Mayakkam Enna (soundtrack)

Mayakkam Enna is the soundtrack to the 2011 film of the same name directed by Selvaraghavan starring Dhanush and Richa Gangopadhyay. The soundtrack is composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar with lyrics written by Dhanush and Selvaraghavan, the former in his songwriting debut. The soundtrack was released by Gemini Audio on 23 September 2011.

Development
Prakash was initially assigned as the composer in his second collaboration with Selvaraghavan following Aayirathil Oruvan (2010). In November 2010, he left the project due to "money and time issues" and was replaced by Selvaraghavan's norm collaborator Yuvan Shankar Raja. However, in April 2011, Prakash replaced Raja following the latter's commitments on other projects. The film featured five songs all of them were written by Selvaraghavan; he felt that "Usually directors are familiar with the storyline of their films", he cited Mani Ratnam who wrote the pallavi of songs in his films. Dhanush assisted Selvaraghavan in two of the songs and wrote one song "Pirai Thedum" as a sole lyricist in his debut. The song "Voda Voda Voda" was composed within 15 minutes and recorded within an hour.

Release
The soundtrack was launched at the Chennai station of Radio Mirchi station on 23 September 2011 during the breakfast show Hello Chennai, with Dhanush, Selvaraghavan and Prakash in attendance. Subsequently, tracks from the album played on air upon its launch, and a contest being held with participants winning audio CDs autographed by the film's team. The soundtrack was successful in its sales, streaming and downloads; Selvaraghavan organised an event at Radio Mirchi station on 29 October 2011 to celebrate the success.

Reception
P. G. Devi of Behindwoods described the album as "intoxicating enough" giving three-and-a-half out of five stars. The review further added "Naan Sonnadhum Mazhai" and "Pirai Thedum" are "thoroughly cherishable" while "Voda Voda Voda" and "Kadhal Yen Kadhal" being "pure entertainers". IndiaGlitz.com described the album as "catchy", "youthful" and "vibrant". Vipin Nair of Music Aloud gave 7.5/10 saying "G V Prakash Kumar continues his good form, dishing out another appealing soundtrack for Mayakkam Enna." Calling it as a "mix of classy and mass numbers", Paraman in his review for KollyInsider stated "yet another spectacular stroke from G.V. Prakash in collaboration with Selvaraghavan and Dhanush". Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff.com wrote "G V Prakash has tried very hard to walk away from his comfort zone and provide the kind of edgy numbers Selvaraghavan demands and has risen to the challenge." Karthik Srinivasan of Milliblog wrote "Despite inconsistent lyrics, Mayakkam Enna is a mighty competent soundtrack, at least music-wise".

Controversy
The song "Kadhal Yen Kadhal" along with "Why This Kolaveri Di" another popular single from Dhanush's 3 (2012) had been debated on how it popularized the "soup-song" genre. Both numbers had been subjected to criticism, particularly the former as the lyrics in the song "Adidaa avala, othada avala, vidra avala, thevaye illai" were misogynistic and allegedly glorified violence against women;  primarily the aftermath of Swathi murder case where activists and cinephiles speculated the unrealistic portrayal of women and love in Tamil cinema were the reasons behind. In May 2019, Selvaraghavan apologized for allowing such lyrics in the song, even though he did not write it (the lyrics were co-written by Dhanush) as he felt that a director has to be socially responsible, and he should have considered on how people get influenced through such lyrics.