Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly, new music playlist.
Week 282: YouTube | Spotify
Back after a three-week break. Reason? Health (for those not following me on Twitter)! So, a massive playlist of 21 songs!
Bheegi Saree and Danger – Param Sundari (Sachin-Jigar) – Hindi: Just like how Pardesiya was an unabashed Rahman ode, this one seems like an obvious ode to Pancham’s legendary song from Ajnabee (1974) – ‘Bheegi Bheegi Raaton Main’. Of course, this one’s no patch on the older song, but within the material presented by the composers, Shreya Ghoshal and Adnan Sami do a competent job. Danger is a better song, despite being painfully templatized to fit a standard-issue Bollywood Punjabi number. The X factor is both Vishal Dadlani’s vocals and the smattering of Malayalam that the composing duo smartly rope in someone apt to handle – Parvati Meenakshi.
Badli Si Hawa Hai – The Ba***ds Of Bollywood (Anirudh) – Hindi: By Anirudh’s standards, this is pretty average – he’s capable of a lot better/more. But the rhythm works and the way he uses Arijit Singh’s voice in the song makes a solid difference.
Vazhiyiraen – Madharaasi (Anirudh) – Tamil: The first song from the film (Salambala) just didn’t work for me. But Vazhiyiraen fits the composer’s body of work for the star’s Doctor and earlier films like Ethir Neechal. Largely predictable and familiar, no doubt, but effortlessly likeable too.
Othukkiriya – Blackmail (D.Imman) – Tamil: A propulsive tune by Imman that starts off brilliantly, punctuated by the ‘Othukkiriya’ hook, but when it moves to ‘Othukkiriya Othukkiriya’ phrase (mimicking the tune that was foreshadowed earlier) in what feels like anupallavi, the tune’s creativity falters. Nikhita Gandhi does a fantastic job at handling the racy tune.
Unnil Kaadhal Kaana – Bad Girl (Amit Trivedi) – Tamil: Even though this song hardly feels like an Amit Trivedi song (I could have guessed it as Yuvan’s song had I not know the composer’s name), this is the only other song (besides Please Yenna Appadi Paakadhey and Naan Thani Pizhai) that worked for me in the soundtrack, with an appealing psychedelic soundscape as the melody soars. Even Sublahshini’s otherwise dependable singing seemed less appealing (with poor Tamil diction too, mauling the ‘La’ as ‘la’), even as the background singers Shivani Panneerselvam and Sharanya Gopinath do a better job with the diction.
Undipove Naathone – Kishkindhapuri (Chaitan Bharadwaj) – Telugu: Felt like Chaitan’s stock tune considering he has used a variation of this back in Vinaro Bhagyamu Vishnu Katha’s Darshana and probably another song that I’m unable to recall immediately. But it remains breezy and easy on the ear. Javed Ali’s singing is a solid reason too.
Velugunu Chooputhundho – Paradha (Gopi Sundar) – Telugu: After ‘Maa Andhaala Siri’, I see that the film and the soundtrack are now out. While the overall soundtrack is listenable, Velugunu Chooputhundho worked immediately given its trademark Gopi Sundar sound, including the sweeping strings in the background, and the gentle rhythm. The sound screams Gopi Sundar 🙂
Venmathi – Hridayapoorvam (Justin Prabhakaran) – Malayalam: Usually, Justin’s melodies work instantly for me, but lately, I find his music less appealing. Venmathi is one such song, and a couple of songs from the Telugu soundtrack of Meghalu Cheppina Prema Katha are on similar lines (though I did add 2 other songs from that film in my Weeklies 279). I found the anupallavi in Venmathi to be far more appealing to the rather generic pallavi, with Sid Sriram’s vocals coming alive better in that phase.
Ilakozhiye – Thalavara (Electronic Kili) – Malayalam: Electronic Kili seems to have a distinct signature to his (her?) music! The melody is affecting, and the way it interplays Rakhoo and iSai’s vocals works beautifully, amidst the serene musical backdrop. I thought I heard snatches of Anirudh’s Oh PeNNe (VaNakkam Chennai) though, in the background, in Rakhoo’s voice.
