Originally published in The Hindu.
Punnagaye – 24 (Tamil – A R Rahman)
Rahman produces a highly listenable and interestingly experimental soundtrack in 24. Punnagaye tops the list, with the interplay between Shashaa Tirupati’s Punnagaye part and Haricharan’s heady Adi aathi (which also ends the song on a high) become the highlight, along with the tune’s free-flowing vibrancy. There is a Kulirudhu Kulirudhu (Taj Mahal) influence in the way Punnagaye opens! Also, interestingly, a line in the song (by Vairamuthu) goes, ‘Hindolam isaikirathey’, indicating raaga Hindolam. The side note here is that while Kulirudhu may seem like Hindolam, it is more of Sindhubhairavi/Bhairavi! And Punnagaye, for large parts, doesn’t seem like Hindolam either!
Dhushta – Iraivi (Tamil – Santhosh Narayanan)
Iraivi is a rare soundtrack from Santhosh, in recent times, that doesn’t seem like something worth a casual listen without the film’s context. In other words, it seems highly and truly situational. Dhushta is the most interesting of the lot, with a sound akin to a Bond title credits song, but with a devious twist, as if sung by really upset and angry women blaming Bond for all ills in the world. The song has a mesmerizing and almost-otherworldly sound accentuated by Meenakshi and Dhee’s intriguing edge in the vocals.
Maths mein dubba gul – Nil Battey Sannata (Hindi – Rohan Vinayak)
Rohan Utpat and Vinayak Salvi are making their debut in films with Nil Battey Sannata (which interestingly is being made in Tamil as well, produced by Dhanush, with music by Ilayaraja—it’d be interesting to see Ilayaraja’s imagination in terms of songs for the same situations!), but one of their tunes was very popular recently – the tune for the ‘Mauka mauka’ ad by Star Sports! Maths mein dubba gul is an incredibly lively ode to hatred for maths, with Nitesh Tiwari’s fantastic folksy lyrics. The music and sound is instantly infectious even for people who were otherwise perfectly decent in mathematics!
Aatach baya ka baavarla – Sairat (Marathi – Ajay-Atul)
Sairat has just four songs, and is one of those soundtracks where your heart aches that it is ‘only’ 4! In Aatach baya ka baavarla, after the opening chorus’ 2 lines, Ajay-Atul load a mighty ebullient short piece that connects wonderfully with Shreya’s joyous ‘Aatach baya ka… baavarla’ hook and flows into equally breezy horns! The duo play around with the interlude too – the first one layered with sitar while the second one is a vocal chorus, and ending the last hook with a different flavor! It is heady, addictive and incredibly uplifting!
Thaai Engal Thamizh Naadey – Single on DooPaaDoo.com (Tamil – Santhosh Narayanan)
The brand new independent music portal DooPaaDoo.com has a host of interesting compositions from top composers including Santhosh Narayanan, amongst songs from newbies. Santhosh’s Thaai Engal Thamizh Naadey, sung by Sean Roldan is the pick of the lot from what is live on the website now, with its wonderfully rousing Coldplay’ish opening, the slow and steady build-up and the scintillating mid-way shift to heady Tamil folk percussion! It’s an excellent mix of western pop and Tamil folk, and is indicative of the possibilities when composers are free from script-driven compulsions to produce original music.
Listen to the song on doopaadoo.com
