Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 104: On | On
19 songs this week. YouTube has all the songs, while JioSaavn is missing 3 songs – Vellai Yaanai’s Aara Thedum, Bheeshma’s Whattey Beauty and Ayyappanum Koshiyum’s Kalakkatha.
Haan Main Galat – Love Aaj Kal (Pritam) – Hindi: Hemant Kumar’s sapera-been interlude from Nagin (part of Man Dole) takes on another life, after being used in the 2009 Love Aaj Kal. Pritam adds extra zing in the tune and it works effortlessly once more!
Maragadha Maalai – Takkar (Nivas K Prasanna) – Tamil: Unlike last week’s single from the film, Nivas gets his singers incredibly right in this one – composer Pradeep Kumar (who gets credited as Pradeep Vijay, for some reason!) and Chinmayi. And Nivas employs a mighty racy background rhythm for an otherwise melodious tune. That contrast works really well, as also the completely unusual structure of the tune and Navin Iyer’s flute. And then there’s Vijay Yesudas too, in the song. It always confounds me when a 3rd voice appears in what is otherwise supposedly a duet and a film that has only one male star. I wonder if there’s another male actor in the film who may get this other voice, or both voices may be used in the same song for Siddharth!
Aara Thedum – Vellai Yaanai (Santhosh Narayanan) – Tamil: After last week’s Vennila from the same film, Santhosh impresses again, with Aara Thedum. The sound, once again, is minimal and evoking a different period in time. Santhosh takes on the singing duty himself and the sparse, haunting melody suits his vocal style pretty well. Rajumurugan’s lyric deserve a special mention.
Ennada Life Idhu – Oh My Kadavule (Leon James) – Tamil: I was looking for more spark from the film after Kadhaippoma, and thankfully Leon delivers again. The song is a cool and funky, and in Santhosh Narayanan’s singing, it sounds very catchy!
Yedho Maayam – Dagaalty (Vijaynarain) – Tamil: A very Santhosh Narayanan’ish song from Vijay, or it’s perhaps Dhee’s voice and singing that brings that familiarity. Lovely tune, though, with a surprising Begada-raaga based interlude (a mentioned by the composer on Twitter).
Whattey Beauty – Bheeshma (Mahati Swara Sagar) – Telugu: Mani Sharma’s son has been trying his hand in music and has done some decent-enough work too (like Jadoogadu). But I have a feeling he may hit the big time after this song/film. This song is almost like a rite-of-passage – the quintessential Telugu masala song, and delivered so darn well! Even the voices, Dhanunjay and Amala Chebolu, seem very fresh.
Oohale, The Life of Ram, Naa Kale Kalai and Inthena – Jaanu (Govind Vasantha) – Telugu: Oohale is the Kaadhale equivalent, retaining the soul and essence of the original. And a Hindi/Hindustani ‘Piya Mora Baalam Mora’ twist to what was essentially Tamil in 96! But oddly, this song is not even featured in the official soundtrack/jukebox? Something to do with the copyrights between Think Music and Aditya Music, I presume, since Oohale was released by Think Music, and the 4-song jukebox is on Aditya.
And as if on cue, the jukebox has a completely new set of 4 songs, with only minor traces of the Tamil soundtrack. Life of Ram, once again, is Pradeep Kumar’s show, but Govind closes the song with the Tamil’s memorable ‘Thaane’ hook! Naa Kale Kalai and Inthena, sung by Brinda and Chinmayi, respectively, are perhaps the equivalents of Yean and Vasantha Kaalangal. That brings us to the missing equivalents of Iravingu Theevaai and Thaabangale. But, even if you do not do the comparison (which is rather difficult given the iconic status of the original), the Telugu soundtrack does stand up on its own, impressively.
Neeli Neeli Aakasam – 30 Rojullo Preminchadam Ela (Anup Rubens) – Telugu: It’s a simple enough tune, and the backgrounds too are extremely familiar and simple. This is all Anup’s signature style, of course, but he also does something mildly unusual by roping in Sid Sriram for the male vocals. That makes a big difference, layering Sid’s unique tone on Anup’s template – it works because this is the first time it is being tried.
Theera Kadha, Bang Bang & Ud Chala – Gauthamante Radham (Ankit Menon) – Malayalam: Much like Santhosh Narayanan and Vellai Yaanai, Ankit Menon had Uyire last week from Gauthamante Radham and has Theera Kadha this week. And much like the Tamil song, here too, the composer sings it himself. Preetha Madhu Menon joins him after the 3-minute mark in a wonderful high for the otherwise-serene melody. The video, offering a road trip from Kerala to Rameswaram on a Tata Nano, is a lovely watch! Bang Bang is a complete contrast from these 2 songs! Sayonara owns the overall song with her usual flair, and since it is her song all the way, but the surprise element is Neeraj Madhav’s rap in between! Ud Chala is interesting given that it is an entirely Hindi song! It’s wonderfully calming and demonstrates debutant Ankit Menon’s confidence.
Noolupoya – Trance (Jackson Vijayan) – Malayalam: This is Pradeep Kumar’s 3rd song of the week in the 3rd language (though no credited as ‘Pradeep Vijay)! Jackson Vijayan scores phenomenally in the 2nd single as well, with a haunting sound that manifests itself in a trance in the interludes! The video makes for a riveting watch too!
Aadiyilalo – Masala Coffee (Indipop/Malayalam): After the heart-breaking announcement of Sooraj Santhosh exiting the band, Masala Coffee moves on with a new single. It is energetic, very wonderfully folksy in their unique style, with excellent singing by both Crishna and Varun Sunil.
Kalakkatha – Ayyappanum Koshiyum (Attapadi Musicians/Jakes Bejoy) – Malayalam: For the first single from the new Prithviraj-starrer, Jakes Bejoy uses a folk song by the tribal musicians of Attapadi, near Palakkad. He retains the ethos and soul of their song, and the singers and background music too, and layers it in his arrangement. It’s deftly done, and sounds very, very rhythmic. The lead singer Nanjamma is phenomenal.
Dheera Sammohagaara – Bicchugatthi Chapter 1 (Nakul Abhyankar) – Kannada: I was so looking forward to hear Hamsalekha’s music (given the historical sweep of the film, with the plot adapted from Dr.B.L Venu’s novel based on the Palegaras of Chitradurga, I thought his music may lend itself well, almost like how M.M.Keeravani’s music did to a Baahubali in Telugu) after quite some time, but surprisingly the first single is composed by Nakul Abhyankar!! It’s a lovely melody, handled brilliantly by Anuradha Bhat.
Yeddelo Bharathiya – Gentleman (B.Ajaneesh Loknath) – Kannada: Ajaneesh, in tow with Anthony Daasan, delivers a rocking, rhythmic number with a heady brass band’ish sound! I was reminded of Sam C.S’s music, but this is right within Ajaneesh’s domain as well.
