Originally published in The Hindu.
Pularikalo – Charlie (Malayalam – Gopi Sundar)
Gopi Sundar has been in scintillating form this year, across 2 languages, at that – Telugu and Malayalam, and with the occasional brilliance in Tamil! In Pularikalo, he lets Jossy perform a minute and a half long sax prelude before the Middle Eastern chorus kicks in. And then Shakthishree swoops in with her ethereal voice, over a serene, unusually structured tune. This is Gopi at his best, using all the things one expects from him and those that he plays with very often, but he seems to have perfected the art of making them sound different every time!
Daayre – Dilwale (Hindi – Pritam)
Dilwale is the kind of film where they release one song a week as pre-release buzz and direct people to like certain types of songs. So, you have the much-publicized Gerua, Janam janam and Manma emotion. But composer Pritam, while scoring reasonably well in those 3 songs, does so much more better in the lesser heard song, Daayre. He has Arijit Singh singing his heart out on one hand, of course, but he song’s very, very Coldplay’ish touch too is fantastic. The echoing background sounds and drawling guitars are a particularly lovely touch for the melancholic tune.
Listen to the song on Saavn.
Ende maavum poothe – Adi Kapyare Kootamani (Malayalam – Shaan Rahman)
Shaan makes a heady mix of techno sounds, 80s synthpop and a highly engaging melody in Ende maavum poothe. He also sings it together with his buddy Vineeth Sreenivasan and Arun Alat, mighty well. There’s a casual coarse’ness he brings to ‘Poothu’ that makes it particularly catchy! And then there’s a fantastic rap layer by Rzee to top up the plusses in the song!
Chamma chakka – Mama Manchu Alludu Kanchu (Telugu – Achu Rajamani)
Achu Rajamani’s music for Tamil films continue to trip out of circulation with alarming consistency (Urumeen being the latest), but the man produces fantastic music in Telugu with the same consistency, and seems to be eternally indebted to Mohan Babu and family given he composes for almost all their films! In Chamma chakka, Tippu and Chinmayi have a foot-tapping tune that Achu accentuates with the lilting rhythm and a generous smattering of mandolin, topping it off with a particularly fantastic second interlude. The tune is earthy, folk’ish and makes for a fantastic listen!
Ponveyil veezhave – Jo and the Boy (Malayalam – Rahul Subramanian)
Actress Remya Nambeesan’s brother, Rahul Subramanian made his composing debut with another film with an equally intriguing English title – Philip and The Monkey Pen. In Jo and the Boy, he gets Ponveyil veezhave very right, courtesy Haricharan’s dependably good singing and an easily likeable, pleasant melody that keeps flowing beyond conventional structures and ending wonderfully amidst a profusion of violins.
