Milliblog Weeklies, Week 84 – AUG03.2019

Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 84: On | On
11 songs this week. All 11 are available on YouTube, while only Gopi Sundar’s Malayalam song Ennuyire Penkiliye from Margamkali is not available in the JioSaavn playlist. It’s a lovely song – do listen to it in the YouTube playlist. Plus, there’s a new addition to Weeklies from this week onwards. More on that, below… as you read through the entries 🙂

Kannale – Market Raja MBBS (Simon K King) – Tamil: This is such a joyous song! Simon’s tune is upbeat and very likeable, but what makes it a great watch too is the presence of the signers (Sanah Moidutty and Yazin Nizar) and much of the background instrumentalists, including Carnatic mandolin by Keshav Ram, acoustic and electric guitars by Godfray Immanuel, bass guitar by Keith Peters and blues harp by Kabuli! Seeing the people who actually produce this music is a great experience and a special note of thanks to Lahari for pulling this off, instead of simply making a lyric video.

Mazhaiyum Theeyum – Saaho (Guru Randhawa) – Tamil: I never thought I’d see this day, to hear a Tamil song composed by Guru Randhawa! But, if we have lived through Udit Nayaran singing Tamil songs, this is par for the course. And this a surprisingly good song, thanks mainly to Madhan Karky’s lyrics that make it flow very nicely. And of course, the singers – Haricharan and Shakthisree (that the Hindi version is sung by Tulsi Kumar is an easy reason to give it a miss, for me).

When Haricharan goes, ‘En nenjin theeyo, nee vizhumbodho’, it reminded me of 80s and 90s attempts at bringing Laxmikant Pyarelal to compose music very occasionally for Tamil movies. As far as I recall, the duo have composed for 2 Tamil films – Uyire Unakkaaga in 1986 and Ragasiya Police in 1995. The musical phrases and sounds they use are distinctly identifiable as non-Tamil, though the former was a big musical hit and had very good, and popular songs. Guru Randhawa’s music reminded of that kind of music – very identifiable as non-Tamil (understandably, given this is a multi-lingual), but enjoyable nonetheless.

Another interesting point – the Hindi song is called Enni Soni and that phrase appears in the song. But ‘Mazhaiyum Theeyum’ doesn’t appear anywhere in the song!! Enni Soni’s equivalent in Tamil is ‘En nenjin theeyo’. That’s almost like giving the Tamil variant a thematic name! If you think about it, there are far fewer songs even in Western/Pop music that have a non-lyrics based title, like say, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Back in Time: This is a new addition to Weeklies, where I add a song I like, from the past, completely at random. There is no other criteria but for the fact that I like that song. And true to Weeklies, language no bar. Starting the addition with a Tamil song.

[Back In Time] Naana Paadhuvadhu Naana – Nool Veli (M.S.Viswanathan) – Tamil: Nool Veli was one of the earliest movies that I have been told by my parents as something I was taken as a baby, to the theater to see. They just had to lug me along because there was no one to look after me at home if they went to the theater 🙂 In hindsight, given the mature theme the film deals with, it seems like a terrible decision, though, to be fair to my folks, I was a baby, barely able to understand anything.

It was much later in life that I found that Nool Veli was a bilingual, the Telugu version is called Guppedu Manasu. I have enjoyed the movie in later times and love the Balamuralikrishna-sung ” (, in Telugu). But my favorite song from the film is the wonderfully warm and breezy Naana Paadhuvadhu Naana. Vani Jayaram is simply fantastic in the song. The interludes are so typical of MSV’s style from that period, and the melody is such a memorable one – the pallavi is unique and stays in your mind almost immediately.

