Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly, new music playlist.
Week 263: YouTube | Spotify
Nain Matakka – Baby John (Thaman S) – Hindi: Thaman imports his Telugu and Tamil stuff to Hindi, and given the catchy rhythm (reused by Thaman for the umpteenth time), it does work. The tune is adequately contrived though, despite singers like Dhee (her Hindi debut) and Diljit Dosanjh.
Manasula – Viduthalai 2 (Ilayaraja) – Tamil: A wonderfully warm melody from the veteran that forces you to recall his own outstanding ‘Thendral Vandhu’ from Avatharam (1995). The singers, in particular, Sanjay Subrahmanyan (the female singer being Ananya Bhat), offers a fresh outlook to the song by leaving behind his enormous Carnatic music aura and fitting perfectly into the film song milieu.
Idhayam – Once More (Hesham Abdul Wahab) – Tamil: Barring the feeling that the melody seems similar to Deepak Dev’s 2009 song ‘Picha Vecha Naal’ (Puthiya Mukham), this is an exceptionally lovely song. Vignesh Srikanth’s lyrics are beautiful and Hesham’s tune has a lovely, calming effect. Even when the tune seems to be going towards a high (‘Nodiyil NaaLum pookkiradhaa’), it goes down with ‘Adadadadaa alaipadaga’. The star of the song is, of course, Vineeth Srinivasan!
Kadhal Fail – Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam (G V Prakash Kumar) – Tamil: While the main tune has generous shades of Ilayaraja’s ‘Aasai Nooru Vagai’ (Adutha Vaarisu) and Vikram’s ‘En Jodi Manjakkuruki’ (among others), the specific tune that plays after ‘Pochu da’ and ‘Aachu da’ in the pallavi seemed familiar. And after a helplessly long time trying to rack my brain, I finally landed on another Ilayaraja song – Sathya’s ‘VaLayosai’ – the way the second interlude begins just before Lata Mangeshkar starts her ‘Laa la la la laa’ humming! But beyond all those similarities, this is still a kicker of a song, with GVP working extra hard on the sound even as Dhanush’s functional singing carries it through.
Kissik – Pushpa 2 The Rule (Devi Sri Prasad) – Telugu: Standard-issue Telugu masala music by DSP that continues to sound as sizzling as ever. Sublahshini’s vocals and the banging rhythm keeps the song engaging.
Le Le Le Le – Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi (Radhan) – Telugu: First off, I’m surprised that the makers chose this title for the film, this being the name of the 1996 Telugu remake of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and also being Pawan Kalyan’s debut! Then, there’s Udit Narayan—who made his mark with QSQT’s ‘Papa Kehte Hain’—singing this song! Radhan does well with the lazy drawl of a melody with unhurried music that fits Udit’s vocal range aptly.
NaaNaa Hyraanaa – Game Changer (Thaman S) – Telugu: Despite the highly derivative tune (from his own repertoire) Thaman mines for the song, the singers—Shreya Ghoshal and Karthik—lift the song to quite an extent.
Mala Madan Bhase, Chandrika, Hrutu Vasant, Naahi Me Bolat, Ran Gagan Sadan, Dhairyasheel Kshamasheel – Sangeet Manapmaan (Shankar Ehsaan Loy) – Marathi: Marathi director Subodh Bhave’s earlier film adaptation of a Marathi sangeet natak, Katyar Kaljat Ghusli had a sprawling soundtrack by Shankar Ehsaan Loy too. Sangeet Manapmaan is on similar lines – yet another expansive soundtrack with 14 songs (among which only one is composed by another composer – Santosh Mulekar). True to the original sangeet natak’s nature, there is a stagey outlook to the songs since most of them propel the story in the form of musical conversations. But the trio infuse the music with a wonderful blend of broadly accessible (modern enough) sound and classical melodies. This comes across beautifully in Mala Madan Bhase where Aarya Ambekar sings her heart out the lush, semi-classical melody (originally composed by Govindrao Tembe for the sangeet natak) even as the music in the background could be out of the trio’s Hindi soundtracks. Ditto with Sonu Nigam’s Chandrika where the vocal chorus interjects, on and off, the otherwise modern tune in perfect sync. The ebullient and folksy Hrutu Vasant has Shankar’s stamp more than the trio. Naahi Me Bolat (the trio recreating Govindrao Tembe’s original tune) is my favorite from a singing perspective with Priyanka Barve doing an extraordinary job. Dhairyasheel Kshamasheel offers a magnificent soundscape, and much of the orchestral splendour reminded me of Ilayaraja’s music. The classical flourish is best heard in the short Ran Gagan Sadan, another recreation from the original play, sung stupendously by Shounak Abhisheki.
Kaadhal En Kaathil – Sanah Moidutty (Malayalam/Indipop): I was more than impressed with Sanah’s composing skills when I heard her 2022 Tamil song (Kangal Oya). She does very well in her newly composed song Kaadhal En Kaathil too! Musically too, the choice of the traditional percussion in the middle of the song works wonders!
