Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 120: On | On
21 songs this week – a damn good musical week! All 21 on YouTube, while 20 in JioSaavn – just one song missing (Justin Prabhakaran’s Amazon Prime Music Hyderabad Gig single).

Titli Trippin – Meri Pyaari Bindu (Sachin-Jigar) – Hindi: Now, that’s a surprise! An unreleased song from Meri Pyaari Bindu, that, in a different world of 🙂 I loved the soundtrack and even if this song is constructed around one hook, it is still one incredibly catchy quasi-Bangla hook that is geared to be a dance-floor scorcher. Arijit and Neeti seem to be having solid fun singing this one!
Pass Nahi Toh Fail Nahi, Rani Hindustani, Paheli & Jhilmil Piya – Shakuntala Devi (Sachin-Jigar) – Hindi: Is this Sachin-Jigar’s week? After that unreleased song from Meri Pyaari Bindu, here’s a full, excellent, new soundtrack from the duo! There are only 4 songs, so this is a compact soundtrack. It’s also compact in another way – the longest song is 3 minutes and 21 seconds! Only. All 4 songs have a simple mukhda-interlude-antara’ish-closure structure, making them rather different from the songs of yore that were markedly longer in comparison.
Pass Nahi Toh Fail Nahi is Sunidhi’s flamboyant show! Vayu’s number-driven lyrics and the punchy rock hook is perfect for her to deliver it in superb style! The chorus does a darn good job too! Considering Shakuntala Devi moved to London in the 1940s and traveled the world in the 50s and 60s, it seems apt that composing duo the O.P.Nayyar’ish sound for Rani Hindustani. This too is Sunidhi’s magnificent show. The background accordion and the ebullient music lend her a great platform even as the mid-way electro-swing sound adds a touch of modernity to the song so well. In Jhilmil Piya too, the duo goes for a retro sound evoking a mix of Guru/Geeta Dutt and the Central Asian dance/festive sound – the mix works very well in the vocals of Benny Dayal and Monali Thakur. Paheli is the odd one out, but a very listenable song nonetheless. Priya Saraiya’s lyrics seem to indicate that this is being sung by Shakuntala’s daughter where she even asks her to ‘be my mother’! Very interesting framing, and a beautifully lullaby’ish melody, aced by Shreya Ghoshal.
La Ilm – Samira Koppikar (Indipop/Hindi): Samira Koppikar, who was very promising in songs like Bairaagi (Bareilly Ki Barfi) and Maati Ka Palang (NH10), returns with a new single that has the same warmth of Bairaagi, but is also more melancholic. Samira herself takes the lead well in the singing, while Stebin Ben’s Arijit-style is functionally helpful too.
Har Dafaa, Bhedi & Khudkhushi – Yaara (Gourov-Roshin & Shaan, Ankit Tiwari, Siddharth Pandit) – Hindi: This is interesting – for a film (directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia and starring Vidyut Jammwal, no less) that is premiering on Zee5 on July 30th, to have the audio on arch-rival T-series, instead of Zee Music!!
The soundtrack has 5 songs, of which Siddharth Pandit composes 3. The one good song from his lot was Khudkhushi, that has a rebellious rock sound with a touch of retro, though that “Khudkhushi Ki Taish Hai Dil Ke Mazaron Mein, Bazaron Mein” seemed way too similar to the musical flow of M.M.Kreem’s Jism song, Chalo Tumko Lekar – “Jahan Meetha Nasha Hai Taaron Ki Chaaon Mein”. It’s also interesting to see Gourov-Roshin and Shaan get co-composing credit for Har Dafaa, a warm, soft and instantly likeable melody. The tune seems to allude to a shade of the 60s/70s Hindi music style, though the chorus and the backgrounds keep it rooted to current times. The soundtrack’s best is Ankit Tiwari’s Bhedi, with its almost hymn-like tune that he layers in a pulsating rock sound.
Iraada, Tu Mujh Mein, Umeed & Savera – Iraada EP (Vinayak Shukla) – Indipop/Hindi: Vinayak’s 4-song EP is one of the most interesting music I have heard in recent times. Vinayak has roped in star singers like Hriday Gattani and Shashaa Tirupati too, but the highlight easily is his tunes and the enthralling electronic sounds he adds. Iraada’s melody is familiar and likeable within the Hindi film world with a full-fledged and highly melodic mukhda-antara pattern, but the electronic interlude Vinayak layers in is at once uncomfortable (with a slowed down tempo that doesn’t fit the song’s pace otherwise) and alluring! In Tu Mujh Mein, Vinayak’s grand electronica makes an appearance much earlier, after the first 3-4 lines, and is more showy and expansive. The tune continues to be very engaging, sung very well by Tushar Joshi, and Harjot Kaur who joins much later in the song.
Shashaa Tirupati is excellent in Umeed! Vinayak’s melody is wonderfully warm, with him adding an equal blend of his captivating electronic sounds and Indian backgrounds like the tabla, played by Mitali Vinchurkar. Savera too is a lovely listen, with really good singing by Akhila Mamandur and Aswen Sri, handling a breezy tune even as Vinayak’s blends their vocals together to create a nice effect. The electronic interludes here are akin to Tu Mujh Mein.
Kaattu Payale – Soorarai Pottru (G.V.Prakash Kumar) – Tamil: In what seems like a song meant for Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, GVP hands over to Santhosh Narayanan-camp’s Dhee! She does really well, though, and GVP’s choice of tune-twist for ‘Mundhiyila Sorugi Vecha Sillaraya Pola’ makes the song really interesting!
Rani Theni – Kavalthurai Ungal Nanban (Adithyha – Soorya) – Tamil: I missed this song when it came out in March this year, and think this deserves a listen! Who is this duo, Adithyha – Soorya? The melody is very, very pleasant, and the backgrounds featuring the strings and guitar make for excellent accompaniments. And the choice of Haricharan is always a great move! He is fantastic, as always!
Ee Maya Peremito, Kurisena & Krishnaveni – Orey Bujjiga (Anup Rubens) – Telugu: Nothing like a new Sid Sriram song to signal the (tentative) back-to-normal (though this song was released 4 months ago, of course)! Anup Rubens has Sid cry his heart out in Ee Maya Peremito and that alone carries the lilting song to respectability, besides, of course, thanks to the affecting melody by Anup. In Kurisena, Anup has the trusted vocals of Armaan Malik, and Meghana, to propel his melody that already shines with a catchy, though predictable, lilt. Krishnaveni is where Anup gets down to dance-floor business in true Telugu-style! This is DSP territory, but Anup has a firm handle on the thoroughly enjoyable song.
Yen Madodu Swamy – French Biriyani (Vasuki Vaibhav) – Kannada: I like Puneeth Rajkumar the singer than the actor, consistently. His unusual voice and singing have improved and made enjoyable many songs. Yen Madodu Swamy joins that list effortlessly. Vasuki constructs this as a ‘bar’ song, starting it with opening of a bottle of beer and lets the fizzy fun stay till the end.
Chilipi Choopu & Yetuvaipunna – Amazon Prime Music Hyderabad Gig (Gopi Sundar and Justin Prabhakaran) – Indipop/Telugu: It’s good to see Amazon Prime promoting non-film music by top music composers, and that too in Telugu, with a full-fledged set and video! The first 2 songs sound very in line with those respective composers’ repertoire. Gopi’s song sounds straight out of his extremely familiar template that he uses often in Telugu (not so much in Malayalam). It’s sedate and pleasant, though he struggles in the higher pitches, as a singer. Justin’s song too suffers from his own singing, and perhaps deserved a better singer. But the tune could easily have been part of say, Dear Comrade.