Originally published in .
Athuvutta – Pokkiri Raja (Tamil – D.Imman)
Imman is angry. Very, very angry. And upset… in Athuvutta. He throatily croaks, “Adichu pirichu manasa kizhicha aa…thaa, avala nenechu polambi azhudhen aa…thaa!”. He is fast taking over the mantle of being the Patron Saint of Love Failure music in Tamil Nadu from Silambarasan, if you count this one along with Miruthan’s Munnaal Kaadhali. That Athuvutta is insanely foot-tapping is a bonus, by the way!
Aisa kyun maa – Neerja (Hindi – Vishal Khurana)
Aisa kyun maa is a touching and engaging ode to the mother, much like Taare Zameen Par’s Maa or Rang De Basanti’s Luka chuppi. Vishal Khurana’s tune is poignant and carries a melancholic whiff, but what makes the song really work are two things – one, Sunidhi Chauhan’s beautifully involved vocals and two, the child-like repetitive chorus that goes, ‘A aa e ee oo uu ri ae ae’. Prasoon Joshi, the lyricist of both Maa and Luka chuppi, produces a lovely encore on the same theme.
Do You Wanna Dance With Me – Rhythm (Hindi – Suresh Peters)
Did you know that Minnal and Chikku Bukku-man Suresh Peters is 60 years old? That is, at least according to online sources that peg his birth year at 1955. That’s going to impact the moods of Rahman’s early fans given Suresh’s prolific association with him back when he started. And Suresh is back! In Hindi, at that. His Do You Wanna Dance is distinctively retro, invoking cleverly a phrase from Michael Jackson’s Beat It and mixing it with catchy Punjabi pop! Sunidhi Chauhan delivers it wonderfully, as always.
Oonjalilaadi vanna – Action Hero Biju (Malayalam – Jerry Amaldev)
Jerry Amaldev’s return to composing after the hiatus of more than a decade brings a whiff of the old all over again. The entire soundtrack has a dated sound, but one that seems to have been consistently and deliberately maintained. The pick of the album is Oonjalilaadi vanna that Chinmayi completely owns. Jerry’s tune is a throwback to the older style ghazal sound that uses the retro-effect as deliberately as say, Iruvar’s Pookodiyin punnagai.
Music Is My Art – Zubaan (Hindi – Ashu Pathak)
Rachel Varghese’s alluring vocals keep you hooked on the cool, retro-sounding Music Is My Art. Ashutosh Pathak’s electronic, ambient coating is compelling too, though the music video of the song perhaps indicates that the people in the video are referring to dancing as their art, as against music. And yes, that the song’s hook sounds uncomfortably like Justin Beiber’s Take You is a mild downer.
