Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly, new music playlist.
Week 294: YouTube | Spotify
Ishq Ka Fever, Paan Ki Dukaan – O’Romeo (Vishal Bhardwaj) – Hindi: A haunting melody by Vishal and sung by Arijit! Plus Gulzar’s lines! This is a beautiful song, with some nifty musical touches by Vishal in the background that offers an undercurrent of restlessness even as the core melody is sedate! In comparison, Paan Ki Dukaan is something I would expect from Shankar Ehsaan Loy in their heydays. It’s catchy, no doubt, and the second ‘Neeche Paan Ki Dukaan’ with a tune twist is a neat surprise.
Pudikadhu, Kannukkulle – Kadhal Kadhai Sollava (Sharreth) – Tamil: Sharreth composing, in itself, is something worth looking forward to. The melody reminded me of half a dozen older songs, including Rahman’s Tenali number ‘Swasame’. Some similar raaga, I suppose. Kavivarman’s lines have some interesting thoughts like, ‘Ranganathan Theru illaadha Chennai Pudikkadhu’, and ‘Content paakaama Instavil like poda Pudikkadhu’ 🙂 But this ‘heroine-intro’ type situation, like ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai’ is from a different century and is more likely to be axed in the movie, sadly. Nivas does well with the singing, keeping it light and frothy. Sharreth does extraordinarly well in the other song, Kannukkulle! The tune is heady, and the nuances the composer layers work wonders! For starters, consider the almost non-stop, long’ish pallavi! Then, when the ‘Paarvai Theera Theera’ line arrives, Haripriya’s one word echo adds a lovely backdrop layer. And the two interludes! This is vintage Sharreth delivering wonderfully.
Thaai Kizhavi Vaaraa – Thaai Kizhavi (Nivas K Prasanna) – Tamil: After Bison, Nivas K Prasanna handles another rustic number though it sounds more like a Coke Studio Tamil song (not that it is a bad idea). Sivakarthikeyan’s vocals help the lively, rhythmic song immensely, and the thavil-nadaswaram combo keeps the song engaging. Nivas’s flourishes keep coming at surprising spots, like that ‘Ey Rangamma’ start for the anupallavi and the music after ‘Kayee Veral Kutheetti’!
Edhukku Dhan Indha Kaadhal, Ennai Polave, Morattu Muttal – With Love (Sean Roldan) – Tamil: Sean Roldan ropes in Yuvan Shankar Raja for Edhukku Dhan and almost makes him sing adequately well! But it’s the tune that keeps the song steadily listenable, particularly the way it bridges the deeply melodic, violin-backed beginning and the racy Edhukku Dhan hook. With Ennai Polave, Sean hands over the same tune of ‘Ayyo Kaadhale’ to Sublahshini and her unique vocal timbre makes a terrific difference to the familiar tune. Morattu Muttal is the soundtrack’s surprise package! The serene rock ballad style melody works very well with Sean’s own singing. Mohan Rajan’s lines are a hoot – when Sean sings, ‘Naan thaniyave polamburene’, the parallel line goes, ‘Nee Thaniyave Polambuda’ 🙂
Innenthe – Prakambanam (Bibin Ashok) – Malayalam: A very, very Gopi Sundar’ish melody from Bibin Ashok at least till the 2:10 mark. The flute and guitar-layered melody is easy to like, and Anand Sreeraj, Ayraan’s singing makes it all the more enjoyable. After the 2:10 mark though, the soft melody transforms into a racy rock track and it is the melody’s strength that this too actually works!
Bheegi Bheegi – A R Rahman, ft. A R Ameen and Jasleen Royal (Hindi/Indipop): Rahman’s melody is effortlessly captivating, but it is the singers who don’t scale up to it. Ameen’s voice sounds flat and gets the nuances flatly too. Jasleen does comparatively better, given her experience. This tune deserved considerably better singers, though. If only the makers of this song spent as much time and effort in picking better singers as they did with the stars for the music video (Dulquer Salman and Mrunal Thakur). But if the starting point was to launch Rahman’s son again in Hindi, then this is what we would end up with.
Tu Jaane Hai Kahan – Mikey McCleary & Suraj Gulvady, ft. Lucky Ali (Hindi/Indipop): When Lucky Ali goes ‘Hmmmm’ and ‘Tu…’, my mind completes it and goes back to his iconic ‘O Sanam’ from the 1990s! This song, I believe, has been crafted specifically to evoke memories of O Sanam, and it doesn’t too badly on that front. Lucky’s voice carries enough nostalgia to make this work.
