Originally published in The Hindu.
Kar gayi chull – Kapoor & Sons (Hindi – Amaal Mallik and Badshah)
There’s a new trend in Bollywood – reuse hit pop songs as film songs! The latest one is Chull, that insanely catchy dance floor stomper from 2014, composed by Badshah, sung by Badshah and Fazilpuria. Amaal Mallik Bollywood’izes the song in an appealing way and add Neha Kakkar and Sukriti Kakar to the mix to up the catchiness quotient. The result is a song that you can loop till your neighbours come banging on your door and plead you to stop.
Bongu kichan – Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogum (Tamil – Santhosh Narayanan)
This is the kind of song that Tamil composers dream of Gana Bala to sing. But Santhosh Narayanan has no such dreams – he picks it up himself and rocks it! The tune, that seems like Irudhi Sutru’s (Santhosh’s own) Aye sandakkaaraa went on a date with a Chandrababu song, endears immediately, thanks to Vivek’s wonderfully wacky use of Madras Tamizh. The ear of Naai Sekar is over… sorry, Vadivelu – this is the era of Salpi Sekaru.
Ta ta ta tang – Darvinte Parinamam (Malayalam – Sankar Sharma)
Sankar Sharma, who has sung for Prasant Pillai in films like Amen and Double Barrel, makes his composing debut with Darvinte Parinamam. Ta ta ta tang has a Santhosh Narayanan’ish twang to it and Sankar brings a whimsical appeal to it with his ‘Ta ta ta tang’ utterances and vaudevillian orchestration. Nakul Krishnamoorthi leads the song, with a melody that sounds almost like a religious hymn, albeit with a pensive touch!
Pone – Meeku Meere Maaku Meeme (Telugu – Shravan)
Composer Shravan has been quiet inroads in Telugu and is perhaps in the need of one high-profile project to make his mark in a big way. His work in Meeku Meere Maaku Meeme has the hallmark of dependable and likeable music. Pone, that he handles himself, is the soundtrack’s best, with a easy and instantly head-shaking rhythm and a simple, hummable tune.
Dheere dheere – Jai Gangaajal (Hindi – Salim-Sulaiman)
Prakash Jha’s films are usually filled with incidental, situational music, but Jai Gangaajal is a wonderful exception. Composing duo Salim Sulaiman produce a 11-song soundtrack that bubbles with inventive flourishes. Dheere dheere is one such song that exemplifies what the duo is up to here. It has a very folk’ish, lilting tune, sung really entertainingly by Parvesh Mallick, but what Salim Sulaiman adorn it with is what makes it truly unique – the orchestration is a fantastic mix of violins, sax and accordion, sounds least associated with the folk set-up!
