Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 168: On Spotify | On
18 songs this week. YouTube playlist has all the songs, while Spotify is missing just one – Vivek Sagar’s Madhuramey, from the Telugu film Neetho.
Baliye Re – Jersey (Sachet-Parampara) – Hindi: Jersey’s Telugu original had outstanding music by Anirudh. I’d rate the Hindi remake’s music considerably lesser. The song that stood out for me was Baliye Re. It tries its best to transcend the conventional package the composing duo lavish on it, thanks mainly to the singers – Sachet Tandon, Stebin Ben and Parampara Tandon. I’m assuming this song is the Hindi version of Adhento Gaani Vunnapaatuga from Telugu.
Yennadi Seidhaai – 1945 (Yuvan Shankar Raja) – Tamil: This film, and song, was a pleasant surprise since I had no idea Yuvan was working on a period project like this. The melody, led by Haricharan and Priya Mali, is gorgeous, with a soft ghazal-like outlook that gets accentuated by excellent singing.
Kaanal Neeraai & Kaattuppalli – Writer (Govind Vasantha) – Tamil: Govind Vasantha had a tepid 2021 in my view (yes, Writer released in 2021 too, but towards the fag end of December 2021). Writer’s soundtrack too is less interesting compared to the stupendous work he has produced in the past. But 2 songs stood out for me immediately. Kaanal Neeraai is so very Govind, with a serene and immersive melody that gains so much from Pradeep Kumar’s singing and the incredibly affecting backgrounds. In Kaattuppalli, Govind fuses folk sounds (led by the thavil) very well with his haunting arrangements as the undercurrent. The chorus is fantastic too, consisting of Pravin, Arvind, Velu, Sushmita, Bhuvana and Vaish.
Naan Pizhai – Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal (Anirudh) – Tamil: Anirudh’s new song from Don, released mid-December, didn’t work for me, but here’s the composer again producing pure magic! This is Rahman’s territory all the way, with a sweeping melody that is rendered magnificently by Ravi G and Shashaa Tirupati!
Kitta Varudhu, Whistler & Title Song – Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa (Sean Roldan, Karthikeya Murthy & G V Prakash Kumar) – Tamil: Putham Pudhu Kaalai, from early 2020, had a knock-out song by Govind Vasantha (Kanna Thoodhu Po Da). This anthology that builds on that film has at least 3 interesting songs. Sean Roldan’s Kitta Varudhu is a hilarious song about the virus and turns the covid-appropriate-behavior into a catchy jingle-style melody! The title song is a lovely, upbeat song led by GV Prakash Kumar himself confidently singing it along with Yamini Ghantasala. But the surprise of the soundtrack is Karthikeya Murthy’s Whistler, with a vibrantly unique tune and a chorus in Malayalam!
Tara – Shyam Singha Roy (Mickey J Meyer) – Telugu: This is vintage Mickey! He had a spate of songs like this, if I recall right, in the earlier part of his career and I used to love this sound, with an echoing/ethereal ambience to the sound/production. With Karthik’s pitch-perfect singing, this uptempo song is a great listen!
Madhuramey – Neetho (Vivek Sagar) – Telugu: If I had not known that Vivek is the composer I’d have guessed either Mickey J Meyer or Sandeep Chowta (particularly since the tune veers closer ‘Short and Sweet’ from Kedi!). But that’s not a complaint at all since the song works very well for me 🙂
Tillu Anna DJ Pedithe – DJ Tillu (Ram Miriyala) – Telugu: The song sounds like something that was composed in Punjabi originally and Telugu lyrics added to it! Ram does a great job of singing the incredibly lively and catchy song with the necessary high-pitched verve!
Raa Thaarame – Bhoothakaalam (Shane Nigam) – Malayalam: Whoa! I had no idea actor Shane Nigam was interested in music, but here he is, writing, singing, and composing a song! And it is a very competent effort in every way! His singing seems digitally managed, to be sure, but he has the basics right even as the listenable tune itself is the real surprise along with the tasteful arrangements by Prakash Alex.
Aaromal – Minnal Murali (Shaan Rahman) – Malayalam: There’s so much of Santhosh Narayanan in the constantly accompanying strings in the background that I had to look up the composer’s name again to confirm 🙂 The melody is all Shaan Rahman, though, and the line, ‘Ponnurukki Minnorukki Ninne Naale Njan Thaalamelamode Naadarinju Swanthamaakkidum… Athuvare’ is testimony to that! The singing too is excellent, by Nithya Mammen and Sooraj Santhosh.
Aanandakolayil – Kolambi (Ramesh Narayan) – Malayalam: 3 songs from Kolambi were released way back in 2019, though the film was released only in the last week of December 2021! In sync with the film’s release, there’s a new 5-song soundtrack now and that includes a lovely, ebullient riff on an earlier song I had written about in 2019 – Aarodum Parayuka Vaiyya. The new song, Aanandakolayil, sung beautifully by Shweta Mohan, offers a wonderful contrast to the contemplative tone of the earlier song but uses similar cues from the tune!
Shaaru Shaaru – Super Sharanya (Justin Varghese) – Malayalam: Justin pulls off something akin to an Amit Trivedi style song but it is so beautifully soaked in Malayalam/Kerala twang. The lyrics mix Hindi and Malayalam in a hilariously quirky way and the singing by Meera Johny, Justin Varghese, and Hafsath Abdussalam K P gets the tone of the song brilliantly!
Annapoorne – Meow (Justin Varghese) – Malayalam: Muthuswami Dikshithar’s Saama-raaga composition, Annapoorne, is a personal favorite of mine. One of my favorite renditions of the song is on Mandolin, by U.Rajesh, from his 2005 album Into The Light.
So, to see this composition being attempted again by Justin Varghese seems like a wonderful idea of India in its true sense! Justin doesn’t tamper with the melody at all, but helps the singer, Shivahari Varma, present it in all its authentic beauty!
Thathaka Theithare – Hridayam (Hesham Abdul Wahab) – Malayalam: Hesham ropes in actor Prithviraj to sing a college anthem and the result, with a scintillating horns section, is absolutely superb, with a really addictive ‘Thathaka Theithare’ hook!
O’Ga – 777 Charlie (Nobin Paul) – Konkani: A Konkani song from a Kannada film! The predominant sound of the song is very Latino-style and that itself makes it a fantastic, breezy listen. But add to that Dhiti S Lotlikar’s singing and the way the language sounds so fresh and different from what is commercially mainstream… very good listen!
