Hosanna (A. R. Rahman song)


"Hosanna/Hosaanaa" is a Tamil/ Hindi/Telugu song from the 2010 Tamil film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, Telugu film Ye Maaya Chesave and 2012 Hindi film Ekk Deewana Tha composed by Academy Award winner A. R. Rahman, sung by Vijay Prakash & Suzanne D'Mello featuring Tamil lyrics by Thamarai, and the rap portion in all versions by Blaaze. The song features additional vocals by Vivek Agarwal, Dr. Narayan, V. V. Prasanna and Haricharan and chorus by K. M. Music Conservatory. In the 2012 Hindi remake of the film, Ekk Deewana Tha the song was written by Javed Akhtar sung by Leon D'Souza & Maria Roe Vincent and the interlude Hosanna humming by Suzanne D'Mello. The song became very popular in all versions and was #1 in the year end music charts of 2010.

About the song

The song is woven around the word Hosanna which is considered sacred and used in liturgy by Jews and Christians. The word is a shout of adoration and literally means save now. In the movie, it is a soulful romantic song which express the joy in the heart and soul of a guy who comes across his beloved. The song has rap interludes in between by Blaaze.
The song in Tamil and Telugu starts slowly with lyrics Ee Hrudayam/Yen Idhayam, which resembles the biblical verses "If someone slaps you on one cheek, let him slap the other too!", but soon gain its pace with the lines starting Entha Mandhi/Andha Neram. The Tamil lyrics were written by director Gautham Menon's usual associate Thamarai and the Telugu lyrics were written by Anantha Sreeram, whilst the lyrics for the rap portion were written by the Blaaze. It was the composer itself, who suggested to include the word Hosanna, as the heroine hails from a Christian family and to include the portion Ee Hrudayam/Yen Idhayam.
Kannada singer Vijay Prakash is the main vocalist, who sung the male portion completely except for the rap portion starting Everybody Wanna. While Suzanne with her excellent singing, culminates in a humming of the word Hosanna.

Music video and picturisation

The song is picturised when the protagonist of the film Karthik/Sachin comes across his beloved Jessie for the very first time. The choreography was done by Flexi Stu. The song was picturised in Malta for the Tamil version, in United States for the Telugu version and in India for the Hindi remake with an interesting dance sequence by Silambarasan, Naga Chaitanya and Pratiek Babbar in these respective films. Its tamil version crosses 19million views and hindi version crosses 58million views on YouTube

Controversies

Ye Maaya Chesave is one of Rahman's most remarkable and successful Telugu soundtracks and was one of the most anticipated soundtracks as it was the first album composed by A. R. Rahman after his double Oscars win. Rahman won his first filmfare award in Telugu due to the success of the soundtrack. Following this anticipation, before the official audio release of the Tamil version, on 18 December 2009 in London and 20 January 2010 in Chennai, and the Telugu version on 3 February 2010, Ee Hrudayam/Hosanna track was leaked onto the internet. Later the track was officially released with the same singer but another strophe had been added to the song. A thirty second video of the song was also released later.
In 2012, members of an organization called Christian Secular Forum objected to the song, claiming that "Hosanna" is a sacred word. They demanded removal of the word from the song, and an apology.

Reception

"Hosanna" created waves among the music lovers even before the audio release of the film. It had another grand reception when its video was released onto television channels on 10 March. The song was the most promoted song of the film and it became very popular. The song was #1 in the year end music charts of 2010, published by Sify on the number of times the songs have been played on FM channels, digital downloads and physical sales of the audio. The song is regarded as a classic by fans of the film and A.R.Rahman

Professional reviews