Charlie (2015 soundtrack)

Charlie is the soundtrack to the 2015 Malayalam film of the same name directed by Martin Prakkat starring Dulquer Salmaan, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Aparna Gopinath. The soundtrack featured eight songs composed by Gopi Sundar with lyrics written by Rafeeq Ahamed and Santhosh Varma. Six of them were released as an album on 7 December 2015 through Muzik 247 label, while two of the songs—"Chithirathira" and "Chundari Penne" (which was sung by Salmaan)—released separately.

Development
Sunder previously collaborated with Prakkat on ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi (2013) that also starred Salmaan. He suggested a new soundscape for the film, as it would target youthful audience and the songs needed to grow with them. For the opening song "Akale", Prakkat suggested around several singers before finalising Malgudi Subha, who returned to playback singing for Malayalam films after Thenmavin Kombath (1994). Due to the 2015 South India floods in Chennai, Prakkat shifted the venue for post-production with the sound design held in Thiruvananthapuram and sound mixing in Kochi.

Reception
Nelson K. Paul of Malayala Manorama wrote "Gopi Sunder continues his top form with the album of Charlie". Karthik Srinivasan of Milliblog summarised "Gopi Sundar delivers again, unsurprisingly, given his scintillating form." Vipin Nair of Music Aloud praised Charlie as the "best soundtrack ever heard" from Sunder and rated 8 out of 10 to the album. Vishnu Varma of The Indian Express wrote "A melodious background score from Gopi Sunder blends in well".