Hindi
Pehli baar, Gallan goodiyan & title song – Dil Dhadakne Do (Hindi – Shankar Ehsaan Loy)
Listen to the songs on Gaana.
Move on, Mat jaa re, Old school girl, Ho gaya hai pyar tumse & O sathi mere – Tanu Weds Manu Returns (Hindi – Krsna)
Title song, Judaa & Das dae – Ishedarriyaan (Hindi – Jeet Ganguly & Jaidev Kumar)
Paani wala dance & Aao na – Kuch Kuch Locha Hai (Hindi – Ikka, Arko and Intense)
Shut Up, Mohabbat buri bimari, Darbaan, Ka kha ga, Naak pe gussa, Sylvia, Behroopia & Bombay Velvet Theme – Bombay Velvet (Hindi – Amit Trivedi)
Bezubaan, Journey song, Title song – Piku (Hindi – Anupam Roy)
I need a man & Dusokute – Margarita With A Straw (Hindi – Mikey McCleary & Joi Barua)
Tamil
Paesi paesi – Vaa Deal (Tamil – Thaman S)
Iravaaga nee – Idhu Enna Maayam (Tamil – G V Prakash Kumar)
Happy & Rasathi – 36 Vayadhinile (Tamil – Santhosh Narayanan)
Telugu
Title song, Naavaadai, Hello hello & Oho sundari – Mosagallaku Mosagadu (Telugu – Manikanth Kadri)
Pilla, Aisa ambani & Akasham – Lion (Telugu – Mani Sharma)
Nacchite ye panaina, Villain, Okkari okkaram & Aanati devadasu – Dohchay (Telugu – Sunny M.R.)
Malayalam
Rathri mulla than – Lailaa O Lailaa (Malayalam – Gopi Sundar)
Ambaazham Thanalitta – Oru Second Class Yathra (Malayalam – Gopi Sundar)
As Vineeth Srinivasan sings and then soars with the tune, I’m reminded of something very, very familiar. Then I place it — the iconic ‘Yeh Zameen Yeh Aasmaan’ jingle of (Hamara) Bajaj! Similar use of raaga Pilu (that S.P. Balasubramaniam popularised in Tamil with ‘Vannam Konda Vennilave’ in his own music in Sigaram), perhaps… and similar progression that moves on to soar (‘Buland bharat ki buland tasveer’). Gopi is a master of such immersive melodies and with Vineeth singing it, the song just cannot go wrong.
Vasanthamallike – Chandrettan Evideya (Malayalam – Prashant Pillai)
At one point in the start of the music video (from the film, of course), Dileep sings aloud the verses he has so painstakingly written, when the phone rings. It’s Anjali and she, at 1.40 a.m, asks him if she can sing to him the jadhi she has just composed. He agrees, albeit with an equal mix of hesitation and expectation. As she sings, his eyes light up, I assume, more for the reason that she continued to sing in the raga he had started his song with — Abheri. For a raga suitably and wonderfully adapted to films by Ilaiyaraaja many times (remember Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal’s ‘Guruvaayurappa’?), Prashant Pillai’s new variant is phenomenally addictive. Prashant’s sister Preeti, along with Haricharan, infuse life into the song beautifully, with imaginative touches in the anupallavi by Prashant that has both singing a line and she dropping out of it to let Haricharan finish… to tantalizing effect!
Nilakkudame & Hey kannil nokkathe – Chirakodinja Kinavukal (Malayalam – Deepak Dev)
Deepak gets the faux-80s Malayalam film sound well in Nilakkudame – it consciously recreates that period while rooted in more modern sensibilities, though Minmini seems ot be struggling quite badly keeping up with Jayachandran. Hey Kannil nokkathe is straight off Deepak territory – a zany techno track that’s easy on the ears.
Karinkallikkuyile & Vezhambal mizhikal – She Taxi (Malayalam – Bijibal)
Sudeep Kumar and Akhila handle Karinkallikkuyile well enough, though the latter seems a bit shrill at times. Bijibal tune is the winner though – pleasant and a rhythmic repetitve hook holding it together. In Vezhambal mizhikal, Vijay Yesudas holds fort beautifully for the sedate, unhurried melody.
Rockaankuthu – Premam (Malayalam – Rajesh Murugesan)
As the name makes it more than clear, this is the ‘Pistah’ (Neram) equivalent of this film. It’s relatively less impressive than Pistah, but having Anirudh and Haricharan singing this one helps – it’s an all-out kuthu that gets the basics right.
Kannada
Ninnalle – Endendigu (Kannada – V.Harikrishna)
The only standout song from an otherwise insipid soundtrack from Hari. This one has Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal (these 2 have become truly multi-lingual!) singing a nicely lazy drawl of a duet, with Hari too playing with this usual Latino style guitar bits impressively.
No problem, Usire & Kandamma muddamma – Vajrakaya (Kannada – Arjun Janya)
Indipop
Padayatra – Music Mojo Season 3 (Malayalam – Job Kurian Collective, featuring Harish Sivaramakrishnan of Agam)
Job Kurian is one of the most promising composers from Malayalam and has been doing stellar work with Kappa TV’s Music Mojo (a more austere, lesser known Coke Studio equivalent), besides producing needlessly amazing music in flop Mohanlal-starrers like Rasam. Padayatra is a song he composes and sings, along with Agam’s Harish Sivaramakrishnan and the result is astounding. Job is already a brilliant singer, and when another darn good singer like Harish joins him, that too, for a tune as hypnotic as the one Job conjures, things can only get — to quote an(y) excited Malayalee — adipoli!
Bannado – Coke Studio@MTV Season 4 (Sachin-Jigar)
After a middling single song and its music video by Amit Trivedi, Sachin-Jigar whip up things at Coke Studio’s 4th season with a wonderful 3-song set. The song to hear is Bannado, spearheaded by Tochi Raina’s excellent vocals and beautifully supported by a host of folks, including Bhungarkhan Manganiar & Group, Kalyan Baruah on the guitar and the backing vocals comprising of Ronkini and Priya Saraiya (who incidentally has written the song too, in Hindi and Marwari!). In fact, you’d be humming their ‘Beera beera’ interlude long after the song is over!
Ratiyaan, Rang, Muh dikhai & Tum nahi aaye – Muh Dikhai (Indipop – Shafqat Amanat Ali)
