Originally published in .
Neruppu da – Kabali (Tamil – Santhosh Narayanan)
Much has been said about Santhosh Narayanan composing music for a Rajini starrer—usually reserved for more senior, well-tested composers—and it is heartening to see (or, hear) him produce a soundtrack that has his signature style all over, producing a new dimension for a Rajini soundtrack. The soundtrack’s towering highlight is Neruppu da, a scorching theme song that Arunraja Kamaraj completely rocks with his grungy rendition! Jhanu Chantar’s electric guitar wails in sync with Tapass Naresh’s drums, even as you hear Rajini’s dialogs from the film, that, together create a hypnotic effect!
Ishqe di lat – Junooniyat (Hindi – Ankit Tiwari)
In an otherwise T-series’y soundtrack, consisting of usual suspects like Meet Bros and Jeet Ganguly, Ankit Tiwari produces the soundtrack’s best. Ishqe di lat shines with its joyously energetic guitar and fantastic singing by Ankit, particularly the way he lands the title hook. It’s somewhat unfortunate that he has been forced with the choice of Tulsi Kumar as his singing companion, but the man cleverly hands her limited lines, to showcase effective damage mitigation prowess.
Aaha identha – Niruttara (Kannada – Niladri Kumar)
Zitar—a combination of sitar and guitar!—has anyway been the calling card for Niladri Kumar, but he has also been a sitar player and composer, for multiple albums, besides playing sitar/zitar for many films like Omkara, 7 Khoon Maaf, among others. Niladri’s film composing debut is with the Kannada film Niruttara. Aaha identha, set to Bilaskhani Todi raaga (remember ‘Jhoothe Naina’ from Hridaynath Mangeshkar’s Lekin!), is the soundtrack’s best, beautifully sung by Balachandra Prabhu, amidst Niladri’s ethereal sounding orchestration.
Kyun re – TE3N (Hindi – Clinton Cerejo)
Clinton’s TE3N already has a fantastic song in Rootha, but Kyun re is a close second! The song comes in two versions, differentiated by the singer, but united by Amitabh Bhattacharya’s phenomenal lines (“Teri gair maujoodgi mein bhi lage hona tera!”). It’s a heart-wrenching, guitar-driven tune about love and loss, and depending on the singer—Clinton himself in one version, and Amitabh Bachchan on the other—the lines take on beautifully interesting meanings about who it is being sung about!
Chali chali – Gentleman (Telugu – Mani Sharma)
Telugu veteran Mani Sharma has been producing limited music in recent times, even easing way for his son (Sagar Mahati) last year, and handing over his prolific masala-music reins to younger composers. So, it’s a surprise to hear a wonderfully mellow and jazzy melody in Chali chali chuudduu. Haricharan and Padmalatha lead the song really well even as the interludes reek of Ilayaraja (particularly the beautifully melodic and extended second interlude!).
