Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly, new music playlist.
Week 285: YouTube | Spotify
Ul Jalool Ishq – Gustaakh Ishq (Vishal Bhardwaj) – Hindi: Vishal Bardwaj’s music, Gulzar’s lyrics, sung by Shilpa Rao and Papon, and the song totally lives up to all those people’s immense standards! Papon and Shilpa’s voices waft like incense over the music thanks to Gulzar’s beautiful choice of words.
Yaar Mere – Homebound (Amit Trivedi) – Hindi: Amit brings back his Kai Poche-level sound in Yaar Mere, particularly in the breakout ‘Garda ude’ line. But this is, beyond that soaring line, a delivcate duet with great balance between the two singers – Papon’s voice is airy, soulful, while Javed Ali balances it with smooth resonance.
Nallaru Po – Dude (Sai Abhyankkar) – Tamil: There are 3 singers credited for this song – Sai himself, his father Tippu and Mohit Chauhan. I seem to hear primarily Sai’s voice and unable to clearly identify the other two. But, as far as the ‘love failure’ musical genre goes in Tamil cinema, this is a solid entry, with Sai’s core melody conveying the emotional resonance with an experience far beyond his age! A special mention to Vivek’s lyrics that made me sit up multiple times. ‘Thindaadurene Maane… *tha po nnu vittutene’ was an interesting, expletive-laden variant of ‘Nallaru Po’ 🙂 And ‘Hey Ennapanna poren kekaadha
Indha pakkam neeyum paakaadha
Michamulla kaadhal atchadhaya podum’ has a brilliant flow, both musically and lyrically!
Ennale Ennale – KISS (Jen Martin) – Tamil: The only other song from the full soundtrack of Kiss that I liked (beyond the one’s that I had written about earlier). There’s a strong whiff of both Anirudh and Leon James in the music, but Jen does pretty well with the punchy ‘Ennale Ennale’ hook that lands beautifully after the extended exposition by Abishek Suresh.
Sogasu Chudatharama – Telusu Kada (Thaman S) – Telugu: Thaman’s song is dreamy, melodic, and effortlessly addictive as it glows with a captivating bounce that he has already used many times. Karthik totally owns the song with his vocals, though Shubani, on electric mandolin and Shubashree in electric guitar make their mark!
Padakalame, Thattara Thattara, Vaada Veera, Ammore Senniore – Balti (Sai Abhyankkar) – Malayalam: Besides Jaalakari, the overall soundtrack is a very competent effort by a debutant (in Malayalam). In Padakalame, even beyond the racy elements and rap, Sai ensures that there’s a beating heart in the melody (that he handles, mostly, though it is voiced by others too, occasionally). Sai builds the momentum gradually and confidently in Thattara Thattara. Vaada Veera is my favorite in the album. There’s a swagger in the melody that Pranavam Sasi handles brilliantly. Ammore Senniore’s, with its inventive sound, is something I associated with Prashant Pillai’s deft touch.
Neeye Punchiri: One Side Love – Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra (Jakes Bejoy) – Malayalam: The one (only) song that worked for me in the Lokah soundtrack (which may still work for me within the context of watching the film, which I haven’t) as a standalone song! The song has a languid groove with smoldering hooks that unfolds like a late-night reverie. Captivating!
Attyaan Pottyaan, Thoraa Varsham, Kreedayam – Vala – Story Of A Bangle (Govind Vasantha) – Malayalam: Besides the songs that I have already added to the previous editions of Weeklies, there are 3 more that stood out, from the full soundtrack. Attyaan Pottyaan is in the Thaikkudam Bridge mold – not surprising at all. There’s a racy tune, there’s splendid chorus, and there’s searing guitar in the backgrounds. It also sounds a bit like Rajesh Murugesan’s Neram song, Pistah. Shankar Mahadevan’s presence in Thoraa Varsham was a surprise, mainly because it is Anwar Ali who opens the song, shortly before Shankar starts and their voices merge! There’s a gentle lilt in the rhythm that bolsters the haunting melody and interludes. The short Kreedayam was really interesting, almost like I had stumbled into Ajaneesh Loknath’s soundtrack with a variation of Kantara’s Varaaha Roopam… or Thaikkudam Bridge’s Navarasam!
Brahmakalasha – Kantara Chapter 1 (B. Ajaneesh Loknath) – Kannada: Adyar D. Balasubramaniam Nadasbala’s nadaswaram almost opens this song too, just like Kantara’s Varaaha Roopam, but singer Abby V is the one to do real opening honors here. And what a fantastic opening prelude he offers! The melody is deeply affecting, pulsing with sacred fervour, just like the earlier song, even though both are vastly different, tune-wise. Embaar Kannan’s violin is present too, by the way. Abby V’s intensity rides the tribal rhythms and ambient swells wonderfully. A great start to the soundtrack!
Sukoon – Salim Sulaiman, ft. Arijit Singh (Hindi/Indipop): A Salim Sulaiman song that almost manages to sound like a Vishal Bhardwaj song! It’s almost like a best of both worlds, and with Arijit Singh leading the vocals! Only someone like Arijit can use his voice to make it shimmers like an inner sigh, aided by the melody’s quiet, expansive, emotionally vivid note.
Nila Kadhai – Narayan Sharma, ft. Vijaynarain (Tamil/Indipop): At the 30-second mark, the song takes a surprising retro tone, as if I had landed in a song by AM Rajah, musically! But the song continued to surprise me consistently even after that given that I wasn’t able to get hold of the flow easily! And it ends too, almost mid-sentence! Lovely, mellow song, with immersive singing by Vijaynarain and classical Tamil lyrics by Ahamed Shyam, that made me listen to it more than I expected.
Lelo – Keshav Tyohar, Shrey Gupta, Harjot Kaur, ft. Shreya Ghoshal (Punjabi/Indipop): A gorgeously moody ballad, with Shreya’s magical voice dripping with longing, and even the pauses carrying weight! It’s classic Shreya: tender, haunting, and effortlessly immersive, though fabulous job by the composers in creating the melody and putting it together.
Moha Jadu – Coke Studio Bangla Season 3 (Bangla/Pop): A heady fusion of Bangla mysticism and Persian verse. Habib Wahid’s production blends electronic-folk textures with Baul resonance, while Tajikistani vocalist Mehrnigori Rustam’s Farsi lines weave seamlessly with native mystic poetry. Excellent production, and makes for great listening.
