Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly, new music playlist.
Week 311: YouTube | Spotify
Raaton Mein Aana – Vibe (Amit Trivedi) – Hindi: Amit channels his inner Weeknd for a ambient, effortlessly likeable melody and sings it really well too!
Dil Jaaneya, Dil Jaaneya Reprise – Gandhari (Shor Police) – Punjabi/Hindi: The best way to enjoy this song is to play the two back-to-back – first the actual song and then, immediately, the reprise. The actual song is a rhythmic melody very well handled by both Ananya Sharma and Faheem Abdullah. And when you listen to the reprise by Deepali Sahay and Yash Kapoor, you hear a completely mellowed down version of the same melody and that made me go back to the previous song again, to observe the contrast again!
Muthumani – Dorothy (Ilaiyaraaja) – Tamil: Oh wow, what a stunning song! Trust Karthik Subbaraj to extract something like this from Ilaiyaraaja! The extended 2-minute+ prelude is scintillating, with a trance-like effect. When the actual singing portion lands, it is a delightfully lush melody steeped in Raja’s style. In Shwetha Mohan’s portions, the interspersing of ‘Than thana’ as the ending of words/lines is a lovely touch. And then, in the third part of the song, Raja enters with his ‘VanakkiLiye’ is simply mesmerizing. The overall mix is a terrific blend of Raja’s melodic style on top of a hypnotic rhythm. I can’t wait to hear what more this album holds.
Kalaivaniye – Meesaya Murukku 2 (Hiphop Tamizha) – Tamil: What a contrast this song is from the 4 previously released songs from this film! Hiphop Tamizha’s melody is heartfelt and very effective. His nasal singing irks within this melody, but thankfully, Sathya Prakash and Kaushik Krish are singing along, to make it better.
Ottarathiye, Puthirai Naan Irunthen – Amaram (Mickey J Meyer) – Tamil: If I ignore Inidhu Inidhu (2010), the Tamil remake of the Telugu ‘Happy Days’ for which Mickey reused his songs, Amaram feels like his debut in Tamil! That is surprising given the low-key nature of this project and considering Mickey is at least a tier-2 composer in Telugu. Ottarathiye has the hallmark of a standard-issue Mickey song, with Haricharan’s voice soaring in the most likeable manner. Puthirai is the actual surprise! It is so Harris Jayaraj’ish that I had a tough time associating with Mickey! Karthik is at his usual, impressive self, while Charulatha Mani’s portions are the ones that may remind you of Harris’s music the most!
Kannamma, Chinni Gundello Ala Sakhi – Jagamae Sangeetham (Vishal Chandrashekhar) – Telugu: Considering this is the Telugu remake of Bandish Bandits that had outstanding music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy in season 1, Vishal’s music is mostly very disappointing. The only two songs that stood out for me actually sound more like Rahman’s! Kannamma has a strong whiff of Rahman, reminding me of Suttum Vizhi, from Kandukondain Kandukondain and the anupallavi of ‘Thillana Thillana’ from Muthu! Ananthu’s singing is brilliant, however. Sai Vignesh’s singing too is excellent in Chinni Gundello Ala Sakhi, but this one too sounds like Rahman composing some Bharathiyar verse!
Illey Illa, Varnajaalam, Pidithara, Indrajaalam, Muttayi Vandi, Kanmaniye, Kochu Thanuppu – Bethlehem Kudumba Unit (Vishnu Vijay) – Malayalam: Illey Illa sees Vishnu make stupendous use of the kids chorus featuring Chinmayi Kiranlal, Vasudev and Nila Raj, supporting Kapil Kapilan’s lead vocals. The blend is reminiscent of some of the best in this style by Ilaiyaraja (remember Anjali?). Varnajaalam, Pidithara and Indrajaalam offer a single melody’s spectrum across 3 songs. Like the 2 songs of Gandhari, it is best to listen to the 3 songs back-to-back since they complement each other beautifully. K S Harisankar and Poornima Kannan are excellent in Varnajaalam, particularly in the anupallavi where Vishnu echoes their vocals to great effect. In Indrajaalam, Aparna Harikumar and K S Harisankar handle the slightly extended melody, where even the ‘Hey Indrajaalam’ is stretched for a nice contrast. Pidithara is the most somber of the 3, with an even more softer variant of the core melody.
Muttayi Vandi and Cha Cha Chi Chi Choo are so very Amit Trivedi’ish! Sid Sriram excels in the former, with Vishnu layering the background with the infectious kids chorus and the repetitive strings-like phrase. But Cha Cha Chi Chi Choo didn’t work for me at all. Kanmaniye is my favorite from the soundtrack, with Vishnu handling the soaring melody beautifully, with the interludes doing an almost Coldplay-style sound but without the extra-large stadium-sound amplification. Kochu Thanuppu is the easiest song to immediately like, with its smooth, rhythmic appeal. Vishnu’s most recent Athiradi barely worked for me but the man is in great form in Bethlehem Kudumba Unit, possibly because of his association with Girish AD, with whom he delivered two fantastic songs for Premalu.
Radhima – Sai Abhyankkar (Tamil/Indipop): Another earworm from Sai, featuring another top-tier recent actress… this is becoming a template and is working big time for the young composer. I like the fact that he continues to make time for his independent (non-film) singles along with a busy film music career. The song is catchy, no doubt, but feels just like the earlier songs in terms of the break-up – it almost feels engineered for Reels, with specific smaller bits being assembled together. For instance, the ‘Radhima’ part is one, the ‘Thangamana Paiyyan’ is another, and the ‘Haath Uthao’ Hindi phrases being the third. Each could be extended into a separate song on its own, but here, they are fused together!
Onna Moona – Rahul Sridhar (Tamil/Indipop): There’s a Vidyasagar’ish touch to the melody by Rahul Sridhar here that is very alluring. Pa Hariharan’s lines use just 2 words per line in the pallavi (‘Agam En, Puram En’). The word by word progression is lovely! Debaditya Naha’s Sitar and Rahul’s own electric guitar add tremendous charm to the song. The second interlude is also a wonderful detour, taking the tune into a new direction.
Kaadhal Oonjal, Devaloka Sundari, Pesamale – Siri Xander and Arra Aria Khayal (Tamil/Indipop): Chennai-based Siri Xander and Arra Aria Khayal produce an eclectic mix, skillfully fusing carnatic swaram to an ebullient electronic sound. Kaadhal Oonjal’s swaram reminded me of Nattai raaga, even as the musical envelope around it is incredibly modern and crisp. In Devaloka Sundari, the musical style seems more Hindustani, but the melody is equally captivating. In Pesamale, which reminded me a lot like a mix of the rhythm of ‘Barso Re’ (Guru) and the melody of ‘Porane Porane’ (Vaagai Sooda Vaa), there’s a surprising infusion of Marathi Abhang too (Santha padanchi jod de re Hari)! While Siri Xander’s vocal range and singing is fantastic, I’d love to see her update her Tamil diction to get the proper ‘L’ instead of ‘l’.
