Bandish Bandits – Music Review (Hindi Web Series Soundtrack)

August 3, 2020, 5:24 pm

≫ Next: Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Uma Maheshwara Ugra Roopasya – Music Review (Telugu Movie Soundtrack)

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

Bandish Bandits’ premise appears to be that of a pop singer meeting and collaborating with a classical singer. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the 11-song soundtrack features songs from both ends of the spectrum and fusion pieces that fall along the way. I shall cover the songs in that order, since incidentally that is also pretty much the order in which they worked for me.

Mastiyapa, sung by Jonita Gandhi, is likely to remind you of Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s party songs from the past, dating as far back as It’s the Time to Disco. Not the only track from the album to carry echoes of the trio’s past compositions, but that of course does not make the songs any less enjoyable. Wonder if Gandhi is the musical voice of the lady protagonist from the series, given that she is the only female voice in the album, aside of Pratibha Singh Baghel in one song. That one song is Chedkhaaniyaan (the umpteenth “–iyaan” song to come out of Bollywood in recent years) that has Baghel and Shivam Mahadevan behind the mic, and twosome have little difficulty dispatching this frothy romantic piece in style. Armaan Malik joins Jonita Gandhi for Couple Goals where the fusion elements start showing up more prominently, both in the arrangement and the melody. Very pleasant composition (shades of mohanam raga, I feel) that is delivered beautifully by the two singers. And Sajan Bin is the album’s proper “fusion” song – Jonita Gandhi’s pulsating pop segment punctuated by Shivam Mahadevan’s classical-flavoured Sajan Bin segment. Hearing Mahadevan sing classical was one of the things I was most looking forward to in the album, and boy does he ace this – having been a staunch believer that his singing is more aligned to his father’s, it is gladdening to see that become more and more true as he grows older. A bit bummed that his portions do not extend beyond that verse however, and that he does not feature in any of the other classical songs of the album. The series’ theme song too has a fusion aspect to it, though it is too short to stick. Mame Khan’s soaring rendition that opens the song is a pleasant throwback to SEL’s stellar Mirzya, though.

The rest of the album pretty much eschews the pop side of things. Javed Ali is in fine form conveying the pain in Sameer Samant’s lines in Labb Par Aaye that is presented like a qawwali, even though the song itself is a bit bogged down by a dated-sounding tune. The arrangement is fab however, highlighted by the harmonium and tabla. SEL’s presentation of the Rajasthani folk song Padhaaro Mhaare Des has a piano layer underlying the arrangement, but largely sticks to its roots, retaining the original melody as well in the process. Shankar Mahadevan delivers this one in flawless fashion. While Shivam Mahadevan is missing from the classical-heavy songs, his father does more than make up for it with his own towering presence in two of the three such compositions, all of which are my favourites from the album. You can literally feel the Virah in Shankar Mahadevan’s sublime rendition of the melancholic track that the composers adorn with a fittingly understated backdrop as well. Love how the rang rang refrain by the singer is used as a chorus layer throughout the song. Man is equally splendid in Dhara Hogi (brindavana saranga the raga, I am guessing) which sits smack dab in the Mirzya zone, with its folksy orchestration. Mahadevan’s singing is replete with trademark improvisational bits throughout – one of the best things about the song is its rhythm-shift from the seven beat cycle in the first half to eight beats as the song’s mood switches from expectation to jubilation, leading to the song’s closure in a beautiful profusion of violins, percussions and taranas. The final song, Garaj Garaj, is also set to the rain theme, as evident from the title, and comes in two versions. The shorter version features Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty and Javed Ali (though I could not discern the latter’s voice anywhere), and the former sounds spectacular with his nuanced rendition – a pity this one is just over two and a half minutes. The seemingly mian ki malhar raga-based song also features some fine sitar solos from Bhagirath Bhatt. Although Chakraborty is not featured in the Jugalbandi version of the song, it does surely compensate for the length of the original version with two other exceptional singers – Farid Hasan and Mohammed Aman. The fact that they are playing off each other adds to the beauty of the song, and the icing on the cake are the final two minutes of the song where the composers let the singers go to town with their improvisations!

If you have seen Shankar Mahadevan perform classical/fusion, or heard Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s classical-based works in the past, you know that there is nobody else in the industry as well-equipped as they are, to pull off a soundtrack of this kind. And though Bandish Bandits isn’t the best the trio have done on this scale, it still is a solid piece of work. Glad to have gotten to review two classical-based soundtracks in a span of two weeks, both incidentally composed for web series!

