Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 161: On Spotify | On YouTube
A bumper musical week – 19 songs, this week! YouTube has all 19, but Spotify is missing 3 songs – Annaatthe’s Saara Kaatrae, Maddy Engira Madhavan’s Yarathu, and Honsla Rakh’s Guitar.
Aasai – Enna Solla Pogirai (Vivek – Mervin) – Tamil: Vivek and Mervin are usually very, very dependable and they deliver yet again with this absolutely gorgeous melody! Debutant lyricist Maathevan’s verse deserves a special mention – soaked in pure Tamil with an ‘aaga’ edge adding to the charm. When Mervin goes ‘EnnaaLum theera kaadhalaaga’ in the anupallavi, completely outside the melody’s ecosystem, I started to wonder how the composition would get back to the original melody. But the composers beautifully bring it back to the ‘Kattikondu mutham vaithu ondraaga’ line! Excellent stuff!
Adiye – Bachelor (Dhibu Ninan Thomas) – Tamil: I warmed up to the song a bit slowly. I did not particularly get drawn to the way it opens, but Dhibu adds so many layers in the background—a fantastic chorus part and a wonderfully rhythmic vocal layer—that makes the song so much enjoyable as it progresses. Much of the credit should also go to the singer, Kapil Kapilan, who, given his solo outing, does a stellar job!
Uchanthala Regaiyile – Pisasu 2 (Karthik Raja) – Tamil: I have seen a lot of people link this song with Ilayaraja’s Psycho song, Unna Nenachu (that too sung by Sid Sriram), but barring the singer, I couldn’t trace any direct connection. The sound is probably similar given that Karthik Raja works closely with his father. But he carves a unique song on his own here, with a superb violin profusion in the background that is as good as his old man!
Yarathu – Maddy Engira Madhavan (Hesham Abdul Wahab) – Tamil: It’s so good to see Hesham get more opportunities to compose, that too outside Malayalam films. Yarathu scores very well with its engaging rhythm and a really-high pitched melody that both Haricharan and Chinmayi are more than adept at handling.
Annaatthe Annaatthe & Saara Kaatrae – Annaatthe (D.Imman) – Tamil: I was very curious to hear what Imman would do for his first film for Rajinikanth and I see, at least based on the title song, that he has decided to channel his inner Deva. Barring some of the conversation-styled phrases and the modern sounds, this could have been a Deva-Rajini song. But it sounds adequately energetic, thanks largely to the man we’d all miss for a very, very, very long time – S.P. Balasubrahmanyam (though he’d live forever through his many, many songs). In Saara Kaatrae, Imman is in his usual elements with a lush melody that he usually hands over to Shreya Ghoshal to do the honors. This one has Sid Sriram too, so even more enjoyable.
Mayakkathe Maaya Kanna – Sabhaapathy (Sam CS) – Tamil: A Navaratri song from Sam CS and it is timed quite well in terms of the release! I quite liked the opening and the overall sound, but as it progresses, I couldn’t get hold of the tune despite multiple listens. It probably heads in too many directions for my comfort and doesn’t come together coherently. But, a good attempt, nonetheless.
Madhura Nagarilo – Pelli SandaD (M.M.Keeravani) – Telugu: Considering the kinds of periods (in films and film music) that Keeravani would have witnessed given his experience since the late 80s, and given the musical style of director Raghavendra Rao, this song is a marvel! Keeravani mixes a semi-classical base on a Telugu masala style with such ease that it works wonders. Just as you soak into the melody of the opening lines, in comes Kaala Bhairava with his ‘Dorakka Dorakka Dorikindi’.
