Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 77: On | On
21 songs this week. JioSaavn playlist has 19 and is missing Yaminiyaai from Neermathalam Poothakaalam (I have embedded the full soundtrack jukebox below) and Ee Kshaname from Malli Malli Chusa (YouTube song embedded below). YouTube playlist has 16 songs.
Jugraafiya – Super 30 (Ajay-Atul) – Hindi: The waltz’y backdrop, the retro flourish in the rhythm and the delightfully sweeping strings – what a lovely song by Ajay-Atul! And I believe ‘Jugraafiya’ is the Bhojpuri version of Geography 🙂
Madaari – The Extraordinary Journey Of The Fakir (Amit Trivedi) – Hindi: Madaari is Amit channeling his inner R.D.Burman and it works beautifully! Less so, in Tamil, despite very impressive singing by Benny Dayal – in Hindi, with Vishal Dadlani’s mighty impressive singing, the lively song is a fantastic listen!
Pehla Pyaar – Kabir Singh (Vishal Mishra) – Hindi: After Bekhayali, I lost interest in Kabir Singh’s music since the other singles released were, to put it mildly, meh! Thankfully, Vishal Misra redeems the soundtrack with his 2nd song (after Kaise Hua), Pehla Pyaar. Armaan Malik’s singing is emphatic and affecting, as much as Irshad Kamil’s simple, evocative lines. Besides the mukhda, the antara has a particularly lovely tune, with a wonderfully lilting bridge to the mukhda’s Pehla Pyaar hook!
Naina Yeh & Intezaari – Article 15 (Piyush Shankar & Anurag Saikia) – Hindi: It is both baffling and very odd that these 2 songs, composed by 2 different composers, sound so much like Adnan Sami’s music; Naina Yeh, in particular, that sounds straight out of Adnan Sami’s Tera Chehra. Intezaari is less Adnan, but when the rhythm/tabla starts, your mind goes back to Adnan’s musical style! 🙂 Both are fantastic songs, however. The former gains enormously from Yaseer Desai and Aakanksha Sharma’s singing. Intezaari, with its 3 versions, expands on the melody’s canvas! Armaan Malik’s version is the best, in my view. Ayushmann’s unplugged version strips the rhythm layer completely and his vocals make a huge difference in bringing another facet of the same melody. Asees Kaur’s 3rd version is yet another dimension to the same tune, with a tinge of pathos and stupendously stylish singing by her.
Udhal Ho – Malaal (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) – Hindi/Marathi: Lively, lilting and catchy song by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Adarsh Shinde nails the ebullient singing and helps the song get its verve. That opening music that plays elsewhere in the song too reminded me of something else and I was trying to get it. Finally, I was able to make the connection – “Ye Uska Style Hoinga, Honthon Pe Na Dil Mein Haan Hoinga” 🙂
Vivasayam – Anthony Daasan (Tamil): A searing wake-up call on the death of farming and farm lands. The lyrics yearn for an age long gone wistfully and Anthony’s voice carries that pain so evocatively. The music is pounding, almost as if at least the pounding would wake us all up from the stupor! The tune is familiar Tamil folk, something that A R Rahman used in Kizhakku Cheemayile’s Kathaazhankaattu Vazhi.
Thanimai Siraiyinil & Vaa Penney – Siragu (Arrol Corelli) – Tamil: Thanimai Siraiyinil evokes pleasant memories of a Rahman of yore, with Sadhna Sargam in tow! The melody is so gentle and frothy, with Arrol’s beautifully realized music never wavering from the light feel. And Vidhya Hariprasanth is absolutely stunning with the singing, handling it with such poise! Some of the notes towards the end that go off track are particularly fantastic! The energetic Vaa Penney is good enough, but perhaps needed some other singer besides Arrol, though Saptaparna Chakraborty is very good.
