as the film's first single.[5] The music video features Rahman and Shashaa Tirupati, rendering the song while lyricist Vivek and Atlee also made an appearance. Singapenney, considered to be a woman anthem, Vivek, who wrote the lyrics, stated that "This is a woman anthem, dedicated to mother, sister, wife and all women in the world" while also noting that "the song will change the stereotype of a woman, which considers that the stronger themes were denoted for men and the softer themes were denoted for women".

The second single track "Verithanam" was released on 1 September 2019, it is a peppy introduction dance number sung by Vijay.[6] The lyrical video crossed 1 million likes within few days of its release, thus becoming the first South Indian lyric video to achieve this record.[7][8] The third single "Unakkaga" was released on 18 September 2019, sung by Sreekanth Hariharan and Madhura Dhara Talluri, it is a melodious number.[9] The other songs were "Maathare" sung by Chinmayi, Madhura Dhara Talluri, Sireesha, Akshara and Vithusayni, and "Bigil Bigil Bigiluma" an instrumental track.

The film's music was released at the audio launch event held on 27 September 2019 at Sai Leo Muthu Indoor Stadium, Sri Sai Ram Engineering College, Chennai, with the presence of the film's cast and crew and all the other celebrities.[10] Nayanthara did not attend the audio launch, the event was hosted by Mirchi Siva and Ramya Subramanian. Rahman and his musical team gave a stage performance at the audio launch.[11] The event was not telecasted live, due to technical difficulties, the audio launch was telecasted through Sun TV on 29 September 2019.[12] The songs were released at all digital platforms, the very same day, of the launch.

A month after the film's release, an album with two additional songs was released. While these two songs are also written by Vivek, the song "Kaalame" was sung by Bamba Bakya,[13] while the song "Idharkuthaan" was sung by Dhee with additional vocals from Sunitha Sarathy and Arjun Chandy.[14]

The music received positive reviews from critics,[15] with "Singappenney", "Verithanam" and "Bigil Bigil Bigiluma" being well received by audiences.[15] Behindwoods gave the album a rating of 3.25 out of 5, saying, "A. R. Rahman's perfect mix of class and mass music amplifies Bigil's verithanam [grandeur]!".[16] International Business Times gave the album a rating of 3 out of 5, saying, "A. R. Rahman delivered a hit music album for Vijay in the form of Bigil".[17] Moviecrow rated the album 3 out of 5, stating "A.R.Rahman's third successive collaboration with Vijay and fifth over the years is an amusing mix. Between an elastic spectrum of staying true to the likes of ARR and satisfying the monstrous hungry of the fans of a huge stardom, the album is more of a mixbag balancing both. Sometimes ARR overtakes and sometimes he gets ruthlessly overtaken."[18]

The song "Singappenney" reached #1 position on Radio Mirchi Top 20, Wynk Music, YouTube, Spotify and JioSaavn music platforms.[19] On year-end chart, the song reached #1 position in Big FM "Best of 2019" chart;[20] and also achieved #10 on The Times of India's "Top 15 Tamil Songs 2019", charts,[21] as "Verithanam", other song from the film, achieved #5 as well.[21] "Singappenney" was also listed in "5 best songs to cheer womenhood on International Women's Day" by News18.[22]

The album was listed in Top 2019 Tamil albums of Sify and The New Indian Express.[23][24] A review from A Humming Heart, ranked the album in 8th position in their Top 15 Tamil Albums.[25] On a January–September 2019 survey report from the music platform JioSaavn, stated "Verithanam" and "Rowdy Baby" (a song from Dhanush's Maari 2), became the most streamed songs in this intermediate period.[26] On September 2020, the song "Verithanam" crossed 100 million views on YouTube.[27]

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

• Bigil (soundtrack) at the Internet Movie Database