Two interesting later-day connections by K.Balachander, the film’s director:

  1. Kannadasan is the lyricist from the song. A line in the anupallavi goes, “Nalla Samayal Purigindrathu, Aanaal Sangeetham Puriyavillai”. Balachander made an entire film using this line of thought by a wife, in Sindhu Bhairavi!
  2. The title ‘Nool Veli’ means ‘a fence made out of yarn/thread’, implying the nominal nature of the fence and the fact that human willpower is the need than a so-called fence (the film’s plot is directly related to this thought). Balachander used this line of thought later in Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal when the hero and heroine (both married to different people) are forced to spend a night in the same room in a hotel and the heroine (Sithara) takes the Bhagavad Geetha kept in the hotel’s bedside drawer and keeps it between them, symbolically using it as a fence made of yarn!

Naa Lonaa – Manmadhudu 2 (Chaitan Bharadwaj) – Telugu: Chaitan is fast, and surely, getting comfortably and predictably good! Naa Lonaa is a very nice melody, made even better by Chinmayi’s vocals. The violin interludes, in particular, and the lovely flow of the anupallavi deserve a mention too.

Pilla Picture Perfect – Ranarangam (Sunny M.R) – Telugu: Given Sudheer Varma’s track record with Sunny, I was really surprised when the first song came out with Prashant Pillai’s music (though that was a good song!). And then the 2nd song was by Karthik Rodriguez! Thankfully, here’s Sunny, back in Telugu, for Sudheer. The song is typically what one expects from Sunny – effortlessly foot-tapping, with a catchy hook!

Maa Devi – Srikanth Koppula (Telugu): I thought ‘Maa Devi’ would be a devotional song, but it turns out to be a devotion of another kind! This is composer Srikanth Koppula and singer Hymath’s devotion to composer Devi Sri Prasad, for his birthday! And what a lovely song it is!! Srikanth’s music is assured and the interludes’ melody points to the kind of Raja-style that DSP himself adopts at times. And one of favorite recent Telugu composers J.B (Jeevan Babu) has programmed, arranged and mixed the song – and it shows! Fantastic effort, this.

Aaraadhike – Ambili (Vishnu Vijay) – Malayalam: The film’s second single is a completely different tone and sound to the first, but is a lovely listen. Besides Vishnu’s lush melody, the singers lift the song to a new high – Sooraj Santhosh and Madhuvanthi Narayan are so good! Bhavani Prasad’s Mohan Veena and that harmonious ‘Ente nenjaaga nee alle’ phrase are particularly lovely.

Aarodum Parayuka – Kolambi (Ramesh Narayan) – Malayalam: This is an enchanting song! Ramesh Narayan’s melody is beautifully realized and is wonderfully lush. And his daughter Madhushree pulls it in a stunningly beautiful manner, with wonderful enunciation! And then there’s Rajhesh Vaidya on veena who pulls of a parallel lead role level of brilliance!

Ennuyire Penkiliye – Margamkali (Gopi Sundar) – Malayalam: The background violin… that’s trademark Gopi! And much of the tune sounds very familiar and very pleasant! This is so typical of his style… and for now, this continues to be likeable! Zee Keralam Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contestant Akbar Khan makes a solid playback debut, along with Sithara Krishnakumar.

Rongila Re Mon – Oriplast Originals S01 E05: Of the 2 songs from Oriplast Originals released last week, I didn’t like the Ash King song all that much (much like the Arko, Shaan song last week), but this one is a delight! The heady mix of Bengali and Assamese folk music is incredibly rhythmic and lively. Plus, the singers – Akriti Kakar and Dikshu Sarma carry the song so beautifully. Akriti starts very strongly, and Dikshu surprises when his solo part happens!

Alive – R3hab and Vini Vici, ft. Pangea and Dego: This is one heck of a song, riffing on a Cowboy Western theme evoking distant memories of Ennio Morricone signature whistle style. But Israeli psytrance duo Vini Vici turn it into a heavy-duty dance-pop that works flawlessly as a foot-stomper! The music video is a compelling watch too, featuring sand-art on glass! I wish they had credited the artist behind that wonderful art.

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