Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 92: On | On
11 songs this week. All 11 on YouTube, and only 9 on JioSaavn.
Shaitan Ka Saala – Housefull 4 (Sohail Sen) – Hindi: First things first, I’m really glad to see T-series crediting Tony Montana’s original song, Bala, officially. They may have most probably paid for the sampling too – it’s no wonder I don’t have much material for ItwoFS anymore 🙂
The song is insanely catchy, with manic energy from the pulse-pounding music and Vishal’s blistering vocals. Akshay Kumar channels his inner Ranveer Singh very effectively too. But looking at the trailer of the film and this song, I reckon that the makers possibly sought inspiration from the Tamil film Kaashmora, to create Akshay’s character. Consider the similarities: A (1) ruthless warrior, (2) at the time of kings, (3) who is bald (4) and a weakness for women (5) finds his voice in current times! Raj Nayak from Kaashmora (focus was on 1, 4 & 5)? Or Rajkumar Bala Dev Singh from Housefull 4 (focus is on 3 & 5)?
Karma – Drive (Amartya Bobo Rahut) – Hindi: Amartya Bobo Rahut, who was very promising in Tu Hai Mera Sunday and Farrata from Tumhari Sulu, gets to produce a cracker of a swinging song in Karma. It has an easy hook that does what it promises – hook you in. Amartya’s choice of singer, Sukriti Kakar, works wonders given how energetically she delivers it!
Adada – Aayiram Jenmangal (C.Sathya) – Tamil: The seriously underrated Sathya surfaces again. This time, he ropes in Vijainarain and that works very well for the catchy song that alternates between distinctive phrases, to good effect.
[Back In Time] Oh Ponmaanguyil – Manasukkul Matthaappoo (S.A.Rajkumar) – Tamil: S.A.Rajkumar may be a spent force now, but he did have an illustrious musical career across at least 3 South Indian languages – Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. He, along with Deva, was a fairly dominant force in Tamil film music, in the so-called post-Ilayaraja period. In fact, one of his most successful films, Pudhu Vasantham, was in the 3rd year of him becoming a composer and even had a line in the song, “Podu ThaaLam Podu”, which goes, “Andha Pakkam Thunamum Adikkum Kaathu, Indha Pakkam Oru Naal Adikkum Paathu” which was meant for the down-in-the-luck musicians of the film’s script (Murali and gang) but was also taken indirectly as a sign of things changing in the Tamil film music scene. In any case, Roja happened 2 years later and that’s a different story. It is to Rajkumar’s credit that he found a solid footing in Telugu and Kannada too, with several hits. But, my all-time favorite Rajkumar song, far removed from his ‘La La La La’ days that have come to define him, unfortunately, is from his early repertoire.
Oh Ponmaanguyil was a song that I mistook for a Raja-song for a long time, and when I came to know it was not by Raja, I loved the song even more, out of shock! (Pun unintended, if you knew the plot of the film, where Prabhu’s first lady love dies out of electrocution… while playing electric guitar on stage!! And he goes Cuckoo… incidentally, the film is inspired by One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest!) The song’s structure makes it seem like it is in a tearing hurry and that is unusual. But even sentences are not stressed and pivot to dramatically different lines unusually. Observe the pallavi – it has 3 lines, of varying melody. The starting too is completely unusual. Less said about the anupallavi the better! After the first line, Rajkumar moves to an unexpected mountain-folk style 2 liner before bringing the bridge to the pallavi. And the frenetic music behind the melody is enchanting, particularly the guitar! The song was so very different in every aspect and I gave the credit to Raja, given his dominant he was in that period, in my ignorance… till I came to know the real composer.
PS: According to a Cinema Vikatan interview, A R Rahman played the keyboard for this song!
Vadakkanpattu – Masala Coffee (Indipop) – Malayalam: Close on the heels of the band’s outstanding Kannada song from Mundina Nildanam they are back on home base, for their long-in-the-works album, Kimaya. They take a Vadakkanpaattu that they gave a new musical spin to, for Music Mojo in 2015, and turn it into a less upbeat, but more feminine package. It’s equally beautiful and in Sooraj Santhosh’s exhilarating vocals, it is a phenomenal listen!
Neenene Neenene – Kapata Nataka Paatradhaari (Adil Nadaf) – Kannada: After Yaake Anta Gottilla Kanree, the second single from Kapata Nataka Paatradhaari was less interesting (Hasida Shikanu). But Adil Nadaf picks up the pace again with Neenene Neenene! There’s a lovely melody in the song that gets even better in the anupallavi! Siddharth Belmannu sounds fantastic, but Madhuri seems out of sorts at places.
Lillah – Aditya Narayan & The A Team (Indipop) – Hindi: Udit Narayan’s son Aditya is perhaps more known as a TV show host than a singer, but he has been steadily releasing singles on his own. The new single comes after more than a year of his last song. It’s an impressive Indipop song, with the sound seeming as if it was composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (the antara, in particular!). Aditya handles the singing part very well, but that works for the song is the overall composition and orchestration – very good job by Eeshan Tripathi & Milton Daniel. Good to see Aditya realize the value of a good composition and made that into a team (called A-team) and giving the whole team the limelight.
Sims – Lauv: There’s a lot of autotune, but the sound is wonderfully fresh and bouncy. The melody is punctuated with the incredibly catchy, “Ooh, goddamn, I wish we would’ve met on another night, baby” line that stays firmly in your mind long after the song is over.
Happy Mama Day & Mala – Libertad 548 (Pitbull): Pitbull’s new album is full of really alluring sounds and many, many collaborations. There’s even a song featuring Guru Randhawa! My favorites were the very R.D.Burmanesque Mala, that has a generous sprinkling of Roop Tera Mastana, and Happy Mama Day, that has a lively, energetic vibe.
Lights Up – Harry Styles: The One Direction singer’s latest single is not very different from the band’s song and is a great listen.
