Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly, new music playlist.
Week 304: YouTube | Spotify
Vo Nahin – Main Vaapas Aaunga (A R Rahman) – Hindi: A hatrick from Rahman (like Hiphop Tamizha, down below)! Kya Kamaal Hai was excellent, ditto with Maskara… and now, Rahman produces a worthy follow-up to those two, but in a dramatically different way. This is a heart-tugging, sweeping melody that has Rahman underscoring the musical layering so beautifully. After the serene opening by Adithya RK, the first interlude is a thing of beauty! That undercurrent continues as the song moves, constantly bubbling in the background till Rahman lands the qawali’ish phase of the song in a marvelous stretch! Equally amazing is the way the qawali phase is eased off! It’s almost as if we imagined that phase in a dream, and wake up from that dream!
Kyun Mazaa Aa Raha Hai – Bandar (Vishal Mishra) – Hindi: Vishal’s ballad-style melody is very easy on the ear, and his singing too (besides Shashwat Dwivedi’s lines) elevates the song’s appeal considerably.
Mashooqa – Cocktail 2 (Pritam) – Hindi: Given the controversy surrounding this song, it is imperative that I address that first. There’s widespread allegation that this song is copied off a 1993 Italian song, Se So Arrubate A Nonna, by the duo, Bibi & Coco. Oddly, the original is not available on YouTube (yet) but easily available on Spotify. A day after the allegation, Pritam is reported to have scoffed at it and said that the similarity is imaginary. Much as I wish to believe that denial, I do hear generous shades of the original in Mashooqa. I also hear the very, very skillful way the original has been rewired into the Hindi song. Raghav Chaitanya is especially fantastic with his vocals even as Mahmood’s Italian interludes add a distinct new flavor to the melody.
Tumhi Ko, Phir Ajnabi – Chand Mera Dil (Sachin-Jigar) – Hindi: Chand Mera Dil is definitely one of Sachin-Jigar’s better soundtrack in recent times. I already loved the title song and Khasiyat, and the full soundtrack has two more songs worth listening to. There’s so much of Pritam in both Tumhi Ko and Phir Ajnabi – a bit more in the latter, if I may add, even if it seems to start more like a Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy song. Tumhi Ko could easily fit inside the ‘Metro… In Dino’ soundtrack(s), complete with Raghav Chaitanya’s singing (who was so very good in that soundtrack) and a gently lilting rhythm. But it was Suvarna Tiwari’s singing in the antara that took me by surprise and made me sit up! Phir Ajnabi is Junaid Ahmed’s show all the way given how beautifully he owns Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lines to express a pensive longing.
Goindhamma – Meesaya Murukku 2 (Hiphop Tamizha) – Tamil: A hatrick from Hiphop Tamizha!! After Aura 10/10 and Pappali Pazhamey, this is the 3rd consecutive track from the film that is as enjoyable as the previous two! This one has a distinct 80s Hindi film music’s Jhankar Beats vibe, and the simple, repetitive lines make it into a compelling earworm even if you ignore the intentionally nasal singing by Aadhi. I do wish the composing duo had focused more on the lyrics, though. I like the fact that they use phrases like ‘Vida Kandan Kada Kandan’, but wonder why they get the pronunciation wrong as, ‘Vida Kondan Kada Kondan’.
Athu Thalore – Karuppu (Sai Abhyankkar) – Tamil: I want to know who turned the French phrase, ‘a tout a l’heure’ into ‘Athu Thalore’ for this YouTube video upload!! But, this is the song that actually made me think that Sai is not just all-multitrack-noise (like the rest of Karuppu soundtrack was, to me) and the boy (man?) can think and deliver a thematic melody too! Really good tune, excellent use of The Indian Choral Ensemble and fantastic singing by Ananya Chakraborty.
Watcha Udadha – Parimala and Co (Foxn) – Tamil: Foxn is a music duo consisting of PJ (Pradeep PJ) and Wayne (Wayne Pavey). Going by the 2 songs released so far from this film (Watcha Udadha and Tomato Thakkali), the duo’s music seems to fit under a very specific template. Watcha worked better than Tomato, for me, though both seem to be rolling entirely around a catchy hook with everything else simply leading towards that hook in a desperate hurry.
