Originally published in The Hindu.

Chil chinchilamai – Thoppil Joppan (Malayalam – Vidyasagar)
It would be massively unfair to refer to Vidyasagar as someone who apes Ilayaraja really well, more because the man is so talented without that reference, and less so because there are others like Imman who have imbibed that quality so beautifully as well. But Vidyasagar, given his limited work these days, does manage to evoke the Raja-flavour really well in songs like rain-soaked sound of Chil chinchilamai – this could have easily been a Chithra and Arunmozhi-sung song from a Tamil Nadhiya starrer; Swetha Mohan and Madhu Balakrishnan handle the song mighty well, but.

Pesu pesu – Uchathula Shiva (Tamil – Vidyasagar)
This week, as the much-parodied TV announcement goes, “Vidyasagar vaaram!”. Pesu pesu is as good as it comes, from Vidyasagar. With a whiff of what sounds like Charukesi raaga, the melody gains immensely from Balram’s (another forgotten, seriously under-rated singer) fantastic vocals, and Indulekha Warrier. The veena backdrop, the ghazal-like anupallavi (albeit with Doordarshan level impoverished strings in the background) prop the song well, while the and the super smooth anupallavi-to-charanam bridge (“idhazh pesaa kalaigalai pesu rathiye, unai marandhu…”) is particularly inventive.
Listen to Pesu pesu on DooPaaDoo.

Udja re – Rock On 2 (Hindi – Shankar Ehsaan Loy)
While Farhan Akhtar’s vocal prowess (or the lack of it) continues to be a point of debate, his co-star from Rock On 2 seems far more adept at the acting-to-singing transition. That quality comes out incredibly well in Udja re, where Shraddha Kapoor puts her voice to fantastic use. The song’s U2-style rock melody makes it a great listen, with Shraddha admirably handling the rock shenanigans.
Listen to the song on Saavn.

Aayava kanom – Kadalai (Tamil – Sam C.S.)
If Kadalai had music by Imman, one can be reasonably sure that the phrase ‘Aayava kanom’ would have been introduced with some context and backgrounder, and a making-of the song would have preceded the actual song. But the music is by the relatively less known Sam C.S – so, no such promotional tactics. In what is bound to be a new ‘mass’ catchphrase in Tamil Nadu (dependent entirely on the film’s success, of course), the lilting kuthu Aayava kanom rocks the Koyambedu tar-road dance floor. Sam’s lyrics are total thara-local level and perfect for the danc’y tune rendered admirably (with a lot of digital correction) by the film’s hero, Ma Ka Pa Anandh.

Ala baali (Singers: Nirmal Roy and Jabar Abbas. Composed by Shiraz Uppal)
The mandatory Middle Eastern/Arabic addition to Coke Studio (Season 9, Pakistan) doesn’t disappoint at all. The ‘Ala baali’ hook—which, in Arabic, means, “You’re on my mind”—is delivered with incredible sweetness by Nirmal Roy. Nirmal lingers on the words, ‘ala baali anta habibi’ and ‘ala baali anta qalbi’ so beautifully, while Jabar Abbas swoops in, Sukhwinder Singh-style, and picks up the thread perfectly. The song traverses Punjabi, Urdu and Arabic effortlessly to deliver a foot-tapping global concoction!

Originally published in The Hindu.

Andha pulla manasa – Adhagappattathu Magajanangalay (Tamil – D.Imman)
That mouthful of a title has gorgeous music by Imman, who seems to be channeling his inner Ilayaraja to fantastic effect all across the soundtrack. The raaga mix is heady – sounds of Simmendramadhyamam and Gowrimanohari seem more pronounced, even as Haricharan is stupendously good with the singing. Imman’s masterstroke is the wonderful twist after the first stanza, to gear up awesome guitars, changing the rhythm structure dramatically to a majestic new high, but retaining the soul of the tune so beautifully.

Payye veesum – Aanandam (Malayalam – Sachin Warrier)
Yet another singer turns into a composer! Sachin Warrier’s composing debut is both nuanced and accomplished. The soundtrack’s best happens to be Payye veesum, with its frothy, ebullient melody, delightfully orchestrated by Sachin, with a fantastic musical piece appearing four times, adding to the song’s overall appeal – prelude, the two interludes and the ending, where it gets a lovely veena layer too! Sachin’s choice of singers – his sister Sneha Warrier, and Ashwin Gopakumar, do a brilliant job with the vocals.

Mazhai ingillaye – Ammani (Tamil – K)
The resourceful and ever-interesting K strikes again in Ammani’s short, 3-song soundtrack. He ropes in Vaikom Vijayalakshmi for a Sahana raaga based Mazhai ingillaye and gives it a very interesting faux-classical—fusion, to put it vaguely—sound, with a languorous mridangam, morsing and a thumpy drum sound doing most of the work in impressive style. There’s the occasional solo violin too, expanding on the Sahana base really well.

Ela ela ela – ISM (Telugu – Anup Rubens)
Shakthisree Gopalan is the kind of singer that composers selectively hand over their best compositions given her range and style. Anup does the smart thing by handing over the best song of ISM to her – Ela ela ela. It’s a somber, immersive melody with a tinge of the kind of indipop music made popular by the band Euphoria. Shakthisree is magnificent handling the melody’s highs and softer notes, and the highly addictive Ela ela ela hook, all the while accompanying the lovely guitar phrase Anup concocts for the song.

Ei suzhali – Kodi (Tamil – Santhosh Narayanan)
Santhosh had a big month in October, with two of his soundtracks releasing in quick succession. Between Kodi and Kaashmora, the clear winner is Ei suzhali, a lilting, quirky ballad with a distinct retro-style synth orchestration that has an instant appeal. The best part of the song, though, is the relatively new and fresh voice of Vijaynarain – it is the kind of voice (a solo song, at that) that not only stands out, but also elevates the song’s overall charm.

Trying this new: listen to (almost) all the songs from this list via Saavn in one playlist

Note: This playlist does not include songs from Chennai 600028 II: Second Innings (Tamil), Aanandam, Team 5 and Thoppil Joppan (Malayalam) since they are not available on Saavn yet.

Hindi

Darkhaast – Shivaay (Mithoon)

Teri fariyad and Dil nawaziyan – Tum Bin 2 (Ankit Tiwari)

Title song, Channa mereya and Alizeh – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (Pritam)

Listen to Alizeh on Saavn.

Tamil

Sugar Mint-u Kari – Bruce Lee (G.V.Prakash Kumar)
That a GVP starrer has music by another composer is news by itself (though he is acting in a film with music by Rahman, of course). But the 3 song soundtrack has 2 songs by Ganesan Sekar and the only listenable song is by GVP himself… this lively rock ‘n roll song sung by GVP and M.M.Manasi.

Oyaa oyaa and Dhikku dhikku – Kaashmora (Santhosh Narayanan)

Mazhai ingillaye and Rotora paadhayile – Ammani (K)

Sirukki vaasam and Ei suzhali – Kodi (Santhosh Narayanan)

Idhukkuthaanae aasappattain, Yaenadi, Yaenadi (Shreya Ghoshal solo) and Andha pulla manasa – Adhagappattathu Magajanangalay (D.Imman)

Idhu kadhaiya and Nee Kidaithai – Chennai 600028 II: Second Innings (Yuvan Shankar Raja)
Listen to the songs on DooPaaDoo: Idhu kadhaiya |

Neee, Naan ini and Ennullae – Yaakkai (Yuvan Shankar Raja)

Nee tholaindhaayo, En pulse yethitu and Un kadhal irundhal – Kavalai Vendam (Leon James)

Naan konjam karuppu thaan and Idhayam idhayam – Kaththi Sandai (Hiphop Tamizha)

Hey Paathu podi and Iravinil Aattam – Kadavul Irukan Kumaru (G.V.Prakash Kumar)

Asathuthe – Rubaai (D.Imman)

Telugu

Ela ela ela – ISM (Anup Rubens)

Malayalam

Payye veesum and Khule raston pe – Aanandam (Sachin Warrier)

Ororo kunjichodum and Minni chinnum – Kolumittayi (Sreeraj Sahajan)

Megha pakshi and Neela shankhu pushpame – Team 5 (Gopi Sundar)

Chil chinchilamai – Thoppil Joppan (Vidyasagar)

Kannada

Thangaali – Santhu Straight Forward (V.Harikrishna)
Looks like the makers of the film were happy with the mere fact that they have Kannada industry’s top pair and gave Hari a free hand to whatever he wanted. The result is that barring this one song by Sonu Nigam, the rest falls flat! This one though is very well done, with a wonderfully rhythmic sound and a funny faux-lullaby chorus. Sonu, as usual, is fantastic!

News nodi and Baduke baduka kalisu – Rama Rama Re (Vasuki Vaibhav)

Jilka jilka, Jogulave, Mugilu belmugilu and Baana thoredhu neeli – Pushpaka Vimana (Charan Raj)

Indipop

Neeye – Phani Kalyan (Singers, in Tamil: Yazin Nizar and Sharanya Srinivas)
That Phani Kalyan is a protégé of A R Rahman is mighty apparent in the way the tune is constructed and orchestrated. Not to take anything away from Phani, the melody is wonderfully rich and flows as seamless as the lead dancers move all across the music video (featuring Shreya Deshpande and Niranjan Harishth, and choreographed by Vishwakiran Nambi) at appears for the song, and is an innate part of the song.

The Storm – Donn Bhatt (Album: Connected)
A recent Indian album that I loved! Donn Bhatt’s sound is electronica, something that I don’t pick up very often, but this one clearly is a lot likeable and that too, instantly. The best of the album is The Storm, with wonderful sarangi by Suhail Yusuf Khan!

Originally published in The Hindu.

Ae dil hai mushkil – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (Hindi – Pritam)
When you listen to the title song of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, you easily sense the kind of grandeur and scale Pritam wanted it to be in right at the beginning when the splendidly arranged strings accompany ‘Tu mera khuda’ and stay on, in style. Arijit’s vocals are absolutely delightful, expressing the melody’s sweep perfectly. The song eventually settles into a steady thrumming rhythm that is at once comforting and portending melancholy!

