Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly, new music playlist.
Week 309: YouTube | Spotify
PS: Batwara 1947’s ‘Dekhiye Jahaan’ is not available on YouTube as a single, and only as part of the full album. So, it’s not in the YouTube playlist, and I have embedded it here, in this post.
Dekhiye Jahaan Jaiye Kahin – Batwara 1947 (A R Rahman) – Hindi: While I loved Tabassum (wrote about it last week), I couldn’t help declare that this is the weakest soundtrack that I have heard from Rahman in quite some time. And this, in a year when he already had stellar outings like Peddi, Main Vaapas Aaunga and Gandhi Talks, though, he had a turkey in Moon Walk too, to be fair. Besides Tabassum, Dekhiye Jahaan is the one song that shines with something I associate with Rahman, though it seemed to enter Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy territory more often than not. Javed Ali does a particularly fantastic job, while Aanandi Joshi sings beautifully in the antara.
Piya Ghar Aaya: Homecoming – Akhil Sachdeva (Awarapan 2) – Hindi: The only song that appealed to me in the 8 song soundtrack of Awarapan 2! Akhil’s singing and the short lines ending in ‘Mera Piya Ghar Aaya’ make it a great listen and I was thinking that this is something Mithoon could/may have composed compared to what he is churning out now that drones on and on.
Aasai Varame – Anbil Avan (Govind Vasantha) – Tamil: A wonderfully classy, lush melody from Govind that works wonders with Madrashe’s lyrical play as much as it does with Chinmayi and Govind’s own vocals. Madrashe’s verse use the ‘varai’ ending in every line, a kind of writing that was in vogue in early Rahman’s musical repertoire. And Govind’s own violin solo in the interludes adds immense charm to the song.
Ennachu – Magenta (Dharan Kumar) – Tamil: Very catchy song with the repetitive ‘Ennachu’ hook and powered by Vaaheesan Rasaiya vocals. Oddly enough, Vaaheesan Rasaiya’s voice when he is singing the opening (pallavi) sounds different from the way he sings with a raspy touch the anupallavi rap! I wonder if that was intentional.
Ayyayo Ammaadi – Sigma (Thaman S) – Tamil: Trademark Thaman song, right from the prelude and rhythm. Yuvan and Sanjana sound good enough to make it listenable.
Ennennavo – All Pass (James Vasanthan) – Tamil: James Vasanthan continues to be a one-film wonder and most people may identify just ‘KaNgaL Irandaal’ with his name (from Subramaniapuram; a totally worthy song to remember). Ennennavo doesn’t reach that song’s high, but it is still perhaps the best I have heard from James in a long time. The song does have a Vidyasagar’ish flourish though, and the anupallavi even has a Raja touch. While Vijayalakshmi V sings very well, I thought Aajeedh Khalique felt like a suboptimal choice for this song.
High On Kaadhal – Pyaar Prema Kalyanam (Yuvan Shankar Raja) – Tamil: Vintage Yuvan can be heard almost all through the soundtrack, though most songs did not work for me at all. In fact, Pyaar Prema Kaadhal (2018, an outstanding soundtrack by Yuvan) had a song called ‘High On Love’ and here we are, in 2026 with ‘High on Kaadhal’! This is the one song that seemed like Yuvan had put in some effort to showcase his musical evolution, when compared with the previous film (by the same director, who stars as hero in this film). Sanjith Hegde’s singing helps too, enormously.
Raja’s Playlist – Ilayaraja/Yuvan Shankar Raja (Tamil): No, there are no songs yet, but a teaser only so far, and even that totally captivated me! The film’s idea, that Ilayaraja’s songs enable time travel is the kind that only Venkat Prabhu can conjure! We already know that Ilayaraja’s music produced mental time travel and this film’s idea takes it to another level – literal time travel! And then Yuvan’s superbly subversive music takes the most familiar background scores from Mouna Raagam and offers a subtle twist here and there! It is fascinating to listen, almost as if Mouna Raagam’s background score from a parallel Earth (Earth 2?)! I cannot wait to hear what Yuvan has done with the songs in this film’s soundtrack!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-ldL5678l4
Mazhavillaye – I’m Game (Jakes Bejoy) – Malayalam: It’s probably Armaan Malik’s vocals, but I first heard this song in the background while watering the plants and the lyrics faded in my active memory and I couldn’t place the song in any state or language – it felt like a pan-Indian song, and could have fit any language… Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bangla, but perhaps not Punjabi or Marathi where I still hear more ‘rooted’ music that I can identify with those states/languages, though they too heavily orient themselves towards specifically identifiable and oft-used sounds. The tune is nice in a broad, generic way, though and Embar Kannan’s violin interlude deserves a mention. Jakes does really well in the anupallavi (“Kinaavini Theeraathe En”), in fact, and that “Panimazha Pozhiyana” bridge was a lovely touch.
Tu Rehnuma – Harsh Kargeti, ft. Laqshay Kapoor (Indipop/Hindi) – A gently lilting melody composed well by Harsh, and Laqshay singing adding the necessary appeal too. What seemed grounded with Harmonium sounds suddenly turns a bit modern with William Koti’s guitar playing the ‘Tu hi rab’ line. It’s a nice touch, though.
Adai Mazhaiyile, Ellam Neeye, Aayiram Thalavali – Sai Prashob (I-POPSTAR) – Tamil: I have heard all the songs, from the many episodes of I-POPSTAR and the only person/singer/composer who clearly stood out with a unique talent seems to be Sai Prashob. Adai Mazhaiyile is clearly his towering highlight in the show, with a tune that seems to be based on Nalinakanthi raaga (remember ‘Enthan Nenjil Neengatha’ from Kalaignan?). Sai composes the melody very skillfully and sings it really well too, along with Sivaangi. In Ellam Neeye, Sai handles the sitar beautifully while singing what seemed like Desh raaga to me. It’s a fantastic tune too, and Sai’s solo singing fully powers the energetic melody. In Ayiram Thalavali, Sai goes for a pop outlook and handles the guitar wonderfully in the middle! Pudhu Pudhu Payaname was the only song that seemed too templatized in a generic way to me. But I clearly see a bright future for the new ‘Sai’ after Abhyankkar in Tamil music.
Kanthari – Anand Madhusoodanan, ft. Mithun Jayaraj (Malayalam/Indipop): Anand layers a lovely, semi-classical’ish melody on top of a Weeknd’ish rhythm/backdrop and the mix works surprisingly well. Mithun Jayaraj’s singing lifts the song considerably, with him alternating between slower almost classical style singing and a very-Kerala style rhythmic jadhi-like lines.