Kadhal Megham – Mazhai Saaral (Yaadhav Ramalinkgam) – Tamil: Wow!! That was a completely unexpected throwback to the Ilayaraja style of the 80s! Fantastic tune and music combo with a delightful classical touch – did I sense Gowrimanohari raga? The start of the anupallavi particularly harks back to “Maalai andhi maalai indha veLai moghame” from Raja’s evergreen Bhoopaalam Isaikkum, from Thooral Ninnu Pochu!
Unaalathaan & Neeyum Naanum – Sindhubaadh (Yuvan Shankar Raja) – Tamil: I didn’t like the obviously-flashy Rockstar Robber, but Yuvan had a great song in Nenje Unakkaaga, last week. And he follows it up with 2 equally good songs! Unaalathaan is every bit the lush, hugely likeable slow burner that Yuvan is an expert in creating! In Al Rufiyan and Priya Mali’s voices, and the enchanting music in the backdrop, that song just works instantly. Santhosh Venky is brilliant in Neeyum Naanum, another expansive melody. The way Yuvan concocts the anupallavi, made up of one word per line, is lovely! This is Yuvan doing what he does best!
Naalo Maimarapu & Changu Bhala – Oh Baby (Mickey J Meyer) – Telugu: Both the songs carry that quintessential Mickey J Meyer signature that you can easily identify… and relish! Mohana Bhogaraju is absolutely delightful in handling Mickey’s feathery tune in Naalo Maimarapu, while Nutana Mohan offers a different perspective in Changu Bhala, with the tune’s ebullience never moving to loud but still remaining liltingly enjoyable!
Title song – Ninu Veedani Needanu Nene (Thaman S) – Telugu: Thaman template, but works 🙂 The musical palette is so very familiar and identifiable as Thaman’s, and yet, it continues to be alluring!
Naaku Nuvvani – Mallesham (Mark K Robin) – Telugu: I wasn’t that taken to the first song (Dhana Dhana Dhann), but Naaku Nuvvani is a stunning winner!! The biggest problem with the song is that it heartbreakingly short! It is so soft and mellifluous that you want it to last longer, to soak into it a bit more. And the background music (keyboard, in particular) is shockingly (happily!) Ilayaraja’ish!
Ee Kshaname – Malli Malli Chusa (Shravan Bharadwaj) – Telugu: Shravan has 2 new songs this week. One is from the new Dr.Rajashekar starrer Kalki (the song, Horn Pom Pom Okay Please) – it is a painfully pointless item song. But in Malli Malli Chusa’s Ee Kshaname, Shravan lives up to his promise. If only he controlled the urge to sing it too, and had got a better singer (he sounds a bit like Yuvan!), this Yuvan-style melody would have reached another level.
Ore Kannal – LUCA (Sooraj S Kurup) – Malayalam: After last year’s completely-ignored Tamil soundtrack, Vandi, Sooraj is back! And what a comeback it is! Ore Kannal is a sweeping canvas, with a profusion of singers (Nandhagopan, Anju Joseph, Neethu Naduvathettu, Sooraj S Kurup), revolving around what sounds like just one extended pallavi playing amidst scintillating and pulsating music!
Yaminiyaai – Neermathalam Poothakaalam (Sheron Roy Gomez) – Malayalam: I had written about 3 fantastic songs from this soundtrack earlier in February and March this year. The makers of the film have finally released the full soundtrack and it has 9 songs, featuring 3 composers. But it looks like they knew the best songs (the 3 released earlier: Anivaga Poothoren, Chenthamara Poovin & Vennilavin Thaliralle) since the rest pale in comparison! The one saving grace is Yaaminiyaai, and that is mainly because of Agam-frontman Harish Sivaramakrishnan’s effervescent singing!
Title song – Mogra Phulaalaa (Rohit Shyam Raut) – Marathi: A calming, classical/ghazal’ish melody that an expert singer like Shankar Mahadevan completely owns. Rohit’s tune is so intricate that it demands active attention at every turn.
Nachya Got A Girlfriend – Girlfriend (Hrishikesh-Saurabh-Jasraj) – Marathi: One more reason for the Marathi musical duo to get a national stage, beyond just Marathi film music! The song’s fun tonal change kept me hooked and smiling all through.
