Neethane En Ponvasantham | Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu | Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau

[kiru]

IMO, it is better to approach Raja's songs without technical ideas, Raga, Thala, storytelling etc...

Well, I would put it as - raagam/thaalam is just one(two) aspects of the song.. the raagam for the mood, the thaalam accentuating it. But more than that there is actually story-telling happening in the instrumental parts as well (not just the lyrics) as you have demonstrated (and V_S earlier for SriRamaJayam). A listener has to listen to all the sounds in IR's song. Otherwise, he/she is not getting their money's worth. When others might add instrumental just to accentuate the feel or just 'decorate' it. IR gets the story and writes the score. This is the only way he can do things fast and with variety, otherwise he will be forced to do things by 'trial and error'. (Music by Design vs Music By Ear).
This is one of the reasons that I think IR's songs do not lend itself well for 'improvisation' all the notes are interrelated. No way, just by improvising the vocal parts you can keep the song 'intact'. Yesterday, Hariharan totally killed one of the few TV viewing pleasures, I indulge in - watching Super Singer Junior. I just dont like that guy