Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 143: On Spotify | On
13 songs this week. YouTube has 12, and is missing only Raah Niharu, from Hum Dono (that is available on the Spotify playlist). The Spotify playlist is missing 2 songs – Pattu Rosa from Theethum Nandrum (this is odd since this film’s first song, released way back in 2018 is available on Spotify) and Keerthana Vaidyanathan & Prashanth Techno’s Thunai.
Panghat & Kiston – Roohi (Sachin-Jigar) – Hindi: Two completely different songs by the duo and both sound pretty good. Panghat is a familiar item-song template, but it manages to catch your attention enough to sway your feet. Kiston is a sweeping melody with a lovely waltz’y backdrop and in Jubin Nautiyal’s dependable voice, it comes alive perfectly.
So Baby – Doctor (Anirudh) – Tamil: What a vibrant song by Anirudh! The composer seems to be going from strength to strength, almost like Rahman in his peak, back in the days! Here, he produces what sounds like Hindustani Electronica, with its delightful fusion of Tamil lyrics, an energetic electronic sound, Ananthakrrishnan’s Hindustani style vocals and Rajhesh Vaidhya’s frenetic veena for added effect! It all works together darn well.
Lazy Song – Oh Manapenne (Vishal Chandrashekhar) – Tamil: Trust Vishal to go superbly zany for the Tamil equivalent of Pelli Choopulu’s Ee Babu Gariki (since this film is that Telugu film’s remake)! Sinduri’s lazy drawl sounds perfect for the song’s feel, and Vishal’s interventions in the form of Swati Tirunaal’s (Lalgudi Jayaraman-tuned) Dhanashree Thillana and Lady Kash’s rap amp up the song’s fun quotient significantly!
Pattu Rosa – Theethum Nandrum (C.Sathya) – Tamil: Composer C.Sathya has proven more than adequately that he has what it takes, and yet his career hasn’t really taken off the way it should have (there are way too many composers like that anyway, sadly). He pitches once again very, very competently in this song – this is an instantly catchy song, that he himself sings with the all swagger needed to carry it. Interestingly, the female portion is sung by Aparna Balamurali who stars in that part and that part seems disjointed from the male version sung by Sathya, even though the tune is the same!
Murukku Meesakaran – Vettai Naai (Ganesh Chandrasekaran) – Tamil: The film screams Grade-B, but Ganesh’s tune confidently pitches much higher. Giving him and the song credibility is Shakthisree Gopalan’s (and Sreekanth Hariharan’s) vocals – the tune itself is lively and lilting, and the anupallavi too pretty imaginatively handled, with that ‘Aasa adhigam vecha’ spoken-verse like phrase!
Thunai – Keerthana Vaidyanathan & Prashanth Techno (Tamil/Indipop): This is an astounding musical exposition of AruNagirinaadhar’s Kandhar Alangaaram! In Keerthana’s incredibly nuanced and goosebumps-inducing singing, songs 70 and 36 from Kandhar Alangaaram become ambient and ethereal musical expressions where Prashanth adds a haunting and mesmerizing musical layer that is so contrasting to what we may have usually heard along with these holy verses! The result of the experiment is something totally fresh and exciting!
Nee Podhumey – Shakthisree Gopalan ft. Akshay Yesodharan (Tamil/Indipop): Both Shakthisree’s tune (her own composition) and her singing are at once serene and sweet! The vocal humming (Ooooo) is used wonderfully to blend with the overall song’s dulcet tones, while the way the music crescendoes towards that humming (starting with Nee Kadal) makes for fantastic listen.
Kolu Kolu – Virata Parvam (Suresh Bobbili) – Telugu: After a string of not-yet Grade-A films where his music definitely stood out, it’s good to see Suresh Bobbili hit the big circuit! Kolu Kolu has a MM Keeravani’ish earthiness in the melody, but Suresh works his way in adding some lively touches to the backgrounds. Divya Malik’s singing works wonderfully too.
Alare – Member Rameshan 9aam Ward (Kailas Menon) – Malayalam: It’s good to hear Kailas Menon again after 2018’s Theevandi, and 2019’s Ittymaani Made In China and Finals! The song’s sound is straight out of Rahman’s Pudhiya Mugam – I almost started singing ‘Netru Illaadha Maatram’! The guitar in the background, the flute and sax phrases, everything evokes the early-Rahman sound so well, even as Kailas’s tune itself is rich and gorgeous! Excellent singing by Ayraan and Nithya Mammen.
Ormakkaalame – Thirike (Ankit Menon) – Malayalam: More than the title song that was released before this one, Ormakkaalame worked better for me. Benny Dayal’s lively singing, the song’s gradual start that steadily picks up a lovely bluegrass’y pace and the dreamy way it ends… lovely package!
Nenapina Hudugiye – Hero (B Ajaneesh Loknath) – Kannada: Much like ‘Gatiya Ilidu’ from Ulidavaru Kandante, Ajaneesh (along with singer Vijay Prakash) evokes a wonderful whiff of a different era of Kannada film music as defined by Hamsalekha. The violin strains evoke that feeling as also the chorus parts… and most importantly the beautifil melody that Vijay Prakash handles brilliantly!
Raah Niharu – Hum Dono (L.Subramaniam) – Hindi/Indipop: The album has 8 songs and features besides Kavita Krishnamurthy, singers like Sonu Nigam, Lucky Ali, Suresh Wadkar, Pandit Jasraj and Hariharan. Unfortunately, the tunes mostly sound as labored and sappy as a bad Dharmesh Darshan film soundtrack. The one song that stood out for me, ironically, was a solo by Kavita – Raah Niharu carries a semi-classical melody atop more modern sound, and her singing deftly traverses through the tune’s inventive flow.
