Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly, new music playlist.
Week 312: YouTube | Spotify
Shehar, Aise Hi, Khwaab – Last Man in Tower (Govind Vasantha) – Hindi: Even though the vaudeville-style tune has been attempted by a lot of composers in recent times (Pritam, in particular), Govind Vasantha does a superb job, aided generously by Amit Trivedi’s voice no less! For some reason, I really wanted to hear a slower, mellower variant of this song sung by Piyush Mishra! Vijay Prakash and Pavithra Chari breathe life into the deeply affecting lullaby-style melody of Aise Hi. This is Govind’s home territory! Khwaab too is Govind’s trademark and Vijay Prakash does a goosebumps-inducing effort with his singing for the pensive, soaring melody! There’s quite a bit of violin solo work in the song that I presume is by Govind himself.
Jhoomo, Tere Sang – Don’t Be Shy (Ram Sampath) – Hindi: Even though Jhoomo sounds a LOT like ‘Neend Churaya Meri’ from Ishq (Anu Malik), which was in turn copied from Linear’s ‘Sending All My Love’, the song does have a neat 80s charm. Much of that charm is due to the singers, Saahel and Jonita Gandhi. Armaan Malik and Yaashasvii Ddasane’s Tere Sang too carries that dreamy retro outlook and makes for a lovely listen.
Rafta Rafta – Vibe (Amit Trivedi) – Hindi: I expected a lot more from Amit in this soundtrack, but besides ‘Raaton Mein Aana’, this is the only other song that worked for me. It carries Amit’s signature that you can easily identify when ‘Saara Hafta’ line drops 🙂 Aditya Jain does a good job with the singing.
Rangiyara – Haiwaan (Pritam) – Hindi: Shaan for Saif Ali Khan is a such a perfect match, though at one point in the video, Saif sings in Sukhwinder Singh’s voice too, which odd since Sukhwinder Singh’s voice was meant for the other singer(s) in the boat! Pritam’s tune is winsome and very easily likeable… and very different from present-day tunes. The guitar work in the song is particularly lovely – Meghdeep Bose, I presume.
Konji Konji – Raja’s Playlist (Yuvan Shankar Raja) – Tamil: That kind of song that deserved a considerably better singer than Yuvan singing it himself. Typical, early-Yuvan melody that is rhythmic as well. If someone (an actual singer) had sung it, it would have been even more terrific! That Qawali’ish interlude (“Kaadhal Paadal”)( presumably sung by Aravind Karneeswaran is a fantastic touch that is very, very-Yuvan!
Pandi Muni Kekkudhu – Lenin Pandiyan (Ilaiyaraja) – Tamil: A tune and sound straight out of Raja’s own ‘Kottaiya Vittu’ from Chinna Thaayee even though the older song was a gentler song sung beautifully by Uma Ramanan. This one is all angst, though with a similar tune.
Thaen Pozhudhugale, Vaazhum Kaalam – Paris Cafe (K) – Tamil: Whatever happened composer K… he was such a promising talent a few years back! It’s good to hear his tunes in Paris Cafe, though not everything works. Thaen Puzhudhugale has a pleasant melody that is calming. Both Sathyaprakash and Fathima Henna keep that outlook up with their singing. The anupallavi too is an interesting surprise with just 2 lines and the main Thaen Pozhudhugale repeating without any bridge. There’s something retro’ish about the melody that I wasn’t able to pinpoint even though the music around the tune is modern enough. Vaazhum Kaalam is on similar lines with its serene melody and sounding very different from what we’re hearing currently. Both Ananthakrishnan E and Elsa Sneha handle the tune well, with the extended interludes working really well.
Kalla Nikkiriye – Anbil Avan (Govind Vasantha) – Tamil: I was wondering where the title ‘Kalla Nikkiriye’ appears in the song since it doesn’t open the song! To my surprise, it literally ends the pallavi! Sid Sriram’s superb singing powers this lilting, sweeping melody so beautifully. Karthik Netha’s lines too deserve a special mention.
Magale – Baththa (Sai Abhyankkar?) – Tamil: The most un-Sai-Abhyankkar song so far in his career! Just when I thought the father-singing-about/to-daughter genre has plateaued forever (I’m looking at you, Chella Magale from Jananayagan), Sai springs a surprise by resurrecting the template with a heart-felt melody that just works! There’s a lit of early-Rahman musical cues in the interlude and background, but overall, this is a beautifully imagined tune.
Rowdy Ya, Yethum Illai, Blessing, How Else To Name It, Long Drive, Piriya Vidai, Nanba, Parotta Chukka – Dorothy OST (Ilaiyaraaja) – Instrumental: After listening to it multiple times over 2 weeks, I’m still unable to say anything cohesive about this soundtrack 🙂 It almost feels like Raja’s nudge-wink effort to tease his long-term fans into going on a mental time-travel trip tying to parse what phase of their lives they can remember when they are reminded of some snatches of one or more song in this OST… as they connect which older song of his that comes to their mind! Every song here evokes that mental model! The most prominent one, to me, was Yethum Illai taking me back to the first time I watched ‘Geetanjali’ and the anupallavi of ‘Oh Priya Priya’ playing in my mind seamlessly! Your mileage for each song may vary depending on your knowledge of Raja’s magnificent repertoire.
Sarigamale Gunde Anchullo – Maya Lady (Vishal Chandrashekhar) – Telugu: This is the kind of melody that has ‘Vishal Chandrashekhar’ written all over it. The Qawali-style interludes and Hindustani-style phrases make a difference, as also Sireesha Bhagavatula’s excellent singing. That the song sounds reminded me of Rahman’s Guru number ‘Tere Bina’ is incidental, I suppose.
Telusa Telusa – Thellakaagitham (Vijai Bulganin) – Telugu: Vijai Bulganin has a knack for such low-key, thoroughly engaging melodies! Anudeep Dev is outstanding with the singing (Lipsika joins him in the anupallavi).
Kaathangal Dhoore – It’s a Medical Miracle (Mujeeb Majeed) – Malayalam: Probably because I associate the kids chorus (done well) with Vishnu Vijay (more recently, thanks to Bethleham Kudumba Unit), I first thought this song was by him! And then I realized this is by Mujeeb Majeed! It’s a captivating tune, sung well by Sanjith Hegde, and the kids chorus (Aadya Aneesh,Nila Raj, Vishnudath Santhosh) enhances the appeal further.
Cheluve Kele Cheluve – Bail (B. Ajaneesh Loknath) – Kannada: Trust Ajaneesh to breathe life into the most templatized genres – meet-cute. The gorgeous melody is enveloped in an energetic rhythm punctuated with Mambalam SivaKumar’s nadaswaram too! KS Hari Shankar and Harshika Devanath do a wonderful job with the singing, and the ‘Cheluve’ hook works wonders effortlessly.