Yendi unna pidikkuthu – Maanagaram (Tamil – Javed Riaz)
Javed, who evolved from scoring for short films to feature films with his single in Aviyal, further evolves as a solo composer in Maanagaram and does fairly well for himself! The highlight of the soundtrack is Karthik’s spritely rendering of Yendi unna. The song’s guitar-layered melody builds steadily, banking on Karthik’s vocal dexterity, even taking on a fantastic celtic sound mid-way and moving on to a punchy, highly rhythmic interlude!

Dil nawaziyaan – Tum Bin 2 (Hindi – Ankit Tiwari)
If you—with great difficulty, at that—ignore the fact that Jagjit Singh has sung again for the new version of Koi fariyaad (Teri fariyaad), then the soundtrack of Tum Bin 2 has another lovely song on offer. Ankit Tiwari’s first solo track sees him concoct a beautiful mix of pop and ghazal, with Arko picking the pop part and Payal dev picking the ghazal. The base tune has a nice retro lilt before moving into pop and ghazal portions respectively seamlessly. Payal, in particular, handles the ghazal/semi-classical portions wonderfully. Though Arko’s eventual English utterances are mildly cringe-worthy, that’s a minor quibble in the overall scheme of things.

Neeye – Phani Kalyan (Singers, in Tamil: Yazin Nizar and Sharanya Srinivas)
That Phani Kalyan is a protégé of A R Rahman is mighty apparent in the way the tune is constructed and orchestrated. Not to take anything away from Phani, the melody is wonderfully rich and flows as seamless as the lead dancers move all across the music video (featuring Shreya Deshpande and Niranjan Harishth, and choreographed by Vishwakiran Nambi) at appears for the song, and is an innate part of the song.

Darkhaast – Shivaay (Hindi – Mithoon)
When Darkhaast starts, it seems like an open invitation by Mithoon to dismiss it as yet another Mithoon’ish template, but the composer does surprise by upping the sound ante shortly. The energetic Coldplay’ish backgrounds that Mithoon mounts, with Kalyan Baruah’s guitar and Bobby Shrivastava’s drums, are refreshingly good for the duet led by Arijit Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan.

Originally published in The Hindu.

Kadavule vidai – Rum (Tamil – Anirudh)
While Rum has a globe-trotting mix of genres (including hiphop and reggaeton!), the most interesting and addictive song of the soundtrack happens to be Kadavule vidai. The song aims for a broadly pleasing, inspirational sound like Michael Jackson’s Heal the world, and even uses the ‘Kadavule vidai’ hook to a fantastic, repetitive effect! Sean Roldan, in all his gruffy glory, sings it brilliantly and Anirudh employs some highly engrossing instruments in the background, including one that sounds like highly quivering fingers playing veena with intense passion.

The Storm – Donn Bhatt (Album: Connected)
Donn Bhat, the guitarist in bands like Orange Street and Friday The 13th, and the co-composer of Vicky Donor’s “Mar Jayian” (the other composer is Ban, the lead vocalist for Orange Street), is out with his 3rd studio album, Connected. The pick of the album is The Storm, where Donn collaborates with Toymob and Suhail Yusuf Khan to create a wonderful melange of pulsating electronica and sarangi. Suhail’s sarangi, in particular, adds a phenomenal aura to the song, syncing perfectly with the hypnotic rhythm.

Thangaali – Santhu Straight Forward (Kannada – V.Harikrishna)
Santhu Straight Forward’s soundtrack is the kind where Harikrishna seems far too relaxed that he has Kannada cinema’s hottest lead pair to see even his mediocre music through. The one song where Harikrishna does make a mark is Thangaali and the seriousness shows given that Sonu Nigam is the singer. This one is very well done, with a thoroughly enjoyable rhythmic sound and a funny faux-lullaby chorus. Sonu, as usual, is fantastic!

Neela shanku pushpame – Team 5 (Malayalam – Gopi Sundar)
Team 5’s biggest highlight, of course, is that it is cricketer Sreesanth’s debut. Neela shanku pushpame sees the cricketer far away from the cricket ground… he seems very comfortable being Nikki Galrani’s object of affection. That Gopi Sundar weaves a brilliantly pleasant tune for the situation adds to the effect. The melody is something right up Gopi’s alley, and Divya S Menon’s stylish rendition makes a big difference.

Tere mere dil – Rock On 2 (Hindi – Shankar Ehsaan Loy)
Shraddha Kapoor springs a pleasant surprise singing Tere mere dil confidently and seemingly with as little auto-tune as possible. The mellow tune is, by now, a trademark of the trio. There’s synth, there’s a smattering of retro-pop, but truly stands out is the way the trio layer Soumik Datta’s sarod into the package. The sarod follows Shraddha’s leads faithfully before taking on a life of its own and moulds the melody beautifully.

Originally published in The Hindu.

Nee uravaaga – Paambhu Sattai (Tamil – Ajesh)
Ajesh Ashok was the toast of Tamil Nadu in 2009 when he won the Airtel Super Singer singing competition. Though he has sung many songs since then, and composed a private album, he makes his film composing debut with Paambhu Sattai and makes a wonderful impression, particularly with Nee uravaaga. The song, a thoroughly immersive melody, has brilliant singing from Shreya Ghoshal and Haricharan. Ajesh layers the song with a wonderfully thought out orchestration, featuring Josy’s delightful woodwinds, and offers lovely tweaks like kicking in the actual percussion only in the anupallavi.

Naan konjam karuppu thaan – Kaththi Sandai (Tamil – Hiphop Tamizha)
Hiphop Tamizha duo, Aadhi and Jeeva, despite their fairly small discography, have firmly established their brand of music that their style deserves to be called an ‘oeuvre’ by now. If you hear a song and easily guess the composer, that’s the right word – and the duo has managed that already, regardless of perspectives on quality. That it qualifies to be called easily catchy is a good deal too, like Kaththi sandai’s Naan konjam karuppu thaan, with clever lyrics that positively normalizes the famous Tamil skin color that fairness cream brands are desperately trying to change, across all genders. Add a neat nadaswaram layer and a racy kuthu ending, you have a winner!

Asathuthe – Rubaai (Tamil – D.Imman)
Imman continues his winsome streak with Rubaai’s Asathuthe too almost effortlessly. The song has a gorgeous Latino flavour, with fantastic, breezy guitar work all through and a particularly lovely second interlude. In true Imman style, the melody is so beautifully Tamil. And on top of it, Imman sings it so confidently, with a neat touch of that harmonious chorus-style backdrop in the anupallavi. It is increasingly looking like a tried and tested formula for Imman, but it continues to work and that’s reason enough to not complain.

Pori vaithu – Kuttram 23 (Tamil – Vishal Chandrashekhar)
Pori vaithu is almost like Kuttram 23’s director giving this brief to composer Vishal Chandrashekhar and lyricist Viveka: “Guys, I want a song like Kaakka Kaakka’s Ennai konjam maatri”. The duo deliver perfectly for this ‘a cop falls in love’ theme, with Vishal making tasteful use of violins amidst the predominantly rock sound. Viveka delivers even better, with mighty imaginative lines like ‘Seerudai pottu nadandhavanai, siragugal pootti parakka vittaai’ and ‘Iduppukku keezhe sudum irakkam kooda illai, idhayathil kaayam kandene’!

Poda – Chennai 2 Singapore (Tamil – Ghibran)
That RJ Balaji speaks on radio like he is in a tearing hurry to head to the nearest bank to deposit his 1000s and 500s is already well known. Composer Ghibran seems to have taken that as inspiration, but goes a step ahead by tweaking it 10X faster. It’s all incredibly fresh and comes alive with a manic energy, with a catchy rap amidst the recurring ‘Poda’ call. After a head-spinning electric guitar phrase, the song also segues into catchy folk percussion, to heighten the genre jumps!

Originally published in The Hindu.

Kannadikkala – Maaveeran Kittu (Tamil – D.Imman)
Imman’s clever and highly proficient appropriation of Ilayaraja continues in Maaveeran Kittu’s best song, Kannadikkala. The composer has a lovely device to add beauty to the core melody that is already incredibly sweet – he has his singers, Pooja Vaidyanath and Jithin Raj literally read out the lines before they sing it in the prescribed tune! But, where it gets really interesting is the simple, serene background that accompanies the spoken-lyrics part – this is where Imman really stands out! It all creates an enchantingly repetitive package, combined with Imman’s usual and expansive orchestral splendour.

Taareefon se – Dear Zindagi (Hindi – Amit Trivedi)
That Taareefon se is written by a woman—Kausar Munir—perhaps explains the clever lines in the dreamy ballad clearly aimed at women with above average intelligence. Arijit innocently starts with conventional platitudes: you are beautiful, you are in my heart… so far, so good. Then, he adds the twist, almost nonchalantly: when have you ever been impressed with compliments, eh? Amit rolls all these in a serene sax-loaded jazzy package, and with Arijit’s whispery vocals, it sounds every bit a lovelorn ballad outside the window that every girl dreams of.
Listen to the song on Saavn:

Pori pathi vizhum – Rum (Tamil – Anirudh)
Anirudh is at it again, pushing the genre limits in Tamil film music. In Rum’s Pori pathi vizhum, he designs what is perhaps Tamil cinema’s first Reggaeton (a definite dash of Moombah/ Moombahton—house music + reggaeton—too, if we are being pedantic). It’s a heady mix, aimed clearly at the feet, with Diwakar leading the charge and Divine offering Hindi lines! The song has an energetic and easy groove that makes it almost impossible to not shake your head along with it.

Inshallah – Sting (Album: 57th & 9th)
Gordon Sumner aka Sting is still going strong! His latest album, 57th & 9th is more rock—and The Police—than ever. But even amidst such a decidedly rock sound, he retains his interest in the relatively esoteric; the album’s best is called Inshallah, and is about the refugee crisis, with the lyrics talking about a family, in a boat. That Sting chose to sing this in the Parisian concert hall Bataclan (a year after ISIS-affiliated terrorists attacked it, killing 89 people) is causing controversy already, but what is undeniable is the calmness that accompanies as he sings, ‘Inshallah, Inshallah, If it be your will, it shall come to pass’!
Listen to the song on Saavn:

Hey penne – Kattappava Kanom (Tamil – Santhosh Dayanidhi)
Santhosh Kumar Dayanidhi, who did keyboard programming for A R Rahman for films like Kadal and Lingaa, made a fairly confident debut with the Santhanam starrer Inimey Ippaditdhaan. Kattappava kanom is a pretty good sophomore effort. The pick of the album is Hey penne which has Sid Sriram starting off in his characteristic style. But Santhosh tweaks the tune adequately soon and the result is a highly enjoyable mix that includes an interesting veena interlude and even a reggae’ish portion!

