Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly new music playlist.
Week 141: On Spotify | On YouTube
16 songs this week. YouTube has all 16, and Spotify is missing two songs – Maayangal from Kutty Story and Sokkuren Sokkuren from Chidambaram Railwaygate.
Roz Roz – The Yellow Diary ft. Shilpa Rao (Indipop/Hindi): What a combo – The Yellow Diary and Shilpa Rao! The tune is very Yellow Diary, and Shilpa carries the song, letting a very-Sid-Sriram’ish Rajan Batra (Yellow Diary’s lead vocalist) complement her beautifully. Thoroughly enjoyable song!
Mascara – Vayu (Indipop/Hindi): A fairly familiar and predictable tune, though made more enjoyable due to Paresh Pahuja’s singing. Surprisingly, Akasa Singh, another singer, is credited for additional composition and she doesn’t sing!
Angana Morey – Soumyadeep Ghoshal (Indipop/Hindi): Shreya Ghoshal’s brother Soumyadeep composes what seems like a Ismail Darbar’ish semi-classical melody. The classical notes of the melody has been mounted very impressively on the decidedly modern background that gets more and more interesting as the song progresses. The main flute note in the backgroudn took me back to the brief prelude flute from Satyam Shivam Sundaram’s Yashomati Maiyya Se Bole Nandlala that Viju Shah sampled in Gupt’s Yeh Pyaar Kya hai!
Lagan Laagi Re, Tu Kabhi Kabhi & Ajnabi – Songs of Love (Amit Trivedi) – Indipop/Hindi: After the 2 singles released earlier (Madhubala, Rusvaaiyaan), Amit releases the full album ahead of Valentine’s Day 2021. I’m really glad to see that Amit is finally able to release his unreleased song from the 2011 film Trishna, Lagan Laagi Re! The songs remains exactly the same, featuring Shreya Ghoshal and Kavita Seth’s voices, with its soft, warm Rajasthani lilt. Tu Kabhi Kabhi has a lovely rhythm and even has a line aptly summing it up, “Karo na, iss rhythm pe (dance/romance)”. Excellent singing by Amit and Jonita. Ajnabi is the other song that I really liked, featuring Abhay Jodhpurkar and Poorvi Koutish’s singing. I couldn’t figure out who the lyricist was, but the lyrics really made to sit up, with that line, “Ki dil hi dil mein gaaoon, Euphoria ke gaana” 
Maayangal – Kutty Story (Karthik) – Tamil: The first single from the just-released anthology that I believe has more songs (hopefully in the coming weeks?). This song seemed like a new-age version of Rahman’s sound from Alai Paayuthey – I could trace ‘Sagiyaaaay’ at places. It’s a lovely song – very easily likeable and with a gorgeous lift in the ‘Maayangal’ hook that comes after an extended prelude of sorts.
Seevanuke – Aelay (Kaber Vasuki) – Tamil: The only song that worked from the soundtrack of Aelay. Kaber creates a dreamy sound with the guitar in the background, and the singing (by Yogi Sekar, and eventually by Roja Adithya, who appears much later) adds to that feathery feel. I was reminded a bit of Adityan’s style of music (Seevalapperi Paandi) in the overall sound, but that is only a mild reference since Kaber’s sound is fairly unique and interesting. The singers, though, seem to struggle – Yogi, in the higher notes, and Roja, almost all through.
Sokkuren Sokkuren – Chidambaram Railwaygate (Karthik Raja) – Tamil: Barring the VeNNilave VeNNilave reminiscence, this is vintage Karthik Raja, in terms of the sound and the singing (by Ilayaraja, of course… and they don’t even name the female singer!). It’s sad to see Karthik Raja, who had produced stellar music in films like Ullasam, be reduced to composing for such smaller/inconsequential films, though.
Avalo Avalo – Vasantha Mullai (Rajesh Murugesan) – Tamil: This is truly an odd one! I didn’t take as much to Rajesh’s tune—which seemed severely all over the place to cohesively appeal to me—as I did with Gowtham Bharadwaj V’s singing! Gowtham literally holds the fragmented song together with his excellent singing.
Jala Jala Jalapaatham – Uppena (Devi Sri Prasad) – Telugu: After the 2 mesmerizing songs, the new song by DSP too lives up to the film’s promise! The whispery melody is lovely and mid-way, the background gets wonderfully grand with the strings rising up to occasion wonderfully. The singing, by Jaspreet Jasz seems a bit labored, particularly in the higher notes, though Shreya Ghoshal is dependably excellent.
Neevevvaro – Boyfriend For Hire (Gopi Sundar) – Telugu: This is that lofty Gopi-style melody that he rarely gets wrong! The chorus’ish line is so very Gopi, by the way. Chinmayi sounds fantastic, and so does the sax backdrop that gently lifts the song.
Rendu Kannultho – Dil Se (Srikar Velamuri) – Telugu: Srikar has a lilting melody that works effortlessly, and the choice of Shreya Ghoshal works wonders too! Subhani’s mandolin, in the background, stand out beautifully too.
Inkosaari Inkosaari – Tuck Jagadish (Thaman S) – Telugu: Even though the tune and sound is a bit too familiar to Thaman’s template, the tune still comes alive thanks to the lively backgrounds and Shreya’s singing. Kaala Bhairava’s higher-pitched ‘Yegaresey Oohalne’ call-out is very catchy too.
Guche Gulabi – Most Eligible Bachelor (Gopi Sundar) – Telugu: Predictably familiar sound using every expected element from a standard-issue Gopi song… and yet, it ends up being an ear worm Armaan Malik’s choice as singer works wonders.
Madhuradhari – Karlmarx Bakthanayirunnu (Manikandan Ayyappa) – Malayalam: Sooraj Santhosh is absolutely delightful, holding on to Manikandan’s pleasant and soft melody, enunciating the words with such care. This is the kind of tune where the choice of singer truly makes the song far more superior! K J Paulson’s sitar makes you sit up too, whenever it appears.