A Musical Tribute to Venmurasu

Venmurasu, which is recognized as one of the longest novels in the world, and considered a literary masterpiece of modern Tamil literature, was completed by Jeyamohan in 2020. US-based music composer Rajan Somasundaram and Soundarajan Varathappan, the convenor of Vishnupuram Literary Circle USA, were collaborating on the production of a documentary movie, A Tribute to Venmurasu.[2] They decided to include a full-fledged musical tribute and release it as a soundtrack. The album was produced by Vishnupuram Literary Circle USA.

Rajan and Soundararajan roped in Kamal Haasan who himself had promoted Venmurasu when he anchored the fourth season of the Tamil version of the TV show Bigg Boss.[3] Rajan also engaged Tamil film singers Sriram Parthasarathy and Saindhavi Prakash for multiple tracks.

While the Venmurasu storyline is based on the Indian epic Mahabharata, Rajan created a contemporary-classical feel for the music, with a global ensemble of musical effects. The composer mentioned that he wanted to reflect the "layers and layers of intricate stories, interwoven with cultural references and details". The lyrics themselves were chosen from the poetic sections of Venmurasu's text. The soundtrack and the accompanying 'making' videos were recorded and edited at Tadaari studios in Raleigh NC, Ramed studios New York, and Voice & Vision Studios Chennai.

Additional programming was handled by Vijay Narayanan, Cinematography by Anandh Kumar, Sudharsun Jayaraj and AB Basheer. KP Vinod who had directed and produced documentary movies for Vishnupuram awards coordinated the video production. Appu Bhattathiri, known for his work in Malayalam films[4] and Malavika VN edited the video and tracks.

Mani Ratnam releasing album at online event on 09-Oct-2021

The global release of the soundtrack was held online on October 9, 2021.[5][6] The album was virtually released by film director Mani Ratnam, who had collaborated with Jeyamohan on Kadal and Ponniyin Selvan. Mani Ratnam called it an innovative effort, to release a documentary and music album to accompany a novel.[7]

Senior Tamil literary writers A Muttulingam and Nanjilnadan, poet and filmmaker Ravisubramaniyan, poet Venu Thayanithy, film director Vasanthabalan appreciated the unique combination of melody, rhythm and grandeur in creating a fitting musical tribute to Venmurasu.[8] Thayanithy made a detailed review of the album in the cultural magazine Solvanam[9]

The album was released worldwide through Apple iTunes[10] and Spotify.[11]

All lyrics are written by Jeyamohan; all music is composed by Rajan Somasundaram.