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: Virah, Dhara Hogi, Garaj Garaj (both versions), Sajan Bin

Musician Credits

Song – Sajan Bin
Composer – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Singers – Shivam Mahadevan & Jonita Gandhi
Lyrics – Divyanshu Malhotra

Song – Chedkhaniyaan
Music – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Singers – Shivam Mahadevan & Pratibha Singh Baghel
Lyrics – Tanishk S Nabar
Music Arrangements – Aditya V. Oke
Music Programming – Amit Padhye
Classical Music Coordination – Aditya V. Oke

Song – Couple Goals
Music – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Singers – Armaan Malik & Jonita Gandhi
Lyrics – Tanishk S Nabar

Song – Labb Par Aaye
Music – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Singer – Javed Ali
Lyrics – Sameer Samant

Song – Virah
Music – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Singer – Shankar Mahadevan
Lyrics – Sameer Samant

Song – Dhara Hogi
Music – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Singer – Shankar Mahadevan
Lyrics – Sameer Samant

Song – Garaj Garaj Jugalbandi
Music – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Singers – Farid Hasan & Mohammed Aman
Lyrics – Sameer Samant

Song – Mastiyaapa
Music – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Singer – Jonita Gandhi
Lyrics – Tanishk S Nabar
Music Arrangements – Aditya V. Oke
Music Programming – Amit Padhye
Classical Music Coordination – Aditya V. Oke

Song – Garaj Garaj
Music – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Singers – Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty & Javed Ali
Lyrics – Sameer Samant

Song – Padharo Maare Des
Music – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Singer – Shankar Mahadevan
Lyrics – Traditional

Song – Bandish Bandits Theme
Music – Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Singer – Shankar Mahadevan
Lyrics – Traditional
Music Arrangements – Aditya V. Oke
Music Programming – Amit Padhye
Classical Music Coordination – Aditya V. Oke

RECORDING SUPERVISORS
Aditya Oke and Amit Padhye

SINGERS – MUSICAL ID’s

Shantanu Herlekar
Ravi Mishra
Siddhesh Jadhav
Omkar Dadarkar
Akshat Parikh
Meghana Desai
Anand Oak
Aniket Jadhav
Savani Parekar
Soham Pathak
Alyssa Mendonsa
Dhananjay Mhaskar

MUSIC ARRANGEMENTS
Aditya Oke

MUSIC PRODUCTION
Amit Padhye, DAWgeek

CLASSICAL MUSIC COORDINATION
Aditya Oke

TABLA
Vinayak Netke
Krishna Musale
Prasad Joshi
Prasad Padhye
Sandesh Kadam
Siddharth Padiyar
Rakshanand Panchal

PAKHAWAJ
Krishna Musale
Pranav Dandekar
Prasad Joshi

DHOLAK
Bhimrao Mohite
Prabhakar Mosamkar
Krishna Musale
Sandesh Kadam

DUFF
Bhimrao Mohite
Prabhakar Mosamkar

HAND AND STICK DHOL
Bhimrao Mohite
Prabhakar Mosamkar

TRASH CANS
Bhimrao Mohite
Prabhakar Mosamkar

CHANDA
Bhimrao Mohite
Prabhakar Mosamkar

GUITAR
Shon Pinto

HARMONIUM
Aditya Oke
Amit Padhye

SARANGI
Sandeep Mishra
Sangeet Mishra

SITAR
Bhagirath Bhatt

SAROD
Sarang Kulkarni

VIOLIN
Shruti Bhave
Manas Kumar

SWARLIN
Mahesh Khanolkar

CHORUS
Umesh Joshi
Amit Padhye
Dhananjay Mhaskar
Ravi Mishra

PADHANT
Amit Padhye

SONGS IN MUSIC ID’S
Traditional
Late Pt.Ram Marathe
Pt. Murli Manohar Shukl

RECORDING
YRF Studios- Vijay Dayal, Chinmay Mestry
Audioarts – Ganesh Pokale
Harmony Studio – Vivek Kambli, Abhishek Dandekar
Aajiwasan Sounds – Avdhoot Wadkar
Sahana Studios – Ameya Mategaonkar
Purple Haze Studios – Abhay Rumde and Sreejith Padmakumar
Feather Touch Studios- Shubham Joshi

SONGS MIXED BY

Title Song, Sajan Bin, Chedkhaniyaan & Mastiyapaa
by DAWgeek

Sunta Hai Gurugyani, Sandhya Song, Dhara Hogi, Tarana, Padharo Mare Des, Virah & Jugalbandi
mixed by Vijay Dayal at YRF Studios assisted by Chinmay Mestry

Garaj Garaj & Labb Par mixed by Ganesh Pokale at Audio Arts

All Musical ID’s mixed by Abhay Rumde assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar at Purple Haze Studios

