Originally published in .
MunnaaL kaadhali – Miruthan (Tamil – D.Imman)
Tamil cinema’s patron saint of love failure is—no, not Santhanam, he is merely the patron saint’s sidekick—T.R.Silambarasan, who, as per last reports, goes by the acronym, STR. STR has been spearheading a movement to create angry, upset and invectives-laden songs to add to the rich love-failure genre. So it is heartwarming to see Madhan Karky and D.Imman collaborate to undo the damage done by STR, and create a graceful, catchy and imaginative ode to love-failure! Vishal Dadlani delivers the power love-failure song with his usual punch!
Okko nakshatram – Seethamma Andalu Ramayya Sitralu (Telugu – Gopi Sundar)
That Gopi Sundar is in blistering form in Telugu and Malayalam is not news anymore. He is perhaps just one A-lister film away in Telugu to go to the next level. For Seethamma Andalu Ramayya Sitralu, he produces a superb soundtrack with instantly likeable and pleasant songs. The highlight is Okko nakshatram that sees Karthik and Divya Menon sing a sweet melody. In the anupallavi, Gopi does something that he hasn’t done so often in his career yet – he cleverly weaves in the anupallavi from his own song, Chengethin, from Two Countries (Malayalam) and it all fits in so well!
Ababeel – Muhammad: The Messenger of God (OST – A R Rahman)
Ababeel is sort of the signature melody A R Rahman conjures for the epic film, Muhammad: The Messenger of God. It is an easily goosebumps inducing, grand melody that goes so well with the scale, ambition and scope of a film like this, and, understandably, was made a prominent part of the film’s promos. Rahman articulates the melody again in a slower, poignant form in And He Was Named Mohammad, and it is beautiful all over again. Both the songs end on a splendid, orchestral high!
Tera chehra – Sanam Teri Kasam (Hindi – Himesh Reshammiya)
Tera chehra is one of those songs where Himesh does something genuinely different! He has a ghazal-like melody at its core, but he layers it with an intriguing and addictive—and repetitive, in true Himesh style—stringed background that lifts the song significantly. This, besides Arijit Singh’s engaging vocals! It works quite well as a package, like a new-age ghazal!
Dikka dikka dum dum – Soggade Chinni Nayana (Telugu – Anup Rubens)
The song that opens with some frothy liquid—presumably spirited—being poured gleefully, and Nagarjuna’s own voice opening it with off-key singing and dialogues, moves on to the a heady, raucous and very rhythmic tune. The title hook, Dikka dikka dum dum, is the catchiest part and sounds familiar at first, but without specifically bringing any song to mind. When the hook arrives for the second time, as Mohana Bhogaraju sings it, to Dhanunjay’s lead, one can’t help but go, ‘Thulli varum kaatre, thulli varun kaatre, thaaimozhi pesu’! Yes, A R Rahman’s , from Rhythm!
