Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 184: On Spotify | On YouTube
12 songs this week! All the songs are available on YouTube and Spotify.
Main Ki Karaan? – Laal Singh Chaddha (Pritam) – Hindi/Punjabi: What a lovely song! And so good to hear Sonu Nigam sing it! The simple, lilting tune that Pritam concocts is thoroughly endearing and when Romy interjects with his high-pitched lines, the song’s feel blends in with the Punjabi soul as demonstrated in the monologue at the beginning.
Raat Rani & Shuru Se Shuru – Modern Love: Mumbai (Ram Sampath, and Shankar Ehsaan Loy) – Hindi: For a soundtrack that boasts of so many composers (7 songs, each composed by different composers), only two made the mark for me. Ram’s Raat Rani has an effortlessly likeable vibe and is wonderfully sung by Nikhita Gandhi. Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s Shuru Se Shuru is the soundtrack’s best, though. The song could have been part of the trio’s larger films too, and offers a catchy tune brilliantly sung by Shashaa Tirupati and Shankar Mahadevan. The parts where the composers overlay the 2 voices is gorgeous!
Hum Nashe Mein Toh Nahin – Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (Pritam) – Hindi: Strictly a by-the-numbers melody by Pritam, but above average given the largely substandard output in Hindi film music these days, including the other songs from this film 🙂 Plus, Arijit Singh sings this one!
Pathala Pathala – Vikram (Anirudh) – Tamil: Oh, what a joy listening to Kamal singing after quite some time, that too with this trademark Madras lingo (that he wrote himself)! Anirudh’s tune seems functional, but he does considerably better with the overall packaging and the pulsating sound.
Oh Sita Hey Rama – Sita Ramam (Vishal Chandrasekhar) – Telugu: Vishal’s tune and sound is so very Ilayaraja-like! The melody is beautiful, and the interludes—so Raja’ish—add so much charm! While SPB Charan was his usual best, Ramya Behara’s singing seemed a bit strained, oddly.
Shallow – Stand Up Rahul (Sweekar Agasthi) – Telugu: I recall writing about Ala Ela, another song from this film way back in August 2021! I have heard the other songs from the soundtrack but nothing worked as much as that one… but for this one! Probably because of Shaan’s singing, the song sounds like a breezy Indipop song!
Entha Chithram – Ante Sundaraniki (Vivek Sagar) – Telugu: Vivek had paused his bluegrass’y sound for a brief period, but it’s back here! It’s a trademark Vivek song, and the overall tune feeds very well within that sound. The singers, Anurag Kulkarni and Keerthana Vaidyanathan, have been given a chorus’ish backdrop that enhances the appeal.
Parayuvan – Aviyal (Sankar Sharma) – Malayalam: From Sharreth’s Manjin Thooval, to this song – the soundtrack covers massive ground, looking at the male protagonist’s appearance! Sankar’s tune is ebullient and easy on the ear, well sung by Sanoop Kalarikkal.
Enganokke Enganokke – Jack N’ Jill (Ram Surendar) – Malayalam: Enganokke carries the same wacky vibe that Kim Kim carries and one look at the film’s trailer, I think I can understand why 🙂 This one fuses a Kerala folk sound very confidently with a tune that starts sounding like a folk melody but also includes rap portions. Sree Nanda, the singer, is really effective, particularly with her ‘TiRRa TiRRa’ part!
Arike – Syam Mohan (Indipop/Malayalam): The melody seemed to be based on Saaranga raaga, and had shades of Vidyasagar’s style too. Pleasant song, with good singing by Rajkumar Radhakrishnan and Sangeeta.
Nterini – Fatoumata Diawara (World Music): I stumbled on Nterini through a music-focused WhatsApp group and I have heard the song so many times already, besides going into the rabbit hole of this incredible artist’s other songs and albums! I figured that Fatoumata Diawara is a Malian singer who sings in Bambara, the national language of Mali. The singing and sound are truly phenomenal. And her guitar work, which she handles so confidently and with so much enjoyment, is sheer delight!
