Originally published in .
‘O sathi mere’
Tanu Weds Manu Returns (Hindi)
Music: Krsna
Composer Krsna made his debut — a spectacular one, at that! — with Tanu Weds Manu. He returns for the film’s sequel and produces a fitting follow-up. While the soundtrack offers wonderful variety, the best song happens to be ‘O saathi mere’ by Sonu Nigam. The song is as complex as a song from an in-form (that was years ago) Ismail Darbar. Sonu is in wonderful form, as expected, but it is Krsna who amazes with a melody that takes on beautiful turns and almost has the sound of a fervent prayer!
‘Rathri mulla than’
Lailaa O Lailaa (Malayalam)
Music: Gopi Sundar
Gopi produces an interesting soundtrack for this Mohanlal-starrer. The stand-out song is ‘Rathri mulla than’, sung by Najim Arshad and Radhika Narayanan. The highlight of the song is how unhurried it sounds — you can feel the peaceful, still night as you listen to the very-ghazal’ish tune that Gopi treats with care not to let the soft backdrop overpower the vocals and keeps things in great balance.
‘Iravaaga nee’
Idhu Enna Maayam (Tamil)
Music: G. V. Prakash Kumar
This song evokes a similar feeling as Lailaa O Lailaa’s ‘Rathri mulla than’ — a feeling of the peaceful night, but this one is from G. V. Prakash Kumar’s A. R. Rahman school of music and hence is more layered than Gopi’s song. Prakash and Saindhavi usually reserve the whisperiest duet of the soundtrack to themselves and this song is another proof of that selection.
‘Tanama’
Album: Faya
Music: Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate
Joe is a rapper, beatboxer and guitarist. Sekou Kouyate is a Guinean multi-award winning kora (a 21-string lute-bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa) player. Together, they produce eclectic music that has kora as a fantastic backdrop enveloped in Joe’s delightfully imaginative package. The lead song from their album Faya — ‘Tanama’ — is a great example of the duo’s sound, but the rest of the album is equally good. Vibrant world music at its best!
‘Pehli baar’
Dil Dhadakne Do (Hindi)
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Amidst all the Arijits Ankits, Jeets and Honey Singhs, there is comfort in having composers who consistently churn out music that is mature, inventive and still highly listenable. Yes… Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy! As owners of the most authentic desi-rock film sound, they produce yet another zingy album for Zoya Akhtar’s Dil Dhadakne Do and the best of it is ‘Pehli baar’, sung by Siddharth Mahadevan and Sukriti Kakkar. Classy rock, the trio-style with superb guitaring all through, thanks to Ehsaan Noorani.
