How they broke the rules of action music (and won!)

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]If a movie has a very long action sequence with no dialogues, what can the composer do?

[00:00:12]>> Notice that the music is a song that acts like a main character in the scene with vocals and lyrics, not just instrumental music in the background like most action films.

[00:00:25]How did they make a song work for an action scene and make it work twice?

[00:00:35]You don't need special music knowledge to follow along because that's the Suan's promise as we dive into this absolutely amazing song by composer Sundar Si Babu. The main plot is that these three friends decide to unite these lovers against their family's wishes. Karuna played by Sasi Kumar stirs a fight between the girl's father and the guy's mother and he uses that opportunity and helps the girl escape from her family. And right there, the vigorous drum beats and the fast violence start.

[00:01:16]The melody stays within this scale, within these dots for 99% of the time.

[00:01:28]At the same time, Chandran helps the lover boy escape from his family.

[00:01:37]This beat is going to be the common thread that keeps the whole action sequence together and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

[00:01:54]As soon as the mother sees her girl, >> we have an invocation to Lord Shiva.

[00:02:10]as if piercing the heavens delivered by singer Shankar Mahadevan. Before the mom sees them, it was just an escape. After she sees them, it's a chase and escape at a whole new level. If they had started this sumbo vocals in the beginning itself, it wouldn't give the correct emotional lift at this point. Oh no, they saw us. God help us.

[00:02:38]That's the difference between simply using a song in the background versus using a song to narrate the character's situation. The master class here is that every song line and scene match when the lyrics say, "Let the sleeping beast within you awaken.

[00:02:59]May the arising conflicts die out.

[00:03:04]Let the hidden jackals die off.

[00:03:10]>> The beauty of the Tamil language is that it has many of these tum type double consonant sounds.

[00:03:23]They stop the breath flow completely at a point.

[00:03:30]No air flow and the air bursts out when you say the next sound.

[00:03:36]The air bursts out and it makes it particularly nice for such energetic situations.

[00:03:47]Amazing work by lyricist Yugabharati for delivering both energy and narration with the words. Then we get to the first sacrifice just missed his eye.

[00:04:08]The fast violence are a perfect fit here. They even suit the scene of Chandran and the lover boy Saravana running.

[00:04:20]Notice how the entire action sequence is rooted in the local culture. There's a coconut fight.

[00:04:31]And then we get to the core message of the movie. Friendship is not just for good times.

[00:04:42]Even in sad times, friendship remains.

[00:04:49]>> And now comes the second sacrifice. The lyrics say there are no failures once you bravely step in. No more fear.

[00:05:06]And right at that moment, You can feel that crunch.

[00:05:26]>> Kudos to editor Al Romesh and the whole team for timing the fearless victory line against the leg crushing scene.

[00:05:36]Again, it's so rooted in the local culture >> and that's what makes the folk drumming pattern suit so well.

[00:05:59]>> The invocation to God helps again as Pandi lifts his friend.

[00:06:08]That's the beauty of using the sombo chant as the most repeated title line.

[00:06:18]>> It suits any situation where you go past your limits, including the second action sequence, as we'll see later on. Next, we get to the third sacrifice.

[00:06:37]I heard the director Samutra Kani say that this moment was planned in the scripting phase itself.

[00:07:00]Notice how they prolong the sound and give the audience a moment to absorb the shock >> and then the music resumes. So powerful.

[00:07:26]as they escape from the immediate threat and have a moment to think.

[00:07:36]This is the spot where the music removes the beat and instead plays a flute to show their relief from the adrenaline and their focus on their pain and sorrow.

[00:07:58]Interestingly, you might feel the song slowing down here even though the actual speed of the song has not changed.

[00:08:10]Just the drummer has stopped for a while and that gives an illusion of slowing down. Brilliant composition. The beats RESUME when Chundran must be taken to the hospital.

[00:08:32]Then we have some pure chase and escape scenes. And in these parts, the music becomes more like instrumental background score with variations and scary sounds as needed.

[00:08:57]When Karuna takes the guy and the girl running on foot, finally when they reach a bus route, sends them off with every last bit of gold and cash.

[00:09:20]The juggerum juggerum juggerum fits perfectly because his brain is not even thinking of words at this point. He's in such a hurry and then the camera spins around him and we have one of the most powerful intermission moments in Indian cinema.

[00:09:40]>> By the way, did you notice his eye swelling getting bigger and bigger as the song goes on? So much attention to detail. This movie deserves every award it got. How are they going to top that in the second action sequence?

[00:09:56]Now, as a consequence of helping this couple, the three friends continue getting devastating losses in their lives, deaths, amputation, breakups, threats. But the couple who they helped, they have a fight and casually go back to their families and get ready to immediately marry other people.

[00:10:18]Completely forgetting how many sacrifices were made for their sake, the three friends, absolutely enraged, make a plan to track them down and kidnap the couple again to teach them a lesson. And so the same tune starts again.

[00:10:41]>> Remember how the tune stays within this dot pattern or scale? It is the friian dominant scale in western music or the vakula bhanam raa in the karnatic equivalent. And to me this scale suits a frenzy trippy mood where you can do things that you normally don't. Extreme devotion, extreme sacrifice, extreme anger. That's why this tune fits both action sequences. Both are intense and extreme. Keeping the tune the same was crucial.

[00:11:18]That's what makes it feel like an equal and opposite action to the first time.

[00:11:27]>> And you need that same tune to play out to get that feeling of here they go again.

[00:11:37]And Karuna sees the guy's mother fixing him up with a new girl.

[00:11:48]You still need God to do this messy job.

[00:11:52]So the sombo invocation fits perfectly.

[00:11:59]Mother and son are watching a katakali performance.

[00:12:05]After that invocation, the lyrics change completely. Karuna catches the guy talking to the new girl and thrashes him.

[00:12:19]>> Remember this line.

[00:12:26]>> That line has very different lyrics.

[00:12:36]Keeping the tune the same and changing the lyrics creates a feeling of equal and opposite. The sacrifice was big. Now the anger is big. Equal and opposite. A fitting reply. And we also get to see Karuna's anger reflected in the ongoing Katagali performance. Absolute cinema.

[00:13:03]Meanwhile, the girl is kidnapped by the other two and the guy is kidnapped by Karuna. Finally, the couple is taken to an isolated spot and left alone there to think about what they've done.

[00:13:24]A master class in musical narration. If you like background score detailing like this, you're going to love this epic example in this video.