A single playlist of all these songs, courtesy Saavn:

(This playlist does not include songs from Sheesh Mahal and Jomonte Suviseshangal)

Hindi

Ishaara – Force 2 (Amaal Mallik)

Mehram and Lamhon ke rasgulle – Kahaani 2 (Clinton Cerejo)

Tu hi hai, Taareefon se and Aye Zindagi (Arijit Singh version) – Dear Zindagi (Amit Trivedi and Ilayaraja)

Nashe si chadh gayi and Labon ka karobar – Befikre (Vishal-Shekhar)

Tamil

Hola amigo, Kadavule vidai, Pori pathi vizhum and Alladhe siragiye – Rum (Anirudh)

Hey penne and Kangalai sutrum kanavugalai – Kattappava Kanom (Santhosh Dayanidhi)

Koluse sol koluse – Vallavanukkum Vallavan (Raghu Dixit)

Neeyum naanum, Nee uravaaga and Ichukatta – Paambhu Sattai (Ajesh)

Elanthaari and Kannadikkala – Maaveran Kittu (D.Imman)

Kannungala chellangala, Maalai varum and The Good, Bad & Ugly theme – Nenjam Marappathillai (Yuvan Shankar Raja)

Enda ippadi, Nee indri, Innum enna solla, Maatrangal ondre thaan and The Happiness of Pursuit – Kootathil Oruthan (Nivas K Prasanna)

Telugu

Chitramaaga, Rainbows in the Sky and Babarag – Sheesh Mahal (Vivek Sagar)

Pareshanura and Neethoney dance – Dhruva (Hiphop Tamizha)

Chirunama thana chirunama – Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada (Sekhar Chandra)

Malayalam

Aarum and Sadirumai – Ore Mukham (Bijibal)

Nokki nokki and Neelakasham – Jomonte Suviseshangal (Vidyasagar)

Kannada

Kalkond bitte, Nandana, Ee santhelu and Fly fly fly – Sundaranga Jaana (Ajaneesh Loknath)

Tinnada unnada – Tiger (Arjun Janya)

Nan yede beedige – Jalsa (Veer Samarth)

International

Inshallah – Sting (Album: 57th & 9th)
Listen to the song on Saavn.

24k magic, Versace on the floor and Chunky – Bruno Mars (Album: 24k Magic)
Listen to the songs on Saavn.

Originally published in The Hindu.

Yaenadi – Adhagappattathu Magajanangalay (Tamil – D.Imman)
Imman. Ilayaraja. Yes, that. Again! The composer takes his Raja’ish melody style a step further in Adhagappattathu Magajanangalay’s Yaenadi, and layers it with what is now easily associated as his signature-style – busy and delightfully engaging orchestration that peaks especially well during the interludes, reeking of Raja all the more! Karthik and Shreya Ghoshal are in brilliant form here in the duet version. In the song’s solo version, sung by Shreya (so, ‘Yaenada’!), Imman craftily strips the busy’ness of the orchestration to present an equally alluring variant! This time around, the guitar-led interludes and orchestrations sound like Ilayaraja even more!

Lamhon ke rasgulle – Kahaani 2 (Hindi – Clinton Cerejo)
Amitabh Bhattacharya is the star of the utterly whimsical Lamhon ke rasgulle! It goes, “Lamhon ke rasgulle, Lazeez meethe meethe; Lamhon ke rasgulle, Free mein hain kharide”, much to our amusement. Clinton concocts an easily catchy, synth-driven pop sound that could be mistaken for an 80s one-hit wonder! Sunidhi Chauhan sounds wonderfully happy and child-like, singing this feel-good song while Bianca Gomes gives her company for the largely corny English lines.

Koluse sol koluse – Vallavanukkum Vallavan (Tamil – Raghu Dixit)
Kannada, Hindi and Indipop musician—and Baba Sehgal’s replacement for larger-than-life intro and item songs in Telugu, mostly composed by Devi Sri Prasad—Raghu Dixit made his Tamil debut with the title song Aviyal. In Vallavanukkum Vallavan, he gets to compose 4 songs, but still has to share credits with Ajesh who has a tiny, single song. Raghu produces the album’s best, Koluse sol koluse, where he suffixes a joyous, Calypso’ish medley to Mangalyam thandhunane, with exuberant singing by Nakul Abhyankar and Manasi Mahadevan.

Kalkond bitte – Sundaranga Jaana (Kannada – Ajaneesh Loknath)
That the title Sundaranga Jaana is a phrase from a popular 70s Kannada song, Dooradinda bandantha from the film Samshaya Phala, which was Salil Chowdhury’s Kannada debut is a minor trivia. The song Kalkond bitte, on the other hand, is proof that Ajaneesh Loknath is emerging to be a wonderfully consistent and exciting composer (he is making his Tamil debut in Kurangu Bommai, incidentally). Ajaneesh opens the song with what sounds like African/Saharan guitar and hands over the song’s reign to Haricharan. Hari, for his part, is in blistering form, seamlessly moving from the loverboy opener to a superbly tapori-style delivery. Sticking to just one anupallavi, Ajaneesh also alternates the rhythm pattern for maximum impact.

24k Magic – Bruno Mars (Album: 24k Magic)
In 24k Magic, Bruno Mars plays the role of nostalgia curator more than a hit-maker that he is, otherwise. The sound is very 80s and 90s funk and soul, and some of the sounds in the album are so, so reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s lush, percussive style. In the title song, he even sounds like Jackson, launching straight into the title song confidently. The R&B infused song is easy on the ears and infectious in its appeal, with a call and response pattern that makes it easy to sing along with.

Originally published in The Hindu.

Rainbows in the sky – Sheesh Mahal (Telugu – Vivek Sagar)
Sheesh Mahal could hardly be called a Telugu soundtrack, given it has 4 Hindi songs, a Tamil song, an English song and just one Telugu song! Fresh from his Pelli Choopulu success, composer Vivek Sagar concocts an interestingly diverse soundtrack. His best is the English track, Rainbows in the sky, which, like the Tamil song (Chitramaaga) comes alive with the jazz sound powered by George Hull’s sax. The star of the song, of course, is singer Shri, who handles the flashy tune in style!

Maalai varum – Nenjam Marappathillai (Tamil – Yuvan Shankar Raja)
The soundtrack of Selvaraghavan’s latest, Nenjam Marappathillai is plagued with what Yuvan is obsessed with currently – using singers (including himself) who have mastered the art of singing out of pitch. This is a travesty really because Yuvan’s tunes in the soundtrack are really interesting. As for the singers, Dhanush pitches in as one, for Maalai varum, a tune fairly reminiscent of composer Adityan’s repertoire, with a catchy, haunting ‘Ramsay Ramsay’ hook. Dhanush is in a dicey ground, away from the simplistic ‘Why this Kolaveri?’ tune; it requires him to stick to the tune and he misses it confidently at many places.

Neelakasham – Jomonte Suviseshangal (Malayalam – Vidyasagar)
That Ilayaraja-style music from Vidyasagar is a thing of beauty. And the man reserves it for his Malayalam films, almost exclusively. Neelakasham, the best of the 3-song soundtrack of Jomonte Suviseshangal, is one such song. It also evokes pleasant memories of Vidyasagar’s classic, Thankathinkal, from Indraprastham. Sujatha Mohan and Najim Arshad are perfect for the job, with a particularly lovely second interlude, bringing back Ilayaraja’s exquisite folk sound!

Nashe si chadh gayi – Befikre (Hindi – Vishal-Shekhar)
Vishal and Shekhar have been on a mighty good streak this year, with soundtracks like Sultan, Akira and Banjo. Regardless of the commercial prospects of the last two films, the music has been consistently interesting. Befikre isn’t perhaps a perfect fit in that line-up thanks to its largely conventional sounds, perhaps owing to Aditya Chopra’s mainstream needs. Still, a couple of songs do merit attention, like Nashe si chadh gayi that pulsates with Arijit Singh’s superb vocals and a lively, hypnotic Middle Eastern sound. The only thing holding back the song is those silly Chipmunks’ish intrusions.

Belageddu – Kirik Party (Kannada – Ajaneesh Loknath)
With every new trailer and song, Kirik Party seems to Karnataka’s answer to Kerala’s Premam, at least in terms of intent, if not execution too. Composer Ajaneesh Loknath is in a blistering form this year and he produces excellent music in this soundtrack too. In Belageddu, Ajaneesh hands over the song to the always dependable Vijay Prakash who handles the song’s frothy, playfully mischievous tune wonderfully. The composer adds little nuances like the banter-style conversation between Vijay Prakash and the chorus to add considerable charm to the song.

The 9th annual, multi-lingual round-up on Milliblog.

Hindi

Hindi film music, beyond the incredibly annoying trend of releasing one single a week (and a single even after the film’s release), was largely in good stead in 2016. This trend reached new heights in 2016. For films like Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, the record label (Sony) released a song almost every few weeks, making us all (ok, very few – I doubt if anyone really cares) wonder just how many songs are there, in the film. And a song, a very good one, at that—Alizeh—was released after the film’s release. All this makes it difficult for people like me who wait for the film’s soundtrack release to write a review, but I guess other reviewers have reconciled to this staggered release well already. For example, Times of India did a review of a 4-song soundtrack of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and didn’t bother writing about the remaining songs. Another example – Dangal! The last song was released on December 14th (this annual round-up considers all soundtracks and singles released on or before December 15th), by which time Livemint had already posted a review of 4 songs, clearly unaware of how many songs are finally in the soundtrack or when they will ever be released!

This trend perhaps appears in other forms of the film industry as well. Short films gathered steam like never before in 2016. In fact, Mirror started reviewing short films regularly. Some of those, like Shirish Kunder’s Kriti and Jyoti Kapur Das’s Chutney (produced by Tisca Chopra) broke the clutter to become very popular. So, I assume the size and duration if reducing – of soundtracks (as singles), films (short films) etc. At some point, I guess we may have a theatrical release of a short film that has 1 song in its soundtrack released as a single and not featured in-film!

