Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly, new music playlist.
Week 260: YouTube | Spotify
Title song – Citadel Honey Bunny (Sachin-Jigar) – Hindi: Ten songs in the soundtrack, and just one that stood out for me. The song has the same verve from the music of Raj & D.K’s ‘A Gentleman’ soundtrack, by Sachin-Jigar, again!
Solo Violin – Nesippaya (Yuvan Shankar Raja) – Tamil: Vintage Yuvan! The prelude, the melody (which took me to Billa’s Vethalaya Potendi recreation by Yuvan himself), the interludes, the total breakdown of conventional musical structures where a single phrase is embedded in an eclectic package of music… everything screams Yuvan. Plus, I thank Goddess AngaaLa Parameshwari that Yuvan did not decide to sing it himself and handed it over to the far more competent Haricharan who does a stupendous job.
Aagayam Ambuttayum – Freedom (Ghibran) – Tamil: The tune sounds almost like a slowed down version of a standard-issue D.Imman song that I had to look up the composer’s name to confirm again! But there are enough flourishes in the anupallavi (that also took me to Ilayaraja’s melody making style) that make this stand out eventually. Pradeep Kumar’s singing is always a joy to listen, and that ‘KaNNukkulla’ bridge, in particular, is a delightful touch by Ghibran.
Sarango Saranga – Sarangapani Jathakam (Vivek Sagar) – Telugu: A simple, foot-tapping and easily likeable song by Vivek Sagar 🙂 Armaan Malik’s singing is the icing on the cake.
Bujjamma – KA (Sam CS) – Telugu: I have heard a lot of music by Sam CS recently that didn’t stand out in any way. Even in KA itself, the other songs hardly worked. Thankfully, Bujjamma has something extra. The faux-retro style, for one, works in favor of the song. Sam doesn’t go true-blue retro but hits somewhere in the middle. Sarath Santhosh’s singing and the lilting rhythm keep the song consistently likeable.
Neetho Ila – Appudo Ippudo Eppudo (Karthik) – Telugu: Another example of singer Karthik’s fantastic composing talent that would probably go largely unnoticed. The call-and-response style vocals (by Nithyashree) is a lovely touch. The same style extends throughout the song where vocals are interplayed with music as response, in differing pitches.
Kannalli Kannidu – Bhageera (B Ajaneesh Loknath) – Kannada: A lush melody on the lines of Kaakha Kaakha’s ‘Ondra Renda’ – not in terms of the tune, but in terms of the situation/mood. Ajaneesh’s tune is beautiful and Harshika Devanath’s singing is excellent.
Naa Ninage Nee Nanage – Maryade Prashne (Arjun Ramu) – Kannada: I recall listening to two other songs from this film earlier (the title song, composed and sung by Kannada rapper All OK, and ‘Easy Take it Easy’ sung by actor Sharan), but this new songs trumps both those ‘fancy’ songs! Arjun seems to have used raag Kedar or Hamir Kalyani for the composition and the melody comes across beautifully as a harmonious mix between the singing by Vasuki Vaibhav and Srilakshmi Belmannu.
Doob Rahe – Abhijeet Srivastava, ft. Aanchal Tyagi and Varun Jain – Indipop/Hindi: A rather Amit Trivedi’ish song but one that has gone through the OAFF-style musical filter, considering Amit’s music has lately gotten into a monotonous rut (most evident in his new album ‘Azaad Collab’. Abhijeet Srivastava’s tune has a nice zing to it, and the vocals are charmingly apt.
Phir Dil Laga Liya, Vallo Vallo – Azaad Collab (Amit Trivedi) – Indipop: There are 14 songs in Amit Trivedi’s new album! Back in the days of ‘Dev.D’, this would have been great news, but now, the album feels labored with one song blending into another without any specific highlight. The three songs that stood out for me included Rangeeni, that I had written about the previous Weeklies, and these two songs. Varun Jain’s (and Nikhita Gandhi’s) singing powers the generally likeable Phir Dil Laga Liya, while Neeti Mohan’s Vallo Vallo felt like Amit Trivedi’s entry into a Coke Studio episode.
Mayavi – Sanjith Hegde, ft. Sonu Nigam (Kannada/Indipop): Yet another singer who composes really well (besides singer Karthik, above)! I am, though, surprised that Sanjith did not choose to sing this himself right at the beginning, but Sonu Nigam, as always, does a smashingly good job. Sanjith’s melody is nuanced enough, with a distinctive Latino touch, to let the veteran (Sonu is by now a veteran, right?) hit it out of the park. The composer himself steals the limelight in the interludes and starts to sing, join Sonu, and turn it into a delightful duet towards the end!