Album Mastered by Vijay Dayal & Chinmay Mestry at YRF Studios

BACKGROUND SCORE
Soumil Shringarpure

↧

Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

August 9, 2020, 7:16 am

≫ Next: Zam Zam – Music Review (Malayalam Movie Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Bandish Bandits – Music Review (Hindi Web Series Soundtrack)

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

Given the subject of Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, the soundtrack had to feature at least one song evoking patriotic fervour; composer Amit Trivedi and lyricist Kausar Munir tick that box with Bharat Ki Beti. And the combination of a soulful melody and an expansive orchestration is effective, if familiar. Arijit Singh leads the singing, backed by a fine chorus – the humming by the chorus along with Omkar Dhumal’s shehnai (excellent playing here) takes one back to a gem in the genre, Swades. Two of the album’s faster songs, with their dominant Punjabi flavour, fall squarely in the zone of Punjabi dance songs the composer has done in the past. Munir borrows Iqbal’s Khudi Ko Kar Buland Itna for the song that eggs the protagonist on to defy all odds in her quest to become Asmaan Di Pari. The star of the song though is Jyoti Nooran, driving the song with her characteristically energetic singing. Great shehnai bits here too from Omkar Dhumal, which combine well with Tapas Roy’s work on the plucked strings. While Rekha O Rekha has Nakash Aziz’s skilful delivery going for it, that doesn’t help mitigate the strong London Thumakda hangover it comes with.

The soundtrack’s two mellower songs are where Trivedi truly delivers – the songs incidentally seem to be interlinked as well (no pun intended). While the chirpy Mann Ki Dori has Armaan Malik in fine form singing about the mann ki dori tied with the lover that he repeatedly promises as being unbreakable, throughout the song, Dori Tutt Gaiyaan appears to be a melancholic retort from the female (voiced beautifully by Rekha Bharadwaj) that the dori did indeed at some point, break. Mann Ki Dori teems with the freshness and joy of the newly in love – Nyzel D’Lima’s guitar and the melodica/harmonica add well to that feel. Dori Tutt Gaiyaan on the other hand is tender, and it is Paras Nath’s flute solos that rule the backdrop here. Despite Sukhwinder Singh’s exuberant presence behind the mic, Dhoom Dhadaka is the movie’s weakest track, with nothing particularly standing out.

Gunjan Saxena. Amit Trivedi’s soundtrack entertains despite being quite derivative in its sound. Then again, it’s hard not to I suppose, given how many Punjabi-based soundtracks the man has worked on.

On an aside, this is the sixth Hindi soundtrack since Covid outbreak that I have reviewed, all released as whole soundtracks, and none featuring an old song remix. Like someone said on twitter the other day, the lockdown phase is truly turning out to be a period of healing for Bollywood music (one of the very few positives in recent times – of course, I fully expect things to go back to the way they were, once all this goes away).

Music Aloud Rating: 3/5

Top Recos: Mann Ki Dori, Dori Tutt Gaiyaan, Asmaan Di Pari

Musician Credits

Song – Bharat Ki Beti
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Arijit Singh
Backing Singers – Arhaan Khan, Rohan Vaidya, Harshavardhan Gore, Rashi Harmalkar, Shahana Shome, & Aahana Goyal
Programmed & Arranged By – Parikshit Sharma (Parik)
Sound Engineer, A T Studios – Urmila Sutar
Assisted By – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted By – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, A T Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, A T Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Chorus & Guitars Recorded By – A. Manivannan At Seven Heaven Studios, Mumbai
Assisted By – Sanket Tole
Child Singers Coordinators – Dola Basu Shome, Mandar Apte
Live Musicians – Guitars – Nyzel Dlima
Shehnai – Omkar Dhumal

Song – Asmaan Di Pari
Opening Verse From Allama Iqbal’s Poetry
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Jyoti Nooran
Backing Singers – Rajiv Sundaresan, Suhas Sawant, & Arun Kamath
Programmed & Arranged By – Amit Trivedi & Vineeth Jayan
Additional Rhythm Programming By Kalyan Chakravarthy
Sound Engineer, At Studios – Urmila Sutar
Additional Recording Engineer – Abhishek Gautam
Assisted By – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted By – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, At Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, At Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians – Shehnai – Omkar Dhumal
Strokes (Tumbi, Banjo, Charango, Turkish Oud, Bouzouki) – Tapas Roy

Song – Dori Tutt Gaiyaan
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Rekha Bhardwaj
Programmed & Arranged By – Amit Trivedi
Sound Engineer, A T Studios – Urmila Sutar
Additional Recording Engineer – Abhishek Gautam
Assisted By – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted By – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, A T Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, A T Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians: –
Guitars Sanjoy Das
Flute & Woodwinds – Paras Nath