As always, there were the usual, much-hyped soundtracks that did well only because of the amount of push – paid, PR, digital marketing etc. – behind them, and then there were the little gems that didn’t have any of those and sounded absolutely delightful. Case in point: Krsna’s Cute Kameena – I don’t even know if the film released at all.

The veteran (age-wise, at least) trio, Shankar Ehsaan Loy proved why they are the most inventive and imaginative and that age is just a number (or, perhaps an advantage given the exposure and experience it brings) with a magnificent score for the box-office bomb Mirzya. They followed it up with a pretty good score for another box-office turkey, Rock On 2. Of Amit Trivedi’s 3 films, he got it wonderfully right in Udta Punjab and Fitoor, though, it was less consistent in Dear Zindagi. The big surprises this year were from Clinton Cerejo and Ram Sampath. TE3N and Raman Raghav 2.0 are top notch scores, with a vibrant new sound. Another surprise was from Salim-Sulaiman – for Prakash Jha’s Jai Gangaajal, the duo produced music that seemed to be going far beyond the brief, with delightful experimentation. Vishal-Shekhar too returned with a vengeance in 2016 – Sultan, Akira, Banjo, and to a lesser extent, Befikre, are proof enough.

Tamil composer Santhosh Narayanan made a brief Hindi appearance with Saala Khadoos and even though the music was hardly noticed, he had added lovely nuances to differentiate the Tamil version from the Hindi one. Some of the catchiest songs in 2016, in my view, included the undeniable earworm, Chull (Kapoor & Sons), Pyar Ki (Housefull 3), Kaala Chashma (Baar Baar Dekho), Baby ko bass pasand hai (Sultan), Udta Punjab’s title song and Mirzya’s Hota hai.

Hindi composer(s) of the year:
Shankar Ehsaan Loy

Top 3 Hindi soundtracks of 2016:

01. Mirzya (Shankar Ehsaan Loy)

02. Udta Punjab (Amit Trivedi)

03. TE3N (Clinton Cerejo)

Top 30 Hindi songs of 2016:


01. Aave re hitchki – Mirzya (Shankar Ehsaan Loy)
02. Chull – Kapoor & Sons (Amaal Mallik, Badshah)
03. Ud-daa Punjab – Udta Punjab (Amit Trivedi)
04. Rootha – TE3N (Clinton Cerejo)
05. Hone de batiyaan – Fitoor (Amit Trivedi)*
06. Behooda – Raman Raghav 2.0 (Ram Sampath)
07. Saala khadoos – Saala Khadoos (Santhosh Narayanan)
08. Title song – Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (Pritam)
09. Gilehriyaan – Dangal (Pritam)
10. Ji huzoori – Ki & Ka (Mithoon)

11. Tere bin – Wazir (Shantanu Moitra)
12. Shehar mehboob hai ji – Cute Kameena (Krsna)
13. Keh bhi de – Traffic (Mithoon)
14. Pyar ki – Housefull 3 (Toshi and Sharib Sabri)
15. Khair mangda – A Flying Jatt (Sachin-Jigar)
16. Hota hai – Mirzya (Shankar Ehsaan Loy)
17. Taareefon se – Dear Zindagi (Amit Trivedi)
18. Ishqe di lat – Junooniyat (Ankit Tiwari)
19. Besabriyaan – M.S.Dhoni – The Untold Story (Amaal Mallik)
20. Udan choo – Banjo (Vishal-Shekhar)

21. Dheere dheere – Jai Gangaajal (Salim-Sulaiman)
22. Kaala chashma – Baar Baar Dekho (Prem Hardeep/Badshah)
23. Doli re doli – Mirzya (Shankar Ehsaan Loy)
24. Lamhon ke rasgulle – Kahaani 2 (Clinton Cerejo)
25. Title song – Dangal (Pritam)
26. Rehnuma – Rocky Handsome (Inder Bawra and Sunny Bawra)
27. Udja re – Rock On 2 (Shankar Ehsaan Loy)
28. Purza – Akira (Vishal-Shekhar)
29. Baby ko bass pasand hai – Sultan (Vishal-Shekhar)
30. Nashe si chadh gayi – Befikre (Vishal-Shekhar)

*Not available on Saavn playlist.

—–

Tamil

2016 was Santhosh Narayanan’s year. The man, who had one middling 36 Vayadhinile in 2015, ruled the roost all through 2016, including an Ilayaraja-style achievement of having 2 films for Diwali – Kodi and Kaashmora! He also had Rajinikant’s Kabali, itself a huge milestone for a fairly new composer who made his debut in 2012. Santhosh has indeed come a long way.

But the album of the year easily belongs to Santhosh’s contemporary and friend, Sean Roldan. He had a tepid 2015, with just one soundtrack (144), but he made his sole soundtrack of 2016 count big time – Joker. It’s amazing that director Raju Murugan opted for Sean Roldan in Joker, despite superlative music by Santhosh Narayanan in his last film, Cuckoo. Given the consistently good music across both films, it may be safe to assume that the director has a good ear for music. The other young composer, Anirudh, who produced a knockout Naanum Rowdy Dhaan in 2015, followed it up with wonderfully enjoyable scores in Remo and Rum.

Rahman had a great year, with 24 and Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada that finally released this year. Both had music that was thoroughly enjoyable and extended the veteran (now, veteran) composer’s standing, particularly the latter.

Ghibran was muted largely, barring the highly interesting Chennai 2 Singapore, while the year’s most prolific, D.Imman, made good with a few songs in many soundtracks! As for debuts, Airtel Super Singer’s Ajesh made a brilliant composing debut in Paambhu Sattai, while Darbuka Siva made a great debut in Kidari, only to falter in his second soundtrack, Balle Vellaya Theva. Joshua Sridhar took time off his Kannada sojourn and returned confidently with Parandhu Sella Vaa (better than last year’s 54321). Vishal Chandrashekhar was, interestingly, trying his luck in Tamil and Telugu – in Tamil, his Jil Jung Juk was a delightfully inventive score, even as he produced a pretty decent soundtrack for the Telugu film Krishnagadi Veera Prema Gaadha.

Nivas K Prasanna followed up his superb debut last year with 2 great scores (Zero and Kootathil Oruthan), though in Sethupathy, his music came a cropper. Others like Leon James and Gopi Sundar had a decent enough run. Composer K had a middling run (films like Aandavan Kattalai and Ammani) though a couple of songs in those albums stood out pretty easily. He does have a big Hindi film in the pipeline – Karan Johar produced Ghazi! Hiphop Tamizha (beyond making their Telugu debut) and Harris Jayaraj continued to produce music within their narrowly defined templates. Ditto with Yuvan Shankar Raja and GV Prakash Kumar – quite a few projects but nothing standing out enough to highlight specifically.

Tamil composer of the year:
Santhosh Narayanan

Top 3 Tamil soundtracks of 2016:

01. Joker (Sean Roldan)

02. Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (A R Rahman)

03. Kabali (Santhosh Narayanan)

Top 30 Tamil songs of 2016:


01. Chellamma – Joker (Sean Roldan)
02. Kadavule vidai – Rum (Anirudh)
03. Neruppu da – Kabali (Santhosh Narayanan)
04. Rasaali – Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (A R Rahman)
05. Aval – Manithan (Santhosh Narayanan)
06. Sirikkadhey – Remo (Anirudh)
07. Poda poda – Irudhi Sutru (Santhosh Narayanan)
08. Nee uravaaga – Paambhu Sattai (Ajesh)
09. Red road-u – Jil Jung Juk (Vishal Chandrasekhar)
10. Man meedhu – Parandhu Sella Vaa (Joshua Sridhar)

11. Andha pulla manasa – Adhagappattathu Magajanangalay (D.Imman)
12. Kannamma – Rekka (D.Imman)
13. Veredhuvum nijame illai – Zero (Nivas K Prasanna)
14. Kaalam un kaadhali – 24 (A R Rahman)
15. Ola ola kudisayila – Joker (Sean Roldan)
16. Kannadikkala – Maaveran Kittu (D.Imman)
17. Kadhal kolluthadi – Ennul Aayiram (Gopi Sundar)
18. Ro ro roshni – Chennai 2 Singapore (Ghibran)
19. Thalakaalu puriyalayae – Kidari (Darbuka Siva)

20. Kaantha – Uriyadi (Masala Coffee)
21. Snegidhiyae – Raja Mandhiri (Justin Prabharakan)
22. Maya nadhi – Kabali (Santhosh Narayanan)
23. Avalum naanum – Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada (A R Rahman)
24. Maatrangal ondre thaan – Kootathil Oruthan (Nivas K Prasanna)
25. Kadhal kappal – Iraivi (Santhosh Narayanan)
26. Halena – Iru Mugan (Harris Jayaraj)
27. Aayava kanom – Kadalai (Sam C.S.)
28. Imsai raani – Aandavan Kattalai (K)
29. Ei suzhali – Kodi (Santhosh Narayanan)
30. Pothi vacha – Kodai Mazhai (Sambasivam)

—–

Telugu

I’m completely aware of the fact that a tiny segment of people Andhra Pradesh would have heard the music of Gopi Sundar’s Seethamma Andalu Ramayya Sitralu. A slightly larger segment would have heard the songs of Majnu (given the hero, Nani’s status in the filmdom) and an even bigger set would have heard the songs from Oopiri, an obviously bigger budget film given the producers and starring Nagarjuna (besides Karthi). The same thing happened in 2015 too – Gopi Sundar as the composer of the year, with 2 of his soundtracks in the top 3 soundtracks!

I do occasionally track the top 10/20 countdowns from Andhra Pradesh so I know how odd this may seem to people there who may be used to seeing and hearing Devi Sri Prasad and Thaman songs on top. Or, maybe things are changing… I do not know. All I know is that, to my ears, these 2 soundtracks sound fantastic! Gopi has done rather limited work in Malayalam this year (and even less in Tamil). The really big film in Telugu still eludes him (starring Allu Arjun, Ram Charan etc.), but Oopiri is a good start (though musically average) given it featured Nagarjuna. But then, Ram Charan’s Dhruva had music by a debutant-duo, in Telugu (Hiphop Tamizha), so I believe things are changing and that the old guards are crumbling. It happened to Manisharma too, and he did make an impressive comeback this year with Gentleman. So…

Besides Gopi, Telugu filmdom is intriguingly littered with so many interesting composers. Sunny M.R for instance, but he was missing in 2016. But there are others like J.B and Shravan. Achu and Kalyan Koduri. Vivek Sagar and Navneeth Sundar. I have no specific idea how a Right Right’s music or a Meeku Meere Maaku Meeme’s music ‘performed’ in the state, but these are good soundtracks worth a listen.

Overall, I felt that the Telugu film music in 2016 was fairly limited in scope and ambition.

Telugu composer of the year:
Gopi Sundar

Top 3 Telugu soundtracks of the year:

01. Seethamma Andalu Ramayya Sitralu (Gopi Sundar)

02. Majnu (Gopi Sundar)

03. Brahmotsavam (Mickey J Meyer)

Top 30 Telugu songs of 2016:


01. Okko nakshatram – Seethamma Andalu Ramayya Sitralu (Gopi Sundar)
02. Kallumoosi – Majnu (Gopi Sundar)
03. Alli billi – Right Right (J.B)
04. Pone – Meeku Meere Maaku Meeme (Shravan)*
05. Madhuram madhuram – Brahmotsavam (Mickey J Meyer)
06. Chali gaali – Gentleman (Mani Sharma)
07. Yegirenay – Okka Ammayi Thappa (Mickey J Meyer)
08. Rang de – A Aa (Mickey J Meyer)
09. Chudara – Raja Cheyyi Vesthe (Sai Kartheek)
10. Rayya rayya – Bhadram Be Careful Brotheru (J.B)

11. Blockbuster – Sarrainodu (SS Thaman)
12. Seethamalakshmi – Seethamma Andalu Ramayya Sitralu (Gopi Sundar)
13. Ela ela ela – ISM (Anup Rubens)
14. Ninney – Nandini Nursing Home (Achu Rajamani)
15. Aakupachhani chandamaamalaa – Jyo Achyutananda (Sri Kalyanaramana)
16. Mallela vaanela – Baabu Bangaram (Ghibran)
17. Egire oohalake – Rojulu Marayi (J.B)
18. Ko ko kodi – Eedo Rakam Aado Rakam (Sai Karthik)*
19. Pillo o pillo – Savitri (Shravan)
20. Manasantha meghamai – Kalyana Vaibhogame (Kalyan Koduri)

21. Oorikey ala – Majnu (Gopi Sundar)
22. Evare – Premam (Rajesh Murugesan)
23. Chamma chakka – Mama Manchu Alludu Kanchu (Achu)
24. Aalochinchaku – Chinni Chinni Asalu Nalo Regene (Rap Rock Shakeel)
25. Pareshanura – Dhruva (Hiphop Tamizha)
26. Rabba rabba – Chuttalabbayi (SS Thaman)
27. Raalu raaga poolamala – Pelli Choopulu (Vivek Sagar)
28. Sakhiya – Guppedantha Prema (Navneeth Sundar)
29. Masti masti – Nenu Sailaja (Devi Sri Prasad)
30. Nee chepakallu – Sardaar Gabbar Singh (Devi Sri Prasad)

*Not available on Saavn playlist.

—–

Malayalam

A debutant composer (Sooraj S. Kurup) and a now-veteran (Shaan Rahman) ruled Malayalam film music in my view. Sooraj’s lone soundtrack (ignoring his single added in Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho here) for Valleem Thetti Pulleem Thetti is an inspired, spirited debut, full of exciting music! His Pularkaalam Pole, to me, is this year’s equivalent of last year’s No.1 song, Vasanthamallike (Chandrettan Evideya, Prashant Pillai) – using a similar, carnatic music coated melody with brilliant orchestration to boot, this time going with Karaharapriya raaga. The 3 composer soundtrack for Kismath was a great mix, while singer Sachin Warrier produced a great new, fresh sound in his composing debut for Aanandam.

On Shaan Rahman – he seemed to be pulling a Bijibal in 2016 (who was oddly muted, unlike his 2015 super prolific self!), with many soundtracks and easily standout songs in all of them. Rahul Raj was a close second in the prolific-department in 2016 – I really liked his range, from a Mudhugav to an IDI! Gopi seemed a lot more busier in Telugu, so had limited, but interesting music in few films in Malayalam. Veterans Jerry Amaldev and Vidyasagar just made their presence felt.

I did wonder why there’s not a single song from what is supposedly the biggest hit in Malayalam this year, Pulimurugan. Gopi Sundar’s music, a really short soundtrack and nothing that really stood out for me worth even reviewing. Ditto for the other Mohanlal starrer, Priyadarshan’s Oppam – the music was by 4 Musics and less said about the music the better. And as for Poomaram, I believe there are 2 more songs yet to release, but it seems only fair to consider the already-released Njanum in the 2016 list.

Composer(s) of the year:
Sooraj S. Kurup and Shaan Rahman

Top 3 Malayalam soundtracks of the year:

01. Valleem Thetti Pulleem Thetti – Sooraj S. Kurup

02. Kismath – Sumesh Parameswar, Sushin Shyam, Shamej Sreedhar

03. Aanandam – Sachin Warrier

Top 30 Malayalam songs of 2016:


01. Pularkaalam pole – Valleem Thetti Pulleem Thetti (Sooraj S.Kurup)
02. Manogatham bhavaan – Anuraga Karikkin Vellam (Prashant Pillai)
03. Kisapaathiyil – Kismath (Sushin Shyam)
04. Neelakkannulla maane – Kochavva Paulo Ayyappa Coelho (Shaan Rahman)
05. Ee khalbitha – IDI (Rahul Raj)
06. Thennal nilavinte – Oru Muthassi Gadha (Shaan Rahman)
07. Ee shishirakaalam – Jacobinte Swargarajyam (Shaan Rahman)
08. Payye veesum – Aanandam (Sachin Warrier)*
09. Raavumaayave – Vettah (Shaan Rahman)
10. Njanum – Poomaram (Faisal Razi)

11. Idukki – Maheshinte Prathikaaram (Bijibal)
12. Medapoompattum chutti – Karinkunnam 6s (Rahul Raj)
13. Vaathe poothe – Valleem Thetti Pulleem Thetti (Sooraj S.Kurup)
14. Neela shankhu pushpame – Team 5 (Gopi Sundar)
15. Seythaante – IDI (Rahul Raj)
16. Neeyen sayahna swapnathil – Ma Chu Ka (Gopi Sundar)
17. Virinja poonkurunne – Guppy (Vishnu Vijay)*
18. Rambo – Mudhugauv (Rahul Raj)
19. Thiruvaavaniraavu – Jacobinte Swargarajyam (Shaan Rahman)
20. Chil chinchilamai – Thoppil Joppan (Vidyasagar)*

21. Oonjalilaadi vanna – Action Hero Biju (Jerry Amaldev)*
22. Rosie – Monsoon Mangoes (Jakes Bejoy)
23. Chillu ranthal – Kali (Gopi Sundar)*
24. Para para – Kammatipaadam (John P.Varkey)
25. Khule raston pe – Aanandam (Sachin Warrier)*
26. Ta ta ta tang – Darvinte Parinamam (Sankar Sharma)*
27. Halli sreehalli – Mudhugauv (Rahul Raj)
28. Poyi maranjo – Anuraga Karikkin Vellam (Prashant Pillai)
29. Megha pakshi – Team 5 (Gopi Sundar)
30. Ennodu – Dum (Jassie Gift)

*Not available on Saavn playlist.

—–

Kannada

Amongst all the film industries in 2016 that I track, Kannada produced the most exciting music (I know I did say that Malayalam does that, in my interview with Prashant Pillai – that’s an overall recent trend; in 2016 specifically, I’d hand over that honor to Kannada). Charan Raj and Ajaneesh Loknath were in stupendous form in 2016, producing wonderfully inventive and highly enjoyable music. Ajaneesh can easily take on the mainstream mantle from Arjun Janya now, much like how Arjun himself picked it up from Harikrishna and Gurukiran a few years ago (though Harikrishna is definitely still in the reckoning!).

Other notable debuts include Niladri Kumar, Dheerendra Doss, Judah Sandhy and Vasuki Vaibhav. Good music all through!

Composer(s) of the year:
Charan Raj and Ajaneesh Loknath

Top 3 Kannada soundtracks of 2016:

01. Godhi Banna Sadharna Mykattu – Charan Raj

02. Sundaranga Jaana – Ajaneesh Loknath

03. Pushpaka Vimana – Charan Raj

Top 10 Kannada songs of 2016:


01. Komala henne – Godhi Banna Sadharna Mykattu (Charan Raj)*
02. Kalkond bitte – Sundaranga Jaana (Ajaneesh Loknath)
03. Belageddu – Kirik Party (Ajaneesh Loknath)
04. Nee nanagoskara – Ishtakamya (Ajaneesh Loknath)
05. Hudugaru yella – Akira (Ajaneesh Loknath)
06. Mugilu belmugilu – Pushpaka Vimana (Charan Raj)
07. Gamanisu – Mungaru Male 2 (Arjun Janya)
08. Aaha identha – Niruttara (Niladri Kumar)
09. Muddu pori – Sipaayi (Ajaneesh Loknath)*
10. Sogasu sogasu – Game (Ilayaraja)

11. Malgudiya ooralli – Jessie (Anoop Seelin)
12. Naa e sanjege – Godhi Banna Sadharna Mykattu (Charan Raj)*
13. Naa gudsi – Jigarthanda (Arjun Janya)
14. Jhanak jhanak – Run Antony (Manikanth Kadri)
15. Saaluthillave – Kottigobba-2 (D.Imman)
16. Prathi mounavu – Happy Birthday (V.Harikrishna)*
17. Hey Who Are You? – Kirik Party (Ajaneesh Loknath)
18. Raja di raja – Zoom (SS Thaman)
19. Mugilu matte matte – Puta Tirugisi Nodi (Dheerendra Doss)
20. Hogi baa belake – Neerdose (Anoop Seelin)

21. Kannalle kuntebille – Tyson (Ravi Basrur)*
22. Aley moodathe – Godhi Banna Sadharna Mykattu (Charan Raj)*
23. Ninthalli nillalaare – Chakravyuha (Thaman S)
24. Nee nadhiyaagi – Sipaayi (Ajaneesh Loknath)*
25. Maayavi kanase – Badmaash (Judah Sandhy)
26. Neenu irade – Mungaru Male 2 (Arjun Janya)
27. News nodi – Rama Rama Re (Vasuki Vaibhav)
28. Nandana – Sundaranga Jaana (Ajaneesh Loknath)
29. Jilka jilka – Pushpaka Vimana (Charan Raj)
30. Thangaali – Santhu Straight Forward (V.Harikrishna)

*Not available on Saavn playlist.

