Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 69: On | On
17 songs, this week. JioSaavn playlist has 15, and is missing House Owner’s Neeyagave (because Trend Music forgot to send the song to them?) and Balagopal’s Chilla. YouTube has 16 songs, and is missing Music Teacher’s Ik Mod.
Rajvaadi Odhni – Kalank (Pritam) – Hindi: The opening and the chorus took me to Ismail Darbar’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam score in its approach and scope (as also the ‘Laide Laide’ phrase vs. ‘Laido laido laido’!). Fantastic song by Pritam, with immense support by the extensive Rajasthani musical orchestration featuring a multitude of native Indian instruments:
Ravanahatha – Chandan Singh
Sarangi – Dilshad Khan
Swarlin – Abhijit Mazumdar
Flute – Nirmalya Humtoo Dey
Bhapang & Morchang – Mukadar Khan
Khartal – Zaheer Khan
Team Babu Khan (Rajasthani Group)
Singer – Babu Khan & Kailash Khan
Alaap – Idu Khan
Morchang & Bhapang – Sheru Khan
Algoja & Mulri – Sher Khan
Khartal – Salim Khan
Sarangi – Idu Khan
Kamaycha – Misari Khan
Ik Mod – Music Teacher (Rochak Kohli) – Hindi: Rochak Kohli has a couple of recreations (Phir Wahi Raat Hai and Rhim Jhim Gire Saawan) that I’m too scared to touch upon given how I adore the originals (despite them being sung really, really well by Papon). But his original songs are excellent too in the soundtrack. Ik Mod is a song that transported me to the 70s and 80s Hindi parallel cinema’s music! Both versions, by Papon and Neeti Mohan, are beautifully realized creations, with a serenity rare to find in today’s music.
The Jawaani Song – Student of the Year 2 (Vishal-Shekhar) – Hindi: The song was the only redeeming feature in the trailer of the film, for me 🙂 A 47-year old still rocks, and how! I’m glad they retained Kishore Kumar’s original voice along with the other new additions.
Neeyagave – House Owner (Ghibran) – Tamil: An absolutely stunning song by Ghibran, and one that took me back to his brilliant debut (Vaagai Sooda Vaa). Chinmayi and Sathyaprakash completely own this song, and Chinmayi is especially really good! The tune also reminded me a bit of Raja’s majestic ‘Mazhai Varudhu’ from Raja Kaiya Vacha (1990). That was based on Bhagesri raaga, incidentally.
Romba Kadupethura – 7UP Madras Gig (Sean Roldan) – Tamil: Great to see Sean Roldan join the impressive 7UP Madras Gig line-up. His tune is vastly different from the predominant EDM-laden songs so far, and showcases his unique style beautifully. If I have a grudge against something in the song, it is the lyrics, by Sean himself. Utterly corny!
Azhaikka Vandhaayo – Sanjay (Tamil): I had no clue about Sanjay, the composer and this song literally made me go back to his repertoire on his YouTube page. I discovered at least 6 more songs, in the past 1-2 years, from him that were very, very good! Azhaikka Vandhaayo is rich in its melody, with fantastic semi-classical flow that I’d associate with an Ismail Darbar, for instance. Priyanka Barve does sound a bit awkward with her Tamil, but her singing is flawless. Nakul Abhyankar is, as usual, brilliant. A surprise, stunning musical find!
Ninnaye Rathi Endru – Vinod Krishnan: The most famous and familiar musical version of Bharathiyar’s Ninnaye Rathi Endru is perhaps the film song version composed by MS Viswanathan, in the 1986 Tamil film, Kanne Kaniyamudhe, for a song featuring Amala (and actor Rahman). That was based on Kalyana Vasantham raaga and is quite a lovely song!
Vinod Krishnan attempts a completely different tune for the same lines and the results are pretty impressive. His singing is highly involved and fantastic, and the A Capella backdrop adds to the charm.
Padhe Padhe – Jersey (Anirudh) – Telugu: I missed this song in last week’s list, so adding it this week. Anirudh already has a superb soundtrack for the just-released Jersey and this song easily adds to the list. The song’s steady, throbbing rhythm, the singing by Anirudh, Shakthisree, and Brodha V’s rap… all builds to a thoroughly enjoyable song. Shakthisree, in particular, with her incredibly vocals, lifts the song to a new high.
Nakentho Nachinde & Pada Padamani – Nuvvu Thopu Raa (Suresh Bobbili and P.A.Deepak) – Telugu: Suresh Bobbili, who I had written about being promising, with soundtracks like Needi Naadhi Oke Katha and Maa Abbayi, produces a very pleasant Nakentho Nachinde, delivered beautifully by Anurag Kulkarni. The ‘O Pilla’ hook stays long after the song, and the tune’s semi-classical’ish turns are very good too. Pada Padamani has shades of Mickey J Meyer’s music, but composer P.A.Deepak does enough to layer his own creativity, aided generously by Sayantani Das’ excellent vocals.
Malabari Penne – Oronnonnara Pranayakadha (Anand Madhusoodanan) – Malayalam: After last week’s single composed by Leela L Girish Kuttan, here’s the 2nd song from the film, but composed by Anand Madhusoodanan. Looks like Malayalam is gradually gravitating towards the T-series model of multi-composers. Anand’s tune is perfect for Vineeth Sreenivasan’s range and the addictive chorus fits the college stage-song scene well. The video is a particularly interesting watch since the guy singing on stage is singing about a girl who is heckling him off stage, till the end of the song!! 🙂
Chilla – Balagopal.R (Malayalam): I picked up shades of Darbari Kaanada and Reetigowlai raaga in the tune. Simple, resonant melody by Balagopal and sung very well by Nikhil Mathew and Kamalaja Rajagopal.
Darval Mavhacha, Gondan Pirmach, Nagin Dance & Tula Futu De Kaagar – Kaagar (AV Prafullachandra) – Marathi: See of the soundtrack.
Gloria – Jain: A bouncy pop song with a tremendously addictive ‘Gloria’ hook that, I can assure you, will be stuck inside your brain!