Reengara – Nooru Sami (Balaji Sriram) – Tamil: The way the song opens, possibly alluding to raagas like Amrithavarshini or Hamirkalyani felt like a considerably better proposition than the hook (Reengara) that seemed to come out of nowhere! Darini Hariharan does a particularly good job with the singing.
Ramani Kalyanam, Kallolam, Madhuram – Ramani Kalyanam (Sooraj S Kurup) – Telugu: Really glad to see Sooraj moving beyond Malayalam and Tamil film music, and I assume this is Telugu debut. The title song’s semi-classical mix works very smoothly thanks to Haricharan and Ramya Behara’s vocals. Is that Kaanada raaga I hear in this melody? Kallolam reminded me of Sooraj’s Malayalam repertoire a lot more than the title song. This is a intelligently assembled—sound-wise—song with a melody that took me to Rahman’s Dil Se Re (Jog raaga?). Terrific singing by Kapil Kapilan, and Avani Malhar, in particular. Madhuram seemed like the lesser of the three songs so far, though it has a really warm hook and both Sooraj S Kurup and Aruna Mary George handle the singing more than competently.
Hello Bossuu – Sing Geetham (Devi Sri Prasad) – Telugu: I’m not sure why this is being called the ‘Deleted song’, but it is a perfectly good song with adequate whimsy! DSP’s usual rhythmic nuance exists all through the short song (is there a longer/full version coming out too?), and the singing too (Wamcee, mainly) nails the feel of a drunk song with a 1960s style tune.
Hellallallo – Peddi (A R Rahman) – Telugu: Surprisingly, Rahman has a crackling hook in this song even as the build-up towards the song seems very ordinary! Rakshita Suresh is superb with her singing.
Andhee Andhani Andham, Vennela Thunaka – Mareechika (Ilaiyaraja) – Telugu: There is definitely a dated sound in both songs that make me cringe mildly, but the veteran has interesting and likeable tunes here. Karthik and Shweta Mohan pull the former up with their singing, while the anupallavi in the latter makes it work quite well, along with Reema’s soulful singing.
Kehdo Na – Sanjith Hegde (Hindi/Indipop): Sanjith takes his own outstanding Kannada pop song, Kareyole, and transports it to Hindi but not before sprinkling on top to make a terrific difference! You don’t hear the same serene start like in the Kannada original, but a more dramatic ‘Tehniyon se ghir chuke’ that seems completely unrelated to the actual tune… but the bridge to the ‘Keh do na’ core tune is lovely! Sanjith excels all through – the singing, the composition, and most importantly, in the way he avoids a direct reuse from Kannada to Hindi!
Bloom – Barath Dhanasekar (Tamil/Indipop): I had a tough time comprehending that this is the same Barath Dhanasekar who had earlier scored the music of the 2024 film, Romeo (starring Vijay Antony)! I don’t think I liked any song from that soundtrack (enough to make it to Milliblog Weeklies, though I recall mildly liking Thaniya Naan). But Bloom worked for me considerably better. It has a likeably energetic opening (though the forced mix of English words like Fast Forward aayache) and an even better hook that lands brilliantly. I also see that the composer features himself in the music video. Another Sai Abhyankkar in the making?
Niluvanivvade – Vijai Bulganin (Telugu/Indipop): Vijai channels his inner Weeknd here and produces a delightful song! The combination of the almost-retro synth sound with Telugu lines make for a curious, hugely listenable combination. Vijai’s raw singing too adds to the charm.
Paaykappal – Zukaboi (Malayalam/Indipop): Close on the heels of Aksomaniac’s Amsham, comes Paaykappal by Zukaboi (and sung by Zukaboi and Raaza Razak). I found a lot of commonalities between the song, though the latter amplifies a distinct Muslim-song sound, with the generous, alluring Harmonium layer and sounding closer to a Shaan Rahman composition than Aksomaniac’s.
Manase – Suprabatha (Curry) – Kannada/Indipop: After Seetha Kalyana in April, the next song from Curry’s Suprabatha album is equally good! The base of the song, I presume, is set to Reethigowla raaga, and it is magnified in the musical interludes beautifully. The composition by Ashish Palanna, Ria D’souza and Sumanth Shetty carries a unique flavor just like in Seetha Kalyana, a fusion of classical and pop, but in a far more understated and milder way than, say, Agam or Thaikkudam Bridge. Ria’s vocals carry much of the song’s weight, but Chandana Bala Kalyan’s additional vocals make an impact too.
