Milliblog Weeklies, Week 159 – Sep.12, 2021

Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 159: On Spotify | On
10 songs, this week. Spotify has all 10, while YouTube is missing just one – Khula Asmaan from Unbounded.

Tum Tum – Enemy (Thaman S) – Tamil: It’s probably more than a coincidence that this song’s overall sound seems reminiscent of Sarattu Vandiyila from Kaatru Veliyidai. Still, the song’s slow and steady rhythm has immense appeal, as also the singing by Sri Vardhini, Aditi, Satya Yamini, Roshini, and Tejaswini.

Anale Anale – Jango (Ghibran) – Tamil: A surprising composition that took me back to the earlier Ghibran that I was so very sold on, with the lush backgrounds that keep you constantly interested. The melody is lovely too, as also Idhaya’s lyrics too, including that refrain, “Nee Vaaliyin Paadale”! Haricharan, as always, owns the singing, particularly in the higher notes.

Title song – Bheemla Nayak (Thaman S) – Telugu: Considering the film’s original was framed as a dual-protagonist film, it did not have a song glorifying only one actor. But this is a Telugu remake. Starring THE Pawan Kalyan, at that, along with Rana Daggubati who seems to be given supporting-actor status rather than co-star status. So, it is understandable that we would get a hero-worship song and Thanam’s rhythmic, powerful music does justice to that brief. It’s a wonderfully mounted song with an addictive lilt!

Ishtam – Khiladi​ (Devi Sri Prasad) – Telugu: Even though Thaman frequently creates songs that evoke the Ilayaraja-style, in my view, they tend to be flat recreations that mirror the Maestro’s sound, to very good effect, however. But it is Devi Sri Prasad who occasionally drops a Raja-style song that truly imbibes the veteran’s sound and concocts something new. Ishtam’s prominent sound takes me straight to the 90s Raja, but the tune is very DSP. Hari Priya is in great form singing this fun song.

Jor Se – Republic (Mani Sharma) – Telugu: A super energetic song by Mani Sharma who keeps reminding us that he’s very much present in the Telugu music scene despite the young ‘uns steadily taking over. The ‘Jor se’ hook and the chorus work wonders for this festive song with a modern twist.

Cheppake Cheppake – Maha Samudram (Chaitan Bharadwaj) – Telugu: Much rides on singer Deepthi Parthasarathy given this is a solo to sing the woman’s expressions and she handles the melody really well. Chaitan helps her by mounting the likeable melody on a lilting backdrop and enjoyable hooks like that ‘Kalapakule, nilapakule’ and a profusion of strings!

Kanvaathil – Roy (Munna PM) – Malayalam: I did like the first song from Roy (Arikin Arikil), but not that much… or, at least not enough to add it to the Weeklies. But composer Munna definitely earns a Weeklies addition with his 2nd song from the film. The melody is wonderfully lush and reminded me of Pradeep Kumar’s music, though Munna’s style is quite distinctive too. The singing is top-notch, led by Neha Nair mainly, while Rakhil Shoukath Ali Rajesh joins in later in a nice touch.

Leke Pehla Pehla Pyaar – Kya Meri Sonam Gupta Bewafa Hai (Avvy Sra) – Hindi/Punjabi: Yes, it is a recreation of OP Nayyar’s memorable song, but Avvy has a neat, funky wrapper to launch the original. Much of the charm in this song is because of the original, of course, but the new layer is pretty enjoyable too, thanks to the singing by Jassie Gill and Surbhi Jyoti.

Shanmukhapriya & Khula Asmaan – Unbounded (Abaad) – Purbayan Chatterjee: The Sitar maestro’s new album is a dizzying affair in more than one way – the sheer star collaborators involved and the resultant sound, a cornucopia of genres that overpower at times, and work seamlessly less often. The 2 songs that worked for me include Shanmukhapriya that flaunt Shankar Mahadevan’s singing, U. Rajesh’s mandolin and more. The raaga’s inherent beauty is brought out with a vibrant jazz soundscape over Shankar getting into the middle portion of the Papanasam Sivan kriti, Parvati Nayakane. In Khula Asmaan, Javed Ali leads the vocals and has an impressive backing in the form of Taufiq Qureshi’s percussion, Paras Nath’s flute among others, besides the Sitar by Purbayan, of course. The Rajasthani folk melody gets a fascinating twist as the song progresses and merges into bandish-sufi stream.

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