Song – Dhoom Dhadaka
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Sukhwinder Singh
Programmed & Arranged By – Amit Trivedi & Vineeth Jayan
Additional Rhythm Programming – Kalyan Chakravarthy
Sound Engineer, At Studios – Urmila Sutar
Additional Recording Engineer – Abhishek Gautam
Assisted – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted – By Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, At Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, At Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians: –
Strokes (Mandolin, Tuntai, & Baglama) – Tapas Roy

Song – Rekha O Rekha
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Nakash Aziz
Programmed & Arranged By – Amit Trivedi & Raja Rasaily
Additional Rhythm Programming By – Kalyan Chakravarthy
Sound Engineer, At Studios – Urmila Sutar
Additional Recording Engineer – Abhishek Gautam
Assisted By – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted By – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, At Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, At Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians: – Strokes (Tumbi, Banjo, Charango, Bangla Mandolin, Oud) – Tapas Roy
– Guitars – Raja Rasaily

Song – Mann Ki Dori
Composed & Produced – Amit Trivedi
Lyrics – Kausar Munir
Singer – Armaan Malik
Programmed & Arranged By – Amit Trivedi & Raja Rasaily
Sound Engineer, A T Studios – Urmila Sutar
Assisted By – Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered By – Shadab Rayeen, New Edge – Mumbai
Assisted By – Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer, A T Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Manager, A T Studios – Aditya Hanchinal
Live Musicians: – Acoustic & Electric Guitars – Nyzel Dlima

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Zam Zam – Music Review (Malayalam Movie Soundtrack)

September 20, 2020, 3:57 am

≫ Next: Farewell, SPB..

≪ Previous: Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Since the songs of Zam Zam/Paris Paris/Butterfly/That is Mahalakshmi (the respective Malayalam/Tamil/Kannada/Telugu remakes of Queen) all have the same tunes, I have just picked one of the soundtracks – Malayalam – to review here. I have however provided songs and complete credits from all four soundtracks (also similar for most part) at the end.

The soundtracks appear to have an equivalent for every song from Queen’s album, barring Ranjha. First of which is Kili Penne, a track that was released ages ago – and this is not a feeling contributed by COVID, it did actually come out in Jan 2019! It was around the time that Queen came out in 2014, that Malayalam saw the release of Bangalore Days; and one of the most successful tracks from the movie was a wedding song, a song that incidentally felt a tad Amit Trivedi-ish. And now we have a wedding song composed by Trivedi himself, in Malayalam. While the song does not feel particularly Malayali, or not on the same level of London Thumakda, it still is quite a fun composition. The fine use of naadaswaram by Thirumurthy, and top delivery by Jassie Gift and Sithara Krishnakumar help big time. Jassie Gift features in an even more fun, drinking song from the album, Madhurasudha Paanasukham, alongside Vidya Vox and, surprisingly, Amitabh Bachchan – how and why his cameo was included I do not know. This is likely the equivalent to the Hungama Ho Gaya remix, judging by the fact that the song is missing in the Telugu soundtrack (they likely picked up an old song for recreation). The fact that Vidya sings പ്രധാനം (pradhaanam) instead of പ്രദാനം (pradaanam) every time is a bit jarring, but enjoyable listen otherwise. Between Parakkaam and Ini Vida Parayaam, I am confused as to which one is Taake Jhaanke and which is Jugni, but I am fairly certain it is between these two. Benny Dayal is in his elements delivering the first one, even as the composer supports him with a trademark chirpy arrangement (Tapas Roy on banjo, mandolin et al, the star). Interesting that for the backing/chorus, the makers have reused the Tamil bits. Amit Trivedi’s co-singer from his Malayalam playback debut late last year, Gowri Lekshmi, is the star of Ini Vida Parayaam as it is pretty much her solo act, barring a humming cameo from the talented Sathyaprakash. The song is a lot sombre compared to whichever its Hindi equivalent is.