—–

Marathi

I haven’t listened to enough Marathi music in 2016, unlike last year where I had listened enough to make a top 10 list. Suffice to say, Sairat and Jaundya Na Balasaheb topped the year for me in Marathi, both by Ajay-Atul.

Sairat (Ajay-Atul)

Jaundya Na Balasaheb (Ajay-Atul)

—–

Indipop

From the limited Indipop music I tracked and listened to in 2016, I’d easily pick my 300 worder Sanjay Divecha and Secret as the best Indipop album of the year. Antarman and Shilpa Rao’s pop debut albums follows closely. Unlike earlier years, have listed the 10 single pop songs in the order of my preference. Thankfully, the list is multilingual.

Top 3 Indipop albums of 2016:

01. Sanjay Divecha and Secret – Sanjay Divecha

02. Antarman – Antarman

03. Suno – Shilpa Rao

Top 10 Indipop songs of 2016:


01. Ota – Sanjay Divecha and Secret (Sanjay Divecha)
02. Hobena – Antarman (Antarman)
03. Challa – Suno (Shilpa Rao)
04. Paayal – Maati Baani, featuring Shankar Tucker and Ankita Joshi*

05. Aalayal thara venam – Masala Coffee (Malayalam)*

06. Neeye – Phani Kalyan (Singers, in Tamil: Yazin Nizar and Sharanya Srinivas)
07. Dibbaradindi – Singer: Shachina Heggar. (Music: Judah Sandhy)
08. Visweswara – Santhosh Chandran Indo Flamenco*

09. 3 Peg – Chandan Shetty
10. The Storm – Donn Bhatt (Album: Connected)

—–

Others/International/Uncategorized

A few uncategorized pieces of music that I found interesting and highly listenable in 2016, in no particular order.

Ababeel – Muhammad: The Messenger of God (OST – A R Rahman)

Drive – Yanni (Album: Sensuous Chill)

Is She With You? – OST, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Hans Zimmer & Junkie XL)

Satrangi – Wrong Side Raju (Sachin-Jigar)

Ghawrbaari – Zulfiqar (Anupam Roy)

Rainbows in the Sky – Sheesh Mahal (Vivek Sagar)

Inshallah – Sting (Album: 57th & 9th)

24k magic – Bruno Mars (Album: 24k Magic)

Coke Studio Pakistan 2016 – Top 10 songs

Originally published in The Hindu.

Maatrangal ondre thaan – Kootathil Oruthan (Tamil – Nivas K Prasanna)
Given how iconic, familiar and well-known Bobby McFerrin’s 1988 song Don’t Worry, Be Happy (the first a cappella song to reach No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; the song’s title is from a famous quotation by Indian mystic Meher Baba) is, it seems unlikely and pointless that someone would try to use the phrase in another song. But, Nivas tries and does a pretty good job too! He aims for a broadly appealing, calypso’ish sound, and in Kabilan’s sweeping motivational lines and Nivas’s own vocals, the song works effortlessly!

Neethoney dance – Dhruva (Telugu – Hiphop Tamizha)
Thani Oruvan, the Tamil original of the Telugu film Dhruva did not have a song to showcase the dancing skills of the diligent IPS officer Mithran, played by Jayam Ravi. But Andhra Pradesh is a different zone altogether – given Ram Charan’s—playing Dhruva, the IPS officer—dancing prowess (much like his dad), the film includes a song where the IPS officer lets his hair loose in a nightclub. Hiphop Tamizha, the Tamil duo, score a mighty catchy dance track, spiking a conventional Punjabi dance template. The song, and Ram Charan’s dance steps have spawned many videos on YouTube with young boys from Andhra Pradesh trying their hand… nah, their feet, to the song!

Kaadhal pennae – Kadikaara Manithargal (Tamil – Sam C.S.)
Sam C.S. who has been producing consistently good music in films like Mellisai (renamed as Puriyaadha Pudhir and expecting a release date that is also a puriyaadha pudhir) and Kadalai, sees his older material getting released finally in the form of Kadikaara Manithargal. The soundtrack is a washout, but the one song by Karthik and Haritha is delightful and showcases the true potential of the composer. The music is spritely, the singing by Karthik is expectedly fantastic and Sam plays around with the rhythm, alternating between kuthu and something pop’ish.

Hey Who Are You? – Kirik Party (Kannada – Ajaneesh Loknath)
The song ‘Madhyarathrili’ from the 1991 trilingual Shanti Kranti (same title in Telugu and Naattukku Oru Nallavan in Tamil; the song was ‘Chinna kannamma’ in Tamil) is still very popular in Karnataka, despite the film’s box office washout. Now, what if someone clinically dismantled the song and recreated it piece by piece to make it sound subtly different, but still retained the soul of the original? Ajaneesh does precisely that in Hey Who Are You? and does it phenomenally well. This is a beautifully and cleverly done homage to Hamsalekha’s music… or, the kind of music Hamsalekha produced for Ravichandran.

Vaarai – Bogan (Tamil – D.Imman)
Imman and Shreya Ghoshal is a known combo that works wonderfully. Add Shankar Mahadevan to the mix and things get even better! Using a few lines from Manthiri Kumari’s iconic song, Madhan Karky weaves highly sensual lyrics that Imman tunes perfectly in what seems like Dharmavathi raaga. Imman also employs a technique similar to what he recently used in Kannadikkala, from Maaveeran Kittu – to get the singers to recite the lyrics first and then sing it in tune. It continues to sound a great idea!

Originally published in The Hindu.

Given that this is for the January 1 edition of The Hindu, I wanted to avoid the conventional bit of listing 5 songs (which I intend to start from the January 8th edition), that too from 2016, on the first day of 2017.

So, given my composer-centric writing, I decided to do something a bit broader – I picked 5 one-film/one-album composers (truly pan-Indian, breaking all language barriers, and with fantastic, often unheralded debuts) and wrote about them, in the hope that they get opportunities to compose again.

1. Job Kurian
Job made his composing debut in the Malayalam pop album Thaalam (2009), along with Charan Raj and Yakzan Gary Pereira. Charan has since moved on to greater heights in Kannada film music (Godhi Banna Sadharna Mykattu and Pushpaka Vimana in 2016; he roped in Job to sing Komala henne, in the former) and Yakzan roped in Neha S Nair to create wonderful music, as a duo, for films like Iyobinte Pusthakam. Job has just one Malayalam film to his credit, so far – Rasam (2014), but given the consummate ease with which he composes, in songs like Sarasa sarasaro and Maayamo, and the overall Thaalam sound, here’s a composer who deserves a lot better, lot more!

2. Devan Ekambaram
They say that most singers could make good composers too. Yes, S.P.Balasubrahmanyam’s composing career was rather limited (including the towering ‘Vannam konda vennilave’ from Sigaram), but Devan did try. His debut—and only soundtrack as composer—Bale Pandiya (2010) was a breezy listen, though the soundtrack went down alongside the film’s poor prospects. The range was very good and ‘Aaraadha kobamillai’ (sung by Raman Mahadevan and Mahalakshmi) was a complete knock-out, almost like a dream combination of 80s Raja backgrounds and a new Vidyasagar tune! The man seems busier—and more interested—in continuing to pursue a singing (playback and stage) career, but his debut is reason enough to expect him to get back to composing.

3. Raman Mahadevan
Another singer-turned-one-time-composer. Raman Mahadevan—no blood relation to Shankar Mahadevan whatsoever, though they work very often together!—self-released, with no record label backing, an album called Ramanasia, back in 2007. It was a spirited debut, composed and mostly sung by Raman himself. There were no music videos, no commercial release… nothing. The album itself was sparsely available in very few online-only outfits and in 2007, the online music scene was far more nascent compared to now, 2017. Tu jo ik pal’s pop-dhol sounds, Aasmaan se’s Shankar Ehsaan Loy’ish classical base, Teri talaash and O meri jaan’s Leslie Lewis’ish jazz-rock blend, and Badra’s folk-fusion… this album deserved a respectable release, and Raman deserves a composing career too.

4. Joi Barua
Yet another singer-turned-composer. Joi’s most interesting quality is that he, like Raghu Dixit, sings and composes in his mother tongue (Assamese) and makes that music wonderfully accessible to the rest of India – music, truly, has no language! Joi, along with his bandmates—Pawan Rasaily, Abani Tanti, Ibson Lal Baruah and Manas Chowdhary—released the band’s first album, Looking out of the window, in 2011. The album was a stellar showcase of Assamese rock. Joi has an interesting Tamil connection as well – he collaborated with Shruti Haasan for an Assamese-Tamil fusion song, Prithibi Ghure (Tamil lyrics by Kamal Haasan and Assamese lyrics by Ibson Lal Baruah)! Joi did use his album song, Dusoku melute, in the film Margarita With A Straw in 2015, and released a single Rabha (featuring George Brooks on Sax), but he perhaps needs a new album or film to showcase his talent, again!

5. Vijay Prakash
Vijay is already a prolific singer and sings in almost every Indian language. His composing debut, Andar Bahar, was a Kannada film and one of those punchy commercial soundtracks that offered a spunky, mod sound to an otherwise conventional Shivrajkumar starrer. Vijay was part of the Ananthaal trio (Clinton Cerejo, Bianca Gomes and Vijay Prakash) that produced an eponymous debut album in 2015. It was a multi-lingual, pan-Indian effort that combined the talents of all 3 members into a fantastic album. Given this backdrop, Vijay sure has his job cut out if at all he decided to pursue composing seriously.

Originally published in The Hindu.

Irulu neelum raave – Ezra (Malayalam – Sushin Shyam)
Sushin Shyam, the keyboardist of the band The Down Troddence, made an inspired composing debut last year with Kismath’s Kisa paathiyil, that Charukesi-loaded whopper of a melody. He follows that song with an equally haunting—this time, quite literally, given the film’s eerie theme—Irulu neelum raave. While Sachin Balu’s singing is top notch, Sushin really has an engaging and indulgent melody going for him, punctuating the melody with a fantastic orchestration, including that consistently ominous and surreal twang that rises in crescendo in an unsettling manner.

Azhagiya soodaana poove – Bairavaa (Tamil – Santhosh Narayanan)
Santhosh had a great run in 2016, scoring for a Rajinikanth film and achieving an Ilayaraja’ish feat of having 2 films for a Diwali (Kodi and Kaashmora). He adds another feather to his cap – a Vijay film! But the man who balanced his sound with Rajini-needs in Kabali so well, seems unsure in Bairavaa. The soundtrack’s best though is Azhagiya soodana poovey. It is wonderfully sung by Vijaynarain and Dharshana, and Santhosh adds an unpredictable and cool Jackson’ish—or, rather Bruno Mars’ish—retro-pop sound that is instantly likeable.

Mellaga tellarindoi – Shatamanam Bhavati (Telugu – Mickey J Meyer)
Mellaga tellarindoi is so typically Mickey! The song’s ambient prelude and the consistently pleasant lilt is brilliant, and there is that Mickey-style infusion of world music too, in that catchy, almost African chorus featuring Ramya Behara and Mohana Bhogaraju. The build-up is lovely, helping Anurag Kulkarni leading the vocals very well. Mickey has been averaging three soundtracks per year in the last 3 years and this is a good start for 2017.

Kaabil – Kaabil (Hindi – Rajesh Roshan)
It is useful to remember that Rajesh Roshan made his debut back in 1974 with Kunwara Baap. He is perhaps one of the oldest composers still in business, though it is easy to counter that with the fact that he is the in-house composer of films produced by his brother, Rakesh Roshan, mostly featuring Hrithik Roshan. What works in Rajesh’s favour is songs like Kaabil’s title song – there is something charmingly old-world in the simple, hummable melody and the familiar comfort of the dholak-based rhythm.

You Have Been Loved – Older (George Michael)
Amidst the non-stop tributes to George Michael since his untimely death on December 26, 2016, the world remembered his most famous and obvious songs like Careless Whisper, Wake Me Up and Last Christmas. Dig deeper and you’d find absolute gems like You Have Been Loved, from his 1996 album, Older. His searing lyrics question the existence of God, after the death of his lover Anselmo Feleppa, and writes on behalf of Anselmo’s mother who wonders about her crime, in the eyes of God, that he punished her with the death of her son. It’s a beautiful contrast to the recent dialogue from Westworld where a grieving father says, ‘The pain is all I have left’, after the death of his son, since the only thing worse than grieving, is forgetting.

A single playlist for all the songs listed below, on Saavn:

Hindi

Haanikarak bapu, Dhaakad, Title song and Gilehriyaan – Dangal (Pritam)

Title song and Saara zamaana – Kaabil (Rajesh Roshan)

Tamil

Kadhal pennae – Kadikara Manithargal (Sam C.S)

Vaaraai – Bogan (D.Imman)

En oruthiye – Koditta Idangalai Nirappuga (C.Sathya)

Azhagiya soodana poovey – Bairavaa (Santhosh Narayanan)

Telugu

Mellaga tellarindoi, Title song and Nilavade – Shatamanam Bhavati (Mickey J Meyer)

Malayalam

Irulu neelum raave and Lailakame – Ezra (Sushin Shyam and Rahul Raj)

Kannada

Belageddu, Thirboki jeevana and Hey Who Are You? – Kirik Party (Ajaneesh Loknath)

Indipop

Aerii sakhi morae – The Story Now (Papon)

Originally published in The Hindu.

Kanna Katti – Kaalakkoothu (Tamil – Justin Prabhakaran)
Among present-day composers who offer melodies strongly reminiscent of Ilayaraja, Vidyasagar tops the list. While others like Harikrishna (Kannada) come close in occasionally bring back the Raja nostalgia magic, it is Justin’s capability to compose songs that evoke Raja in spirit and not just superficially, that is astounding! You listen to Kanna katti or Kannukulla (or Pannaiyaarum Padminiyum’s Enakkaaga porandhaaye, for that matter) with your eyes closed and you could actually visualize a young Prabhu or Karthik dancing around a Revathy or Khushboo. But Justin adds a layer on top that is decidedly more modern and spiffy, even as the soul of the tune is magnificently influenced by Raja.

Sunn bhavara – OK Jaanu (Hindi – A R Rahman)
When the Bollywood powers decided to remake OK Kanmani in Hindi, they would have made the obvious decision to retain the already tried and tested soundtrack by Rahman. It worked wonders in the Alaipaayuthey remake, so why not again, in this remake? Of course, but the powers-that-be also decided to drop the Tamil soundtrack’s best song, Parandhu Sellavaa, in the misguided assumption that it won’t fit in Hindi and landed with an abomination of a remix of Bombay’s Humma humma, in its place. But the other, correct decision to replace the very South-Indian (Carnatic), Malargal kaettaen works very well for the makers. The replacement, Sunn bhavara, is the Hindi soundtrack’s best, with a lovely raag Bihag base and Shashaa Tirupati acing the classical rendition.

Aerii sakhi morae – The Story Now (Indipop – Papon)
Papon debut pop album, The Story So Far, seems so long back, considering it released in 2012. The Story Now, his latest album sees the singer in impeccable form as usual, and what stands out is the Amir Khusro written sufi track. Papon’s touch to the timeless song, made iconic by singers like Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, is to make it light and frothy, like a pop-jazz tinged ghazal. And this works wonderfully, in Papon’s breezy rendition, and beautifully supported by Manasqam Mahanta on guitar and Rinku Rajput on the piano. The nuances Papon brings to the much-familiar tune make a massive difference.

Priyakara – YZ (Marathi – Hrishikesh, Saurabh and Jasraj)
Even as the other composing trio from Hindi compose in Marathi too—Shankar Ehsaan and Loy, for Katyar Kaljat Ghusli—the other trio, Hrishikesh, Saurabh and Jasraj offer a glimpse of their impressive range in a song that is surprisingly in Sanskrit! The lyrics, from Kalidasa’s Shakuntala are completely fresh, to listen to, also considering the impeccable diction and singing by Ketaki Mategaonkar and Swapnil Bandodkar. The composing trio’s tune is the clear winner, though, seemingly treading on Bhimpalasi raaga, much like Prashant Pillai’s Aberi-tinged (Bhimpalasi’s Carnatic equivalent) Malayalam song Vasanthamallike, from Chandrettan Evideya? The song picturizations too seem interestingly similar, incidentally!

Panchiyaa – Dewarists Season 5 (Amit Trivedi & V Selvaganesh)
Considering he started composing independently (beyond his band Om, in 2005) in 2007—4 songs in Abhijeet Sawant’s album Junoon and a single in Prashant Tamang debut album Dhanyavad—Amit Trivedi enters his 10th year in music composing! He starts the year with a non-film song, interestingly, collaborating with Ghatam virtuoso Vikku Vinayakram’s son Selvaganesh, who has proven to be a nifty composer himself, with films like Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu. The combination is interesting, though the tune, besides being a good listen, is very, very Amit, sometimes a bit too predictably so.

Originally published in The Hindu.

Tippa – Rangoon (Hindi – Vishal Bhardwaj)
Back in the 90s, Doordarshan aired an NFDC-dubbed version of Alice In Wonderland’s Japanese anime version (originally called ‘Fushigi no Kuni no Alice’). That series has a popular title song, ‘Tap tap topi topi’, composed by Vishal and written by Gulzar. In Tippa, Vishal and Gulzar recreate that song set to the sound of trains and rain, and convert it into an almost-conversational song! Sunidhi Chauhan leads the vocals giving it the emotional high, with fantastic support from Rekha Bhardwaj, Sukhwinder Singh and the out-of-the-blue OS Arun!

Yaaro ucchikilai meley – Taramani (Tamil – Yuvan Shankar Raja)
Yaaro ucchikilai meley is vintage Yuvan Shankar Raja! The rhythm is lilting and simple, much like the composer’s earlier form. The melody is easy-on-the-ears, sing-along’ish. He layers it with those catchy ‘thare nanne nanne’ hooks. Yuvan, knowing his limitations as a singer, cleverly processes his voice to smoothen the rough edges and manages to sound pretty good. It’s only those corny chipmunks-style intrusion that mars an otherwise foot-tapping song.

Devare – Hebbuli (Kannada – Arjun Janya)
Arjun has an impressive track record with Sudeep films, having worked on his earlier films like Kempe Gowda, Vardhanayaka and Maanikya. Hebbuli is a good mix too – very commercial and listenable. The pick of the soundtrack is the gentle and melodious Devare. The melody is highly tuneful and Arjun smartly keeps the backgrounds in check to let the tune surface. The highlight is, of course, Armaan Mallik’s vocals; after Mungaru Male 2, Arjun offers a great song to Armaan.

Ekimeeda – Gautamiputra Satakarni (Telugu – Chirantan Bhatt)
Director Krish opted for Bollywood composer Chirantan Bhatt for his last project too – the World War 2 film, Kanche. Having worked with composers like M.M.Keeravani and Mani Sharma, it was surprising he was depending on a Bollywood composer for a historical film like Gautamiputra Satakarni. Understandably, Chirantan’s music is generic, without setting any period-based context. Still, an earthy song like Ekimeeda is a great listen. There’s a generous dollop of Rahman’s style, and singers like Udit Narayan and Shreya Ghoshal lift the song significantly.

Kannadi poovukku – Enakku Vaaitha Adimaigal (Tamil – Santhosh Dayanidhi)
The other Santhosh of Tamil film music, Santhosh Dayanidhi, erstwhile Rahman assistant is surely onto something. There is a quite confidence in his music that comes out particularly in the gorgeous Kannadi poovukku! Haricharan and Jonita Gandhi are in splendid form, as always, while Santhosh’s tune moves beautifully from the opening melody to the persistent instrumental hook, only to have a chorus on those lines towards the end of the anupallavi – excellent strings in the background all along!

Single Saavn playlist for 44 of the songs below (except the 2 Indipop songs that aren’t available on Saavn):

Hindi

Mannerless Majnu, Kuch to hai and Main faraar sa – Running Shaadi.Com (Abhishek-Akshay, Anupam Roy, Anjana Ankur Singh and Sandeep Madhavan)

Laila, Enu naam che Raees, Udi udi jaye, Ghammar and Zaalima – Raees (Ram Sampath and JAM8)

Bloody hell, Mere miyan gaye England, Tippa and Yeh ishq hai – Rangoon (Vishal Bhardwaj)

Saajan aayo re and Sunn bhavara – OK Jaanu (A R Rahman)

Tamil

Idho thaanaagave, I Have Nothing, Ponapokkil and Thandiraa – Adhe Kangal (Ghibran)

Engeyo pogum and Kanna katti – Kaalakoothu (Justin Prabhakaran)

Yaaro ucchikilai meley – Taramani (Yuvan Shankar Raja)

Kannadi poovukku – Enakku Vaaitha Adimaigal (Santhosh Dayanidhi)

Telugu

Padhe Padhe and Netthimedha Pettukunta – Gunturodu (DJ Vasanth)
DJ Vasanth made some interesting music in last year’s Speedunnodu. For another ‘odu—Gunturodu—he follows up with equally listenable music. The picks of the album are courtesy Yazin Nizar – Padhe padhe is a breezy number that sounds like hundreds of other Telugu songs, but still has that X factor. Vasanth adds more personality in Netthimedha Pettukunta, with a punchy hook.

What da F and Ravera – Luckunnodu (Praveen Lakkaraju and Achu Rajamani)
Adnan Sami rocks What da F ra! The tune is regular Telugu masala, but Adnan’s twang makes all the difference. Achu owns the other song, Ravera, along with Lipsika’s vocals. The groovy song sees Achu layer it with a dash of Indian percussion in what it otherwise desi-fied EDM.

Disturb chestha ninnu and Arere yekkade – Nenu Local (Devi Sri Prasad)

Ekimeeda – Gautamiputra Satakarni (Chirantan Bhatt)

Malayalam

Penne penne – Basheerinte Premalekhanam (Vishnu Mohan Sithara)

Kannada

Muddu hudugi and Baa neene nodu – Naanu Nammudgi Kharchgond Mafia (Vikram Varman)
Muddu hudugi can easily be mistaken as a Harris Jayaraj song… in a good way, that is! Composer Vikram Varman pulled off something very similar sounding in his Tamil debut Ariyaan, back in 2009, though his next, in 2014 (Manam Konda Kaadhal) was a non-starter. Looks like he’s back, but in Kannada. In Baa neene nodu, Vikram Varman is even more impressive – he concocts a wonderfully interesting rock melody, punctuated with splendid strings for the interlude. The song’s highlight is, of course, Ananya Bhat’s singing!

Jigidante jeeva – Naane Next CM (Arjun Janya)
This is Arjun channeling his inner Mani Sharma! So very Telugu and very listenable too!

Ondu malebillu and Matthe maleyagide – Chakravarthy (Arjun Janya)

Devare and Yennenu soda – Hebbuli (Arjun Janya)

Thaliru thoranadi – Lee (Anand Rajavikraman)

Saddillade – Kaal Kg Preethi (Chetan Sosca)

Adhara madhura, Thili prema and Kanna hani – Urvi (Manoj George)

Ondondsari and Kannane kannane – Srikanta (Ajaneesh Loknath)

Indipop

Panchiyaa – Dewarists Season 5 (Amit Trivedi & V Selvaganesh)

Mhaari Re Mangetar – Maati Baani Ft. Alaa Wardi

Originally published in The Hindu.

Idho thaanaagave – Adhe Kangal (Tamil – Ghibran)
Take Jeff Beck. Yeah, the guitarist from Bon Jovi. Take his guitar away from him and give him a sitar. Yes, a sitar. Now, ask him to play snatches from Bon Jovi’s song ‘Blaze of Glory’. Ghibran pulls off something akin to the result of that bizarre experiment in ‘Idho Thaanaagave’ and it works wonderfully. The bigger surprise from Ghibran is how he recreates the same tune in English too, as ‘I Have Nothing’, with a fantastic, incredibly catchy R&B package and stellar vocals by Addie Nicole. They don’t sound similar on a casual listen, but listen carefully, it’s the same.

Arere yekkade – Nenu Local (Telugu – Devi Sr Prasad)
Despite being offered prime projects like Khaidi No.150 , Devi Sri Prasad has, lately, been in a rut. His music has become repetitive and derivative, and his stock of hooks and instrumental regurgitations have reached a peak. Given this background, it is pleasantly surprising to find a song like ‘Arere Yekkada’. The melody, most possibly set to Abheri raaga, is highly engaging. Devi adds a neat rhythm with beautiful snatches of violin and flute—that are accentuated in the interludes—sung fabulously by Naresh Iyer andManisha Eerabathini.

Thili prema – Urvi (Kannada – Manoj George)
The Kannada film music scene is going through a long overdue transformation of sorts. Ajaneesh Loknath, Raghu Dixit, Judah Sandhy, Charan Raj, Vasuki Vaibhav, Dheerendra Doss… the list of promising new composers goes on. Violinist Manoj George made his film debut back in 2008, with Athmiya… and the time is right for him to make a comeback. Urvi’ s breeziest and most melodious is ‘Thili Prema’, set to what sounds like raaga Kalyani. It’s a wonderfully warm melody, beautifully sung by composer Charan Raj and Madhushree. Manoj offers another, guitar-based version of the song that sees Madhushree going even more evocative with the tune.

Udi udi jaye – Raees (Hindi – Ram Sampath)
Back in 2013, Ram produced an excellent set for Coke Studio India (MTV, Season 3, Episode 2). The mix of folk musical idioms fused with a decidedly more modern sound was particularly alluring in that set. Ram produces something similar in ‘Udi Udi Jaye’, with a lively, lilting folkish rhythm (Nitish Ranadive’s live percussions) as the base. Tapas Roy’s mandolin and charango make their presence felt too, while Sukhwinder Singh and Bhoomi Trivedi are at their usual, ebullient best.

Penne penne – Basheerinte Premalekhanam (Malayalam – Vishnu Mohan Sithara)
Well-known Malayalam composer Mohan Sithara’s son, Vishnu, has had a tentative start with composing in Malayalam. His last was Kumbasaram , back in 2015. The young composer seems to be getting his mojo back, with Basheerinte Premalekhanam . He sings ‘Penne Penne’ himself very confidently, and does even better with the gorgeous quasi-sufi tune and the ghatam-guitar mix. The orchestration is rich and evocative, while the high-pitched ‘Kanne’ hook is addictive.

Originally published in The Hindu.

Paarai mele – Sathriyan (Tamil – Yuvan Shankar Raja)
This composer is obsessed with singing his songs himself. He sings terribly too. You thought this is about Himesh Reshammiya? No, this is about Yuvan Shankar Raja. How else does one rationalize Yuvan singing ‘Paarai meLe thooraL poLe…’ or ‘ennai udaithavale’ (instead of ‘udaithavaLe’)? Or him going off key all across the song as if that is by design and done intentionally? The irony of this is the fact that his tunes remain compelling and his orchestration stellar! Paarai mele, for instance, is a great tune, with brilliant strings all over and a dash of his earlier obsession – Celtic sounds!

Mannerless Majnu – Running Shaadi.Com (Hindi – Abhishek-Akshay)
Shruti. Bittu. Band Baaja Baaraat. (Forget the Tamil remake, Aaha Kalyanam, starring Vaani Kapoor and Nani). Imagine Shruti singing about Bittu, momentarily forgetting “Business ka first rule… jiske saath vyapaar karo, usse kabhi na pyar karo”… no, not that mushy Aadhaa ishq, but a more pragmatic song! That song would be Mannerless Majnu! Abhishek-Akshay’s tune is playfully cute, but what truly sets it apart is Sukanya Purkayastha’s zingy vocals. You can’t help but smile when she goes, ‘Pakka namoona hai piya’ and you can’t help shake a leg for the ‘Mil gaya mannerless Majnu’ hook!

Ondu malebillu – Chakravarthy (Kannada – Arjun Janya)
Armaan Mallik seems to be having a Sonu Nigam’ish time in Kannada… he’s getting some amazing songs to croon recently. Arjun Janya handed him the delightful Devare in Hebbuli and in Chakravarthy, Armaan gets Ondu malebillu! The song’s backdrop is very quaint and vaudevillian, the kind Pritam made popular all over again in Barfi. Arjun adds a guitar-led lilt to the already lovely melody, besides accordion all through and particularly fantastic strings in the second interlude! This Arjun-Armaan combination is starting to seem as winsome as the Mano Murthy-Sonu Nigam combination!

Mhaari re mangetar – Maati Baani Ft. Alaa Wardi (Indipop)
Maati Baani is known for funky interpretations of folk tunes. And Alaa Wardi, the Saudi Arabian a cappella artist is known for his catchy a capella YouTube videos. They join forces in Mhaari Re Mangetar, a zany Rajasthani folk’ish song with a lively and quirky video that is Alaa Wardi’s hallmark. The song is infectiously catchy, with a cornucopia of curious instruments like Glove Bagpipe, Carrot Clarinet, Mr Curly Morsing and Bucket played by Linsey Pollak and Thongophone by Zaia Kendall! Alaa Wardi, along with Nirali and Karthik, leads the singing part with panache.

Ravera – Luckunnodu (Telugu – Achu Rajamani)
Achu Rajamani has just one song in Luckunnodu, but he makes that one song count, and how! The song’s base is EDM, but, for obvious reasons, like Indian Chinese food, this is desi-fied EDM. Achu makes some interesting modifications, like adding that Indian percussion as a layer and that makes a big difference. The song’s clear highlight is Lipsika’s singing… she aces the vocals like a diva, alternating between English and Telugu, and relegates Revanth to the prelude and the ending!