Thankam – Vala-Story of A Bangle (Govind Vasantha) – Malayalam: The one song from this soundtrack (so far) that appealed to me also sounded less like a Govind Vasantha song particularly when it opened. If I remove the catchy and energetic background music, and layered it with a more austere sound, the tune could fit the template of a Thaikkudam Bridge song. But Govind amps up the background incredibly well and produces a banger of a song.
Manohari – Maine Pyar Kiya (Electronic Kili) – Malayalam: Even as the lyrics are a corny mix of Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil, composer Electronic Kili has a seductive melody knitting it all together in the voices of Nihal Sadiq and Vijay Anand. At the higher pitches of the melody, the song took me to Govind Vasantha’s musical style.
Duppattawaali – Odum Kuthira Chaadum Kuthira (Justin Varghese) – Malayalam: A simple, but ‘cute’ melody by Justin that gains tremendously by Sanjith Hegde being the singer (along with Anila Rajeev).
Scooter Song – Su From So (Sumedh K) – Kannada: This is a gorgeous melody mounted impressively by Sumedh. The composer concocts a chain of seemingly unending lines in the pallavi – that ‘Yava Oora’ ending with ‘Malege’ and that line paving to the next ‘Yaaraaa… karege’ finally leading back to the opening line. Narayan Sharma’s violin almost stands up to Siddhartha Belmannu’s vocals as an equal.
Title song – Aarpar (Gulraj Singh) – Marathi: The severely underrated Gulraj Singh scores… yet again, in Marathi. I don’t know how long he’d remain underrated, but if it means him producing such gems, I’m all for it. Shankar Mahadevan leads the vocals magnificently, but the backing chorus (both adult singers and the children’s chorus) do a terrific job too. The melody just flows beautifully, with the ‘Aarpar’ hook landing brilliantly!
Aavshicho Gho – Dashavatar (AV Prafullachandra): AV Prafullachandra’s signature is all over the song, right from the way the tune is built gradually, with a lot of detailing! Onkarswaroop’s voice, and the backing vocals infuse a whole lot of charm to the melody.
Kudiyan Te Chidiyan – Raavi De Kande (Jaidev Kumar) – Punjabi: Jaidev’s dependably beautiful and rich melody works so well with superb singers like Mannat Noor and Jasmeen Akhtar. The way the composer layers the two singer’s voices with sparse background music, and leads to the ‘Udd Jaana’ hook with Arshad Khan’s Esraj offering a mildly melancholic feel is lovely.
Kavava – Masala Coffee (Indipop/Tamil): The band takes up an otherwise serene devotional composition by Papanasam Sivan (set to Raaga VaraLi) and produces a scintillating, what I can possibly call, devotional metal number!! Surya Bharadwaj’s guitar blazes in the background even as Abhijith Anilkumar’s vocals are perfectly on the tune, expanding on the raaga’s beauty.
Naa Praanama – Ram Miriyala (Telugu/Indipop): Ram Miriyala has a voice as distinct and powerful as B.Praak and he puts that voice to fantastic use in a tune crafted by himself. Not only does handle the highs of the Naa Praanama hook really well, but the way his voice adapts to the mellow expression needed in the anupallavi is outstanding too!
Kaade – Arya Dhayal x Varkey (Malayalam/Indipop): A punchy soundscape and a lush melody on top of it, handled wonderfully by Arya Dhayal. The melody’s folk’ish roots blend well with the pulsating rhythm. There’s even an unusual detour at the one-and-a-half mark that showcases Arya’s imagination in terms of the composition.
Dreamland – When Chai Met Toast, feat. Job Kurian (Indipop/English/Hindi/Malayalam): The warm, feel-good sound of the band is very apparent all through the song, but the way they infuse a smattering of Kerala’s folk sounds, to begin with, and eventually lead to Job Kurian’s part works wonders.
