Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 103: On | On
17 songs, this week. YouTube has all the songs, while JioSaavn is missing 3 – the 2 songs from Varane Avashyamund (that have been released by Dulquer himself, through his YouTube page!) and the song from Vellai Yaanai.
Jugnu – Panga (Shankar Ehsaan Loy) – Hindi: I wasn’t that taken to both Wahi Hain Raste and Bibby Song, though I think both may be perfect to watch in the film, contextually. But Jugnu transcends the need to watch it in-film and sounds fantastic, with its lovely lilt for the Jugnu hook. And of course the winsome singing combo of Sunny and Shankar Mahadevan.
Ole Ole 2.0 – Jawaani Jaaneman (Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen and Tanishk Bagchi) – Hindi: Tanishk does his usual realignment of the catchy original by treating it as smaller blocks, throws the many blocks on the ground and picks one at random to build it all over again. And it works, particularly with the same leading man dancing to the new version too!
Shayad – Love Aaj Kal (Pritam) – Hindi: This is good old Pritam magic all over again! And Irshad Kamil. And Arijit! This is a package that cannot go wrong at all and it doesn’t, yet again! Superbly breezy melody with only Kartik Aryan excessive hand gestures/dance that mar the experience in the video 🙂
Chanda – The Forgotten Army (Pritam) – Hindi: Much of the TV Series’ soundtrack is at the service of the on-screen proceedings and is perhaps less interesting as a standalone soundtrack. Chanda stands out, though, for its Barfi’ish sound! Both versions (by Shaan and Sreeramachandra) are very good!
Rainbow Thiralil – Takkar (Nivas K Prasanna) – Tamil: Arivarasan’s lyrics hark back to a terrible phase in Tamil film music when there was a severe and absurd overdose of English words (was a feature in many of A.R.Rahman’s early soundtracks). But Nivas’ tune is upbeat, with a lovely funky sound and an addictive ‘Thatthi thaavuda’ chorus. While Andrea is her usual confident self, Silambarasan struggles audibly to manage his part. This is a kind of song that deserved someone like Suresh Peters or Benny Dayal!
Thinam Thinam – Vaanam Kottattum (Sid Sriram) – Tamil: After Kannu Thangom, I did expect a lot from Sid as a composer, but the overall impression of the full album falls short of my expectations. I wanted to like Poova Thalaiyaa, but it goes into a direction away from the initial burst and seems less than interesting. En Uyri Kaatre and Mannava too didn’t appeal to me as much as Kannu Thangom. But he closes the soundtrack with a thoroughly unique sounding Thinam Thinam. The sound and tune is very new and fresh, and his singing carries it further.
Vennila – Vellai Yaanai (Santhosh Narayanan) – Tamil: A surprisingly simple and earthy song from Santhosh, the kind that harks back to the older times of simpler tunes, with apt singing by Vijaynarain and Sangeetha Karuppiah. Santhosh’s unique trademark makes its presence felt at ‘Pinju mozhiyaala’ and ‘Kathul kadal pola’ in the anupallavi/charanam when the tune takes what I identify as a turn that Santhosh is known for.
Praanam – Jaanu (Govind Vasantha) – Telugu: I had assumed that Govind would reuse his Tamil tunes from 96 for the Telugu remake! So, this new tune is a surprise. But the tune is so, so perfectly fitting the overall style and ethos of the Tamil soundtrack, almost like it was composed for that movie and dropped, and used here! Outstanding singing by Chinmayi Sripada and Gowtham Bharadwaj.
Freak Out – Disco Raja (Thaman S) – Telugu: This is Thaman unleashing his best self, without being constrained by lyrics. The primarily-instrumental track (with only a smattering of dialogs) is a celebration of the disco-funk, crafted within a film-music idiom. Incredibly catchy!
My Love – World Famous Lover (Gopi Sundar) – Telugu: Gopi Sundar had composed this tune originally for the 2013 Malayalam film, ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi, sung by himself and Anna Katharina Valayil. He reuses the tune to create My Love here – the tune remains the same, with the same interludes. It’s a lovely, warm and softly low-key tune that gets into your system as it progresses. Srikrishna and Ramya Behera sing this Telugu version.
Chusthundhi Pilla – Varun Sunil (Telugu Pop): Terrific fun pop, with a zingy nadaswaram and thavil layer. Varun Sunil does a lot here – compose, sing, percussion and act – good effort!
Nee Vaa En Aarumukha & Mullapoove – Varane Avashyamund (Alphons Joseph) – Malayalam/Tamil: Songs like Nee Vaa En Aarumukha are a rarity these days in films! The genre was called classical/semi-classical at one point but has become defunct even with films not having situations to place them anymore. Alphons’ melody is austere in a way that it is more classical and less filmy, with excellent singing by Karthik and Chithra. Mullapoove, on the other hand, is conventional filmy sound, but with a lovely lilt that Alphons uses to great effect along with that beautiful chorus portion!
Uyire – Gauthamante Radham (Ankit Menon) – Malayalam: Sid Sriram can make a song sound familiar given his mighty unique voice and singing style (that is, the style unique within the Indian film music constructs). That familiarity can be both a curse or a blessing. At times, that can also lift an otherwise decent-enough tune to a slightly better plane. This is one such song – any other singer, I would have liked it lesser, but in Sid’s voice it sounds a lot better!
Raat – Trance (Jackson Vijayan) – Malayalam/Hindi: Rex Vijayan’s (Avial-fame) brother Jackson debuts as a composer. True to the film’s title, the first song is a frenetic affair, relentlessly hitting on the pulsating rhythm, amidst interesting vocal choices – composer Sneha Khanwalkar for the Hindi parts and another composer/singer Neha Nair for the Malayalam parts!
Kannada Kali – India Vs England (Arjun Janya) – Kannada: While the soundtrack is strictly middling, this one song stands out thanks to Indu Nagaraj’s enthusiastic singing and Arjun’s simple and catchy sound. The use of the children’s chorus and the contrasting background vocals add to the charm.
Laagena – Makeup (AV Prafullachandra) – Marathi: The first single, Julali Gaath Ga, was a bit all over the place for my comfort. But AV Prafullachandra gets it perfectly with the second single and it is every bit his style. The sound is, in fact, a bit Amit Trivedi’ish too! That antara (Pa pa pa pa) is wonderfully inventive! Singer Sahil Kulkarni plays along so wonderfully to that impromptu style!