Thoorpu Padamara & Venuvulo – Natyam (Shravan Bharadwaj) – Telugu: The monumentally underrated Shravan already has some fantastic songs in this film, and Thoorpu Padamara confidently adds to that list. Beyond the highly likeable melody, Shravan plays around with the instrumental sound to great effect – there’s one specific sound that sounds like a morphed version of a guitar or a veena that is particularly lovely! And the choice of Chinmayi to sing this song – brilliant. In the other song, Venuvulo, Shravan uses the familiar, catchy melody of the famous Ganesha song ‘Bomma bomma tha’ (Tai tai ganapati) and crafts his melody entirely around it in a hugely inventive way. Anurag Kulkarni’s singing elevates the song considerably, particularly the phrases that sound like open questions even in the tune (beyond the lyrics).
Chettekki – Kondapolam (M.M.Keeravani) – Telugu: Besides Obulamma (about which I wrote about earlier), there are quite a few songs in the film, but the only other song that worked for me is this one, featuring Kaala Bhairava and Shreya Ghoshal. Keeravani has a fantastic rhythm in the song that is irresistible, and the singers do a superb job accentuating the melody. There are quite a few places in the song that took me to Ilayaraja’s music!
Idhi Nijamaa – Bathuku Busstand (Mahavir) – Telugu: There are some rough edges in the song that I’m willing to overlook, but this is a fairly competent effort by composer Mahavir – is it the same person who goes by the name Yelender Mahaveer in some of the earlier films? Even the earlier 2 songs from the film weren’t as good as this one.
Ninnu Chudagane – Atithi Devo Bhava (Shekar Chandra) – Telugu: I wasn’t impressed with Shekar Chandra’s first song from the film, despite Sid Sriram’s singing (Baguntundhi). But, interestingly, he seems to be using the same formula of that song—which was a softer melody—in this song which is more of a lilting and catchy song. The formula has shades of a catchy percussion layer repetitively and in this song, this works pretty well.
Allipoola Vennela – A R Rahman (Telugu) – Indipop: If I’m not mistaken, this is a direct Telugu song from Rahman after more than a decade (since 2010’s Komaram Puli). And that he chose to compose it for the Bathukamma Festival makes it very special! The song’s character has the Rahman of yore – this could easily be featured in, say a Telugu set-up Alai Paayuthey to replace the title song. The singing is largely a chorus, but the singers, together (Rakshita Suresh, Haripriya, Deepthi Suresh, Aparna Harikumar, and Padmaja), do a fantastic job!
Kantharipenne – Marathon (Bibin Ashok) – Malayalam: Bibin has a simple, very catchy melody that he layers with captivating musical phrases with an intentionally caricaturish sound… and it all works so well together! Mathayi Sunil’s singing is the one that lifts the song from being merely comical to something musically sound too.
Naale – Everafter (Malayalam) – Indipop: As a huge fan of Roby Abraham‘s music, I have definitely missed him! Thankfully, he gets back in style, with his band that also features Madonna Sebastian. The song fits perfectly within Roby’s repertoire and is a wonderful listen!
Premakke Kannilla – Sakath (Judah Sandhy) – Kannada: The last time Judah composed for Ganesh, the result was delightful (Chamak). The first single from Sakath seems promising too, with a lilting melody with a prominent ghatam-style backdrop with equally involving strings. I don’t think I have heard Pancham Jeeva’s singing this prominently (he was one of the singers in Avane Srimannarayana’s Hands Up, led mainly by Vijay Prakash), and he makes a terrific difference to the song (joined by Shreya Iyer, much later in the song).
Guitar – Honsla Rakh (Jsl) – Punjabi: A song featuring Diljit Dosanjh that is not composed or sung by him, considering he is playing the hero in the film. Jsl’s composition is a fun, bouncy affair, and Raj Ranjodh’s vocals seem perfect for it.
Supernova – Bada Boom (Ranjit Barot, ft. Mandolin U Srinivas): This is a 2010 song that I have already reviewed when I used to review full albums 
Adding it now because I had made a passing mention of it inside a tweet in a totally unrelated blog post last week and quite a few people bothered enough to find the song and listen to it… and were totally mind blown by it!