Gowri Lekshmi is part of two more songs from the album – Yes You Can, which is the album’s Kinare, and the O Gujariya analogue (I assume, going by the party reference), Kadalin Theerathe. Eventhough Yes You Can is once again tinged with a stronger touch of melancholy than Kinare, there is no doubting whose counterpart it is, especially with that tell-tale sitar solo (Bhagirath Bhatt) breaking out halfway through the song. The melancholic aspect does take this song to the territory of other similar Amit compositions however; especially when Jitendra Thakur’s violin phrases kicked in, my mind went back to Lehrein from Aisha. Kadalin Theerathe has Gowri joined by an equally competent Nikhita Gandhi who delivers the English lines – reggaeton-flavoured songs are generally an engaging experience; so too is this party track. Two of my favourite tracks from the Hindi album were Harjaaiyaan and Badra Bahaar – it was a happy realisation that my favourites from Zam Zam turned out to be their Malayalam counterparts. Shreya Ghoshal does most of the heavy lifting in Bhoomikkum Meethe (and is spectacular doing that), with good support from Haricharan. The song is structured along the lines of multiple of Amit’s poignant pieces, a slow haunting buildup to a soaring refrain – the presence of highland-ish elements like Tapas Roy’s santoor and Paras Nath’s tin whistle (I think) makes me think of Fitoor in particular. Even in Ellaarum Pirinju the cheerfulness quotient is toned down when compared to Badra Bahaar, but that is to take nothing away from the song. While I miss the sitar here, Finix Ramdas on violin and Pazhamalai on saxophone (that sax entry feels almost Vidyasagar-esque!) pretty much make up for it. And Abhay Jodhpurkar delivers wonderfully on the vocal front.

Amit Trivedi’s songs for Zam Zam/Paris Paris/Butterfly/That is Mahalakshmi follow pretty much the same formula as his work in Queen, and while not on the same level, they are pretty solid soundtracks on their own.

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: Bhoomikkum Meethe, Ellaarum Pirinju, Ini Vida Parayaam

Musician Credits

Zam Zam (Malayalam)

Music By: Amit Trivedi

01 Kili Penne

LYRICIST: Rafeeq Ahammed

SINGER: Jassie Gift & Sithara Krishnakumar

CREW NAMES
Composed & Produced by – Amit Trivedi
Recording Engineers A T Studios Mumbai – Abhishek Sortey & Urmila Sutar Assisted by Firoz Shaikh
Mixed & Mastered by – Shadab Rayeen, A T Studios & New Edge – Mumbai Assisted by : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer A T Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Head Of Production A T Studios – Aashish Narula

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi , Kalyan Chakravarthy & Vineeth Jayan
Saxophones – Pazamalai
Saxophones Session Conductor – M Kalyan
Backing Vocals – Rajiv Sundaresan , Suhas Sawan & Arun Hk

02 Sugar Honey ( Parakaam )

LYRICIST: Rafeeq Ahammed

SINGER: Benny Dayal & Rap by R Venkatraman

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Vineeth Jayan
Strokes – Tapas Roy
Trumpet – Kishor Sodha
Backing Vocals – Rajiv Sundaresan , Suhas Sawan , Arun Hk & Rishikesh Kamerkar

03 Bhoomikum Meethe

LYRICIST: Rafeeq Ahammed

SINGER: Shreya Ghoshal & Haricharan

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Gourab Dutta
Santoor – Tapas Roy
Flute – Paras Nath

04 Ini Vida Parayaam

LYRICIST
Rafeeq Ahammed

SINGER
Gowry Lekshmi

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Gourab Dutta
Guitar – Rhythm Shaw
Bass Guitar – Nathan Thomas
Backing Vocals – Sathyaprakash

05 Yes You Can

LYRICIST: Rafeeq Ahammed

SINGER: Gowry Lekshmi

CREW NAMES
Composed & Produced by – Amit Trivedi
Recording Engineers A T Studios Mumbai – Abhishek Sortey & Urmila Sutar Assisted by Firoz Shaikh
Recording Studio Island City Studios LLP & Engineer – Ashyar Balsara
Mixed & Mastered by – Shadab Rayeen, A T Studios & New Edge – Mumbai Assisted by : Abhishek Sortey & Dhananjay Khapekar
Executive Producer A T Studios – Krutee Trivedi
Head Of Production A T Studios – Aashish Narula

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Gourab Dutta
Live Drums – Jai Row Kavi
Live Bass Guitar – Nathan Thomas
Live Guitar – Warren Mendonsa
Live Sitar – Bhagirath Bhatt
Live Violin – Jitendra .H. Thakur
Backing Vocals – Rajiv Sundaresan , Suhas Sawan & Arun Hk & Rishikesh Kamerkar

06 Kadalin Theerathe

LYRICIST: Santhosh Varma

SINGER: Gowry Lekshmi & Nikhita Gandhi

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Vineeth Jayan
Live Guitar – Ankur Mukherjee
Live Clarinet & Flute – ID Rao

07 Ellarum Pirinjhu

LYRICIST: Rafeeq Ahammed

SINGER: Abhay Jodhpukar

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi ,Vineeth Jayan & Raja Rasaily
Live Violin – Finix Ramdas
Saxophones – Pazhamalai
Saxophones Session Conductor – M Kalyan
Backing Vocals – Rajiv Sundaresan , Suhas Sawan & Arun Hk & Rishikesh Kamerkar

08 Madhurasudha Paanasugham

LYRICIST: Rafeeq Ahammed

SINGER: Amitabh Bachchan, Jassie Gift & Vidya Vox

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi ,Vineeth Jayan & Raja Rasaily

Paris Paris (Tamil)

Music By: Amit Trivedi

01 Annachi Kondadu

LYRICIST
Thamizhachi Thangapandian

SINGER
Jassie Gift & Anaya Bhatt

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi , Kalyan Chakravarthy & Vineeth Jayan
Nadaswaram – Thirumurthy
Saxophones – Pazamalai
Nadaswaram & Saxophones Session Conductor – M Kalyan
Backing Vocals – Rajiv Sundaresan , Suhas Sawan & Arun Hk

02 Sudoko Attam

LYRICIST: Viveka

SINGER: Karthik & Rap by R Venkatraman

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Vineeth Jayan
Strokes – Tapas Roy
Trumpet – Kishor Sodha
Backing Vocals – Rajiv Sundaresan , Suhas Sawan , Arun Hk & Rishikesh Kamerkar

03 Vazhve Neelade

LYRICIST: Thamizhachi Thangapandian

SINGER: Chinmayi Sripada & Sathyaprakash

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Gourab Dutta
Santoor – Tapas Roy
Flute – Paras Nath

04 Odukka Neneccha (Tamil)

LYRICIST: Parvathy

SINGER: Supriya Lohit

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Gourab Dutta
Guitar – Rhythm Shaw
Bass Guitar – Nathan Thomas
Backing Vocals – Sathyaprakash

05 Padaigal Illai Endru

LYRICIST: Viveka

SINGER: Shashaa Tirupati

06 Iduva en bhoomi

LYRICIST: Parvathy

SINGER: Sashaa Tirupati & Nikhita Gandhi

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Vineeth Jayan
Live Guitar – Ankur Mukherjee
Live Clarinet & Flute – ID Rao

07 Enge En Santhosham

LYRICIST: Mohanranjan

SINGER: Haricharan

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi ,Vineeth Jayan & Raja Rasaily
Live Violin – Finix Ramdas
Saxophones – Pazamalai
Saxophones Session Conductor – M Kalyan
Backing Vocals – Rajiv Sundaresan , Suhas Sawan & Arun Hk & Rishikesh Kamerkar

08 Inda Somabanam

LYRICIST: Mohanranjan

SINGER: Amitabh Bachchan , Vijay Prakash & Vidya Vox

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi ,Vineeth Jayan & Raja Rasaily

Butterfly (Kannada)

Music By: Amit Trivedi

01 Naale Namma Manelondu

LYRICIST
Yogaraj Bhatt

SINGER
Jassie Gift & Anaya Bhatt

02 Sugar Sugar

LYRICIST: Pradyumna Narahalli

SINGER: Karthik , Shashaa Tirupati & Rap by R Venkatraman

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Vineeth Jayan
Strokes – Tapas Roy
Trumpet – Kishor Sodha
Backing Vocals – Rajiv Sundaresan , Suhas Sawan , Arun Hk , Rishikesh Kamerkar
Keshia Braganza , Lara Pinto , Gwen Dias & Murishka D’cruz

03 Koorade Mooleyalli

LYRICIST: Jayant Kaikini

SINGER: Shashaa Tirupati & Arun Hk

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Gourab Dutta
Santoor – Tapas Roy
Flute – Paras Nath

04 Mella Kai Hididu

LYRICIST: Jayant Kaikini

SINGER: Supriya Lohit

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Gourab Dutta
Guitar – Rhythm Shaw
Bass Guitar – Nathan Thomas
Backing Vocals – Sathyaprakash

05 Khuddagi Bhoomiyinda

LYRICIST: Jayant Kaikini

SINGER: Sunidhi Chauhan

06 Manasu Eegaaitu
LYRICIST: Jayant Kaikini

SINGER: Jonita Gandhi & Nikhita Gandhi

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Vineeth Jayan
Live Guitar – Ankur Mukherjee
Live Clarinet & Flute – ID Rao

07 Badra Bahar ( Chandulli Cheluve )

LYRICIST: Manohar Nayak Udupi

SINGER: Vijay Prakash

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi ,Vineeth Jayan & Raja Rasaily
Flute – Naveen Kumar
Backing Vocals – Rajiv Sundaresan , Suhas Sawan & Arun Hk & Rishikesh Kamerkar

08 Sukhaveeva

LYRICIST: Master Hirannaiah & Manohar Nayak Udupi

SINGER: Amitabh Bachchan , Shashaa Tirupati & Vijay Prakash

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi ,Vineeth Jayan & Raja Rasaily

That is Mahalakshmi (Telugu)

Music By: Amit Trivedi

01 London Dhaaka Dol Baaje

LYRICIST: Krishna Kanth

SINGER: Geetha Madhuri

02 Sugar Honey

LYRICIST: Krishna Kanth

SINGER: Benny Dayal & Rap by R Venkatraman

03 Raathe Marindaa

LYRICIST: Krishna Kanth

SINGER: Shashaa Tirupati & Amit Trivedi

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Gourab Dutta
Santoor – Tapas Roy
Flute – Paras Nath

04 Katha Modalavake

LYRICIST: Krishna Kanth

SINGER: Shreya Ghoshal

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Gourab Dutta
Guitar – Rhythm Shaw
Bass Guitar – Nathan Thomas
Backing Vocals – Sathyaprakash

05 Yes You Can

LYRICIST: Krishna Kanth

SINGER: Sunitha Sarathy

06 Sagame chusaanaa

LYRICIST: Krishna Kanth

SINGER: Sameera Bharadwaj & Nikhita Gandhi

MUSICIAN NAMES
Programmed – Amit Trivedi & Vineeth Jayan
Live Guitar – Ankur Mukherjee
Live Clarinet & Flute – ID Rao

07 Kallara Chusthunna

LYRICIST: Krishna Kanth

SINGER: Anurag Kulkarni

↧

Farewell, SPB..

September 25, 2020, 1:34 pm

≫ Next: Saajan Bakery Since 1962 – Music Review (Malayalam Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Zam Zam – Music Review (Malayalam Movie Soundtrack)

Indha Degam Maraidhaalum… Isayay Malaruvai SPB.
[Meaning: Even when the mortal form disappears, you will blossom as music, SPB]

Certain public figures enter into our personal space and become family. We don’t really need to meet them. But theirs will be a constant presence in our day to day life.

One such people’s person who became family, not just to his hard core fans, but to any person who found solace in his voice is SPB.

I am not a fanatic of him. If you conduct a trivia quiz about him, I wouldn’t know the answers to most of the questions. I love his songs. He has made me dance when I was happy, cry when sad and brave when I felt everything around me was falling apart. He was..no, is always there.

His persona was child-like. I think even when he raised his voice to reprimand someone it would have been musical. Both on and off screen, he was very human, with no special aura.

A lot has been spoken about his singing and acting. He had silently been helping people brave the covid pandemic, by singing their favorite songs on an everyday basis until he got admitted to the hospital. Such was his dedication to his fans and music.

There is nothing more to say. 2020 you have been a very bad year and this has been the pinnacle – please just get over already.

Miss you SPB! Your songs are our only anchor henceforth.

↧

Saajan Bakery Since 1962 – Music Review (Malayalam Soundtrack)

October 9, 2020, 11:51 am

≫ Next: Putham Pudhu Kaalai – Music Review (Tamil Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Farewell, SPB..

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

After employing his vocals quite effectively in Wifikku Speedilla for the movie Mariyam Vannu Vilakkoothi earlier this year, composer Prashant Pillai gets Thakara band frontman James Thakara to deliver another song in a similarly quirky vein, the title song of Saajan Bakery Since 1962. Starting with an old timey radio spiel for the titular bakery, the song’s lines are replete with nostalgia-inducing (for me, that is) references to bakery items like mutta puffs, bun-um vennem etc (incidentally written by Vinayak Sasikumar who also wrote the aforementioned Prashant-James song). The delightful retro pop melody and arrangement carry a fairly evident nod to Redbone’s Come and Get Your Love (that you might remember from Peter Quill’s Awesome Mix Vol. 1) and features some excellent guitar (Akash S Menon) and horns (programmed, from the looks of it). K S Harishankar leads the singing in two of the album’s songs. Eeran Kannil, while set to a commonplace, if enjoyable, melody, is elevated by Harishankar’s top quality vocals and its structuring – the song is presented pretty much in one continuous stretch, without any interlude per se. And there is that surprise switch to a slower, more soulful segment towards the end. Akash Menon is once again in fine form on the guitar. While Harishankar sounds fab even in his other song, Kaalamere Poi Maaikilum, it is the ambient choral segment around the title refrain that pip’s the singer’s solo act. I was incidentally reading something on the rising trend of calming lo-fi/ambient releases in the Indian indie scene – this song fits right into that zone.

