Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 86: On JioSaavn | On YouTube
17 songs, this week. YouTube has all 17, while JioSaavn is missing one song – the Enga Annan song from Namma Veettu Pillai. Sun TV/Music has released it on its own label, for now, a tactic they used for Sarkar too, after which it was picked up by Sony Music. Perhaps this one too would be picked by a proper music label soon.
Ho Jaa Awara – Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas (Tanishk Bagchi) – Hindi: Nice to see the connection – the title is famous for being a song featuring Dharmendra (Blackmail, 1973). And this film introduces his grandson, Karan Deol. The teaser, released early August, had this for music-related credits: “Music composed by: Sachet Parampara, Music produced by: Rishi Rich, Music of song Ho Ja Awara: Tanishk Bagchi”. So, I guess, this is yet another single parachuted into the soundtrack. I searched the song credits for any source, but couldn’t find any. I suppose this is a Tanishk original, and it’s a good one, at that. A very happy song that gets particularly better thanks to Monali Thakur’s ebullient singing (with Ash King offering her company on a much lower note).
Bad Boy – Saaho (Baadshah) – Hindi: The lyrics are cringe-worthy, but Baadhsah is on a roll, despite questionable YouTube views for this mega-successful Paagal. He gets the film’s larger-than-life ambitions and delivers on the brief pretty well with a catchy song.
Dil Ka Telephone – Dream Girl (Meet Bros) – Hindi: Despite the funky, funny (parody’ish) sound, the tune is really interesting. I have a feeling there are shades of Raaga Pilu and that it works because of its strong melody. Good work by Meet Bros, and of course, superb singing by Jonita Gandhi!
Ishqbaaziyaan & Looteri – Happy Hardy And Heer (Himesh Reshammiya) – Hindi: Ishqbaaziyaan is a pleasant surprise by Himesh! First, that he chose NOT to sing this one and hand it over to the far better singer, Jubin Nautiyal (along with Harshdeep Kaur and Asees Kaur). And then the warm Punjabi folk lilt that Himesh maintains so well till the end. Lovely song. Aaryan Tiwari, on the other hand, is the soul of Looteri, that otherwise has cringe’y lyrics, but has a beautifully simple melody. Thank you, again, for not singing this, Himesh! That’s one reason why this song works!
[Back in Time] Lagne Laga Hai Mujhe Aajkal – Chor Aur Chand (Nikhil-Vinay) – Hindi: Chor Aur Chand is, without doubt, one of my all-time favorite Hindi film soundtracks. This one soundtrack has so fully loaded with phenomenal music that it’s a shame and a pity that the film’s flop status marred what should have legitimately been a superhit soundtrack. I believe the soundtrack has a huge underground fan base. Most of soundtrack is by S.P.Balasubrahmanyam and Anuradha Paudwal, though Mano and Chithra pitch in too. Lagne Laga Hai’s unusual mukhda is a wonder by itself almost as if someone is spontaneously singing without any preparation, out of sheer joy of wanting to sing! If the song appeals to you, I highly recommend the other songs from this film, particularly Sapno Mein Aana, Saanson Ka Kya Pata, Baat Kya Hai Kaise Kehde, Sharma Ke Baadalon Mein and Tere Bina Main Na Rahun.
Pattaampoochi Kannalae – Sixer (Ghibran) – Tamil: I didn’t like both Engavena Kochikinu Po and Baa Baa Black Sheep. Both seemed to be trying too hard. Thankfully, there was Pattaampoochi Kannalae! The sound took me back to Naiyaandi (a seriously underrated Ghibran soundtrack) for some reason. A nicely rhythmic melody, with a catchy hook that is almost a Ghibran trademark now.
Karichaan Kuyile – Sarbath (Ajesh) – Tamil: Airtel Super Singer winner Ajesh made a fantastic composing debut for the 2016 film Pambhu Sattai, but that film’s poor reception perhaps took the music too down. He had middling follow-ups in Vallavanukkum Vallavan and Thiri. Good to see him back in action with Sarbath. The song is not extraordinary, but is at least perfunctorily good, thanks mainly to his own singing. There is promise and I hope the rest of the soundtrack lives up to it too.
Yenga Annan – Namma Veettu Pillai (D.Imman) – Tamil: The standard Imman template that, at least for now, continues to work. There is a widespread comment about the ‘Yenga annan’ line reminding everyone of Andha 7 Natkal’s Enakkum Unakkum 
But, beyond that, I thought the main tune (Vaa Vaa dear brotheru) was very similar to Maappillaikku Maaman Manasu from Netrikann! Similar raaga, perhaps (that song, by Ilayaraja, was based on Karaharapriya raaga, btw).
Un Kitta Ennamo Irukku – Kanni Rasi (Vishal Chandrashekhar) – Tamil: Visha’s tune for this song is such a pleasant throwback to a different era of Tamil film music! The soft, rhythmic melody could easily fit into Deva’s impressive repertoire when he was in his peak, but Vishal adds enough of his style to update the feel. Absolutely lovely singing by Kalyani Nair and Sathyaprakash.
Jarra Jarra – Valmiki (Mickey J Meyer) – Telugu: The first surprise is that Tollywood is remaking Jigarthanda after so long. The second surprise is Atharva’s Telugu debut, for the role played by Siddharth in Tamil. But Varun Tej, with his menacing look, seems like an interesting choice in place of Bobby Simha’s character. The song is the equivalent of Pandi Naatu Thangam (Puzhuthi Parakkum Paaru) that was a brass-led song in Tamil. In Telugu, Mickey mounts it on a much larger scale, even as director Harish Shankar turns it into a full-fledged item song unlike Tamil. But Mickey is not the kind fo composer to opt for raucously loud sound even for item songs. So, there is grace and an understated’ness in the overall package. Catchy, no doubt.
Nammela Ledhe – Raja Vaaru Rani Gaaru (Jay Krish) – Telugu: It’s very easy to mistake this song as Santhosh Narayanan’s! The profusion of violin in the backgrounds is straight out of early Santhosh material! Still, to give credit where due, Jay Krish has a lovely song melody, articulated so well by Anurag Kulkarni, and has a beautiful background sound too.
Ennenno – Evaru (Sricharan Pakala) – Telugu: A haunting, moody and atmospheric melody that Sricharan layers with this music so appropriately. The song’s real highlight is Chinmayi’s singing – she handles the song’s feel perfectly!
Equals Sessions (Ep.1 and 2) Zubaan & Karam: Abhinav Agrawal’s Anahad Foundation has been working hard to bring recognition to Indian folk music for quite some time. The Equals Sessions is perhaps their best bet yet! The idea of combining a reasonably well-known band and an unknown folk artist is not entirely new and even the format and production values are akin to Coke Studio, but given the width of brilliant music across India, we need a lot more of such efforts. The first 2 episodes are delightful. Zubaan, featuring Gazi Khan Barna and Bangalore-based rock group Parvaaz (Khalid Ahamed, Mir Kashif Iqbal, Sachin Banandur and Fidel Dsouza) is a resonant prayer-like song with some super guitar work by Mir Kashif Iqbal. And Gazi Khan’s singing and the backing vocals too (by Khalid Ahamed, Mir Kashif Iqbal, Firoz Khan and Chotu Khan) are the highlights, though.
And When Chai Met Toast seems to be on a roll! After last week’s Nee Aara, the Kochi-based band is back with a really interesting fusion! Jaskarn Gill’s harmonium is the first thing that attracted me! The song is a delightfully rhythmic Punjabi folk mix, with brilliant singing!
I really look forward to the new episodes in this series!
Teeth – 5 Seconds of Summer: Teeth took me to the band’s earlier Easier (that I’m adding to the playlist, for context), with a similar industrial rock sound, though this one seems less melodic than that song. But this one is more rhythmic, with a pulsating guest guitar work featuring Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello!