Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 160: On Spotify | On
A very satisfying musical week! 12 songs, this week. Both YouTube and Spotify have all 12 songs!
Barbaadiyan – Shiddat (Sachin-Jigar) – Hindi: There are quite a few songs in the film, but the only one that worked for me (got me interested even when it was fleetingly used in the trailer) is Barbaadiyan. The composers have a catchy tune with a pulsating bounce built around the Barbaadiyan hook. The voices – Sachet Tandon, Nikhita Gandhi and Madhubanti Bagchi, are perfect.
Ishq Fitoori, Kahe Muskaye Re & Bansuri – Bhavai (Shabbir Ahmed) – Hindi: Is Bhavai lyricist Shabbir Ahmed’s debut as a composer? I don’t recall hearing his music as much as I recall hearing his lines. Despite his sound seeming a LOT like Ismail Darbar’s body of music and reminding me of specific phrases from other songs, the music of the film is definitely noteworthy. Ishq Fitoori, with Mohit Chauhan’s incredible singing took me back to Chor Aur Chaand’s ‘Sapnon Mein Aana’ (Nikhil-Vinay), particularly that ‘Savere savere kapdon pe apne’. Imagine Kareeb’s Chori Chori Jab Nazren Mili composed by Ismail Darbar in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam? Difficult to imagine? Just listen to Kahe Muskaye Re!! But make no mistake – it’s a gorgeous song, mainly because of Shreya’s mindblowing singing. Bansuri too has a strong Ismail Darbar flavor (from Hum Dil Chuke Sanam, again) partly because of the Karsan Sargathiya-led portions. But the song’s charming rhythm and lovely tune makes it a great listen.
Maayakkara – Mughizh (Revaa) – Tamil: Good to see a new song from Revaa who had earlier composed Mangalyam Thanthunanena in Malayalam and Hey Man Maaze in the Marathi film College Diary. Revaa’s melody is spritely and has an ebullient sound that easily draws you in. Govind Vasantha and Malvi Sundaresan handle the singing really well, even as Balaji Tharaneetharan (the director, who has penned the song) offers warm and wonderful lines like, ‘piLLai pole ori vandhaai, thandhai pole thedi nindren’ to symbolize the relationship between a dog and its pet-father/owner.
Little India – Enemy (Thaman S) – Tamil: The structure of the song is very-Thaman, and very familiar too, but he infuses enough new elements, including Arivu’s rap portions to create a highly engaging song. Plus, the song’s perspective, of Singapore Tamilians, seems rather new and that’s vastly interesting too.
Two Two Two – Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal (Anirudh) – Tamil: It is perhaps better to ‘consume’ the song in 2 different ways: listen to the audio alone to get the nuances of the song better, and then see the music video. The latter, with its snazzy Rajini+Kamal antics by Anirudh distracts one from focusing on the tune 🙂 As an audio-only song, a lot more musical elements bubble up – the captivating percussion and Sunidhi’s and Sanjana Kalmanje’s superb singing, besides Anirudh’s own part and the nadaswaram-like (but it is not?) portions credited to Tapas Roy.
Leharaayi – Most Eligible Bachelor (Gopi Sundar) – Telugu: This is Gopi’s spectacular win! The kind of tantalizing melody that he excels creating in… and he gets Sid Sriram to sing it too! There’s a steady, rhythmic background that makes the tune come alive beautifully. Plus the use of nadaswaram and mridangam adds a unique layer too. Fantastic song!
Ekkesinde – Manchi Rojulochaie (Anup Rubens) – Telugu: Anup has a scorching winner here that would make Anirudh proud! The tune and sounds, at least in the pallavi, are reminiscent of Anirudh’s techno kuthu numbers, though the anupallavi gets a distinct Telugu flavor. Ram Miriyali seems to be having a rocking time singing it. The song’s appeal is considerably tied to the way Anup gets specific words repeated uncomfortably long – like ‘Ekkesinde’, ‘Missaina’ and ‘Chuttu chuttu’, besides the hugely engaging really-long pallavi.
Manasulone Nilichipoke – Varudu Kaavalenu (Vishal Chandrashekhar) – Telugu: The vastly underrated Vishal strikes again in what seemed to me like a song with a generous tinge of Karaharapriya raaga. Roping in Chinmayi to sing the song is a fantastic decision and she delivers the melody so well!
Munthiripoovo – Bhramam (Jakes Bejoy) – Malayalam: My first reaction was: how many more languages would they remake Andhadhun in? Considering the Telugu version, Maestro, has just been released, and ‘Top Star’ Prashant starring in the Tamil remake, here comes the Malayalam version, straight on Amazon Prime! That apart, lovely song by Jakes who I think generally has more misses than hits. But this is certainly the latter, with a wonderfully lively melody that works effortlessly. And he sings it too darn well.
Khali Khali – Puksatte Lifu (Vasu Dixit) – Kannada: A song that easily sounds like something only Vasu could have composed – it has his stamp all over. Did I hear strains of Gowri Manohari raaga in between? The core melody has a deep, resonant sound and Shilpa Mudbi’s singing accentuates that.