My absolute favourites from the soundtrack are the remaining two songs, though, both written by Anu Elizabeth Jose. Rarely does Prashant Pillai employ “mainstream” singers in his albums, so it comes as a bit of a surprise that three of the five songs in Saajan Bakery feature such artists. The third one being Vineeth Sreenivasan in Thoraa Mazhayilum. Not that I mean this as a kind of complaint, of course, this is the best I have heard him sing in quite a while. And what an addictive song – there is the smooth, understated melody delivered with aplomb by Vineeth and Preeti Pillai in support, the groovy arrangement highlighted by Josy Alappuzha’s splendid saxophone phrases and that delectable bluesy bass line (programmed, apparently), and of course Anu’s lines that is adorned with these lovely onomatopoeic touches like ittittittitha and nenjil jil jil jil (a nod to Kannathil Muthamittaal?). Preeti Pillai gets the centre-stage in Kaanaa Dooram, and she is spectacular here. Well, I say centre-stage – featuring almost as prominently as her in the song is Paulson with some brilliant sitar-playing – it is particularly pleasing to hear the sitar phrases echo across the expansive soundscape in the interlude. The nenje nenje refrain is my favourite bit in the melody of course (I am surprised the song wasn’t titled that, since that is the repeating line, although Kaanaa Dooram is set to the same tune), but I especially love when Preeti gets to that verse after the beautifully constructed second verse. Ending the song with a swara-based improv is also a nice touch – the song seems to bear shades of abheri raga.

Saajan Bakery Since 1962. Prashant Pillai delivers one of the best Malayalam soundtracks this year (probably just Ayyappanum Koshiyum that I would rate a tad higher than this), and his personal best soundtrack in a long time. Total winner, this!

Music Aloud Rating: 4/5

Top Recos: Kaanaa Dooram, Thoraa Mazhayilum, Once Upon a Time in Ranni

Musician Credits

Once Upon A Time In Ranni
Music Composed, Arranged & Programmed : Prashant Pillai
Music Assistants & Additional Programmers : Sreerag Saji, Rakesh
Singer : James Thakara
Lyrics : Vinayak Sasikumar
Guitars : Akash S Menon
Mixed & Mastered By : Vivek Thomas
Recording Engineer : Rahul Narayan
Studio : VTP Studios, Kochi

Thora Mazhayilum
Music Composed, Arranged & Programmed : Prashant Pillai
Singers : Vineeth Sreenivasan, Preeti Pillai
Lyrics : Anu Elizabeth Jose
Sax : Josy
Music Assistants & Additional Programmers : Sreerag Saji, Rakesh
Mixed & Mastered By : Vivek Thomas
Recording Engineers : Sai Prakash, Akshay K
Studio : My Studio, Kochi

Kaana Dooram
Music Composed,Arranged & Programmed : Prashant Pillai
Singer : Preeti Pillai
Lyrics : Anu Elizabeth Jose
Music Assistants & Additional Programmers : Sreerag Saji, Rakesh
Sitar : Paulson
Mixed & Mastered By : Vivek Thomas
Recording Engineers : Sai Prakash, Akshay K
Studio : My Studio, Kochi

Eeran Kannil
Music Composed, Arranged & Programmed : Prashant Pillai
Singer : K S Harisankar
Lyrics : Vinayak Sasikumar
Music Assistants & Additional Programmers : Sreerag Saji, Rakesh
Guitars : Akash S Menon
Mixed & Mastered By : Vivek Thomas
Recording Engineers : Sai Prakash, Akshay K
Studio : My Studio, Kochi

Kaalamere Poi Maikilum
Music Composed, Arranged & Programmed : Prashant Pillai
Singer : K S Harisankar
Lyrics : Vinayak Sasikumar
Music Assistants & Additional Programmers : Albin Mathew, Sreerag Saji, Rakesh
Mixed & Mastered by : Prashant Pillai
Recording Engineers : Sai Prakash, Akshay K,
Studio : My Studio, Kochi

Label : Muzik247

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Putham Pudhu Kaalai – Music Review (Tamil Soundtrack)

October 21, 2020, 2:28 pm

≫ Next: Soorarai Pottru – Music Review (Tamil Movie Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Saajan Bakery Since 1962 – Music Review (Malayalam Soundtrack)

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

SPB Charan singing a song that references one of his father’s hits would be a pleasant throwback in a normal scenario, but given recent events, Manmadhan Naan Dhaana – that makes a nod to M S Viswanathan-Kannadasan’s Namma Ooru Singaari from the 1979 movie Ninaithaale Inikkum (thanks to @soundtrackindia for this trivia) – hits different. The song is great (made even more so by its visuals) –Charan channels SPB’s swagger very well and G V Prakash Kumar aces the rock and roll style arrangements. In fact, it is the quirky, retