Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 109: On | On
14 songs this week. All 14 available on YouTube. JioSaavn is missing just one song – Ningi Chutte, from the Telugu film, Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya.

Baatein Karo – Vayu (Indipop/Hindi): Vayu, the other half of Tanishk-Vayu who occasionally composes and writes songs independently, has always seemed to me like the other halves of other duos like Jatin-Lalit or Vishal-Shekhar or even Jeet-Pritam. Vayu’s previous efforts, with or without Tanishk has been mighty good. Baatein Karo is very, very good too, with a lovely melody, sung well by Vayu himself. The music video, however, goes completely overboard in espousing digital addiction and seems to say that there can only 2 extremes – with phone and without phone. Even as we have stopped using standalone cameras during our vacation and use the phone for photos and videos, the dependence on phones is now being portrayed as an all-purpose evil and no one seems to be advocating moderation in usage! But I understand that in a way that moderation doesn’t make for a great script or a narrative device – extremes do. So, throwing off your phone dramatically gets people talking, while showing moderate use is hardly noteworthy.
Kasam – Babloo Bachelor (Jeet Gannguli) – Hindi: Talking of musical composing duos, here’s a new song by Jeet, the other half of Jeet-Pritam that sounds like a poor-man’s Pritam! The tune and sweep is very reminiscent of Pritam’s highly celebrated title song from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil! And both songs are sung by Arijit Singh, incidentally! Sharman Joshi could also be seen as the poor-man’s Ranbir Kapoor, perhaps!
Kaadhal Theevey – Dharala Prabhu (Sean Roldan) – Tamil: For a song that has Sid Sriram has the star attraction, it starts with a chorus featuring Sean himself, along with Ravi G and Manoj. That chorus is a very, very effective back-up to Sid’s lead vocals, with some great lines. Vijay Ganesan’s guitar work is a particular highlight and Sean’s tune in the anupallavi is worth mentioning!
Nagarathey – Ivan Than Uthaman (Thaman S) – Tamil: Thaman ropes in fellow composer Anirudh to sing this one and that pays off pretty well. Thaman usual mix of music including a lovely and generous violin phrase keeps the song very engaging.
Lovvu Lovvu – Anbulla Ghilli (Arrol Corelli) – Tamil: This is perhaps the most enthusiastic piece of music I have heard from Arrol, who, possibly owing to his allegiance to Mysskin, conjures in my mind brooding and somber music every time I hear his name 🙂 The other surprise is Arrol calling Yuvan to sing the song as if the composer is a singer of repute! But, as is the norm, other composers extract better vocals from Yuvan than Yuvan does from himself in his own songs. This is a frothy and breezy song, and the Yuvan-Andrea combo makes it so with their lively singing.
Nenjil Oru Vannam – Srinivas (Indipop/Tamil): A lively song by singer Srinivas, even if the music video seems like an extended ad film for Nippon Paints. But the song’s theme is layered very appropriately in the choice of the music video’s sponsor through Pa.Vijay’s lyrics and the simple, heartwarming story portrayed in it. The tune harks back to an older, gentler period in Indipop, when bands like Colonial Cousins were in circulation!
Manasara Sollu – Jones Rupert, ft. Tejenthan Arunasalam and Priyanka (Indipop/Tamil): TeeJay Arunasalam seems to be on a roll! Along with the starry pop single on Valentine’s Day (Aasai Thathumbucha) directed by a movie director (Nelson Venkatesan) and co-starring a film actress (Indhuja), there was another, similar effort that I had missed – co-starring another actress, Nandita. That he also had a fantastic role on the Dhanush-starrer Asuran is another part of this winning streak. Jones Rupert’s music isn’t that unique, but TeeJay’s singing, along with Priyanka’s lifts the song significantly.
Meeko Dhandam – 30 Rojullo Preminchadam Ela (Anup Rubens) – Telugu: Anup already has 2 bumper hits from the film – Sid Sriram-sung Neeli Neeli Aakaasam (47 million views on YouTube!) and Armaan Malik-sung Idera Sneham (almost 3 million views on YouTube). While I wasn’t all that impressed with the latter, here’s the 3rd song that I like the most, among the 3. The song’s vibe reminded me of the famous song from Gulabi, ‘Class Roomulo’! This is a fun college song, with all the shenanigans that go into one, and Dhananjay and Mohana Bhogaraju having fun singing it.
Ningi Chutte – Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya (Bijibal) – Telugu: This is a pleasant surprise, seeing Bijibal’s debut in Telugu! The song seems very similar to his own Idukki song from Maheshinte Prathikaaram, and that makes sense since this film is a remake of that Malayalam film! Idukki paves way for Matyagundam in Araku Valley. Bijibal gets Vijay Yesudas to sing this song that has the same feel and shades of Idukki song, but there are many ways he differentiates it for Telugu. It’s also interesting to note that the Tamil remake of the same Malayalam film, Nimir, directed by Priyadarshan, went with a much larger and flashy format and different composers – Ajaneesh Loknath and Darbuka Siva (with some superb songs!), and shunned the simple, earthy narrative or music by Bijibal. And the Telugu film is mirroring the Malayalam original more than the Tamil version!
Emo Emo Emo – Raahu (Praveen Lakkaraju) – Telugu: You can add this song under songs that can and do exist only because of Sid Sriram. It’s almost like composer Praveen imagined the Emo Emo Emo hook only based on Sid’s singing. It’s a functional song that Sid elevates considerably with his singing.
Ventaade Gaayam – Hit (Vivek Sagar) – Telugu: This is Vivek’s signature sound, with a haunting, raspy and jazzy sound. He has mastered this over the years even he grew up the film music ladder in Telugu films, though with repeated usage it seems a bit too familiar. But yes, Mohana Bhogaraju owns the singing in this one and lifts it up.
Neeyum Njanum – Sumesh & Ramesh (Yakzan Gary Periera & Neha Nair) – Malayalam: The composing duo, Yakzan Gary Periera and Neha Nair, has been consistently interesting, with specific highs in films like Iyobinte Pusthakam. Neeyum Njanum sounds like a song from that soundtrack too, incidentally – a lot of ‘Raave’ in this song too, or it is perhaps owing to Neha’s voice in both songs.
Paaraake – Kilometers & Kilometers (Sooraj S Kurup) – Malayalam: Even as Tovino takes his foreign visitor across the country in his bike, the song moves from Hindi, to Tamil, to Malayalam, and English seamlessly. Sooraj has a steady, thrumming rhythm keeping the tune together and even the background chorus portions are really good. Tovino schooling the girl on some of India’s nuances (like the dead body and open defecation) are hilarious, coming in his Malayalee accent 🙂
Running Back To You – Anish Sood, ft. Lisa Mishra (Indipop): Goa-based music producer and DJ Anish Sood gets Lisa Mishra to sing this very foot-tapping EDM/House number. The song’s sound would effortlessly have you shaking your head and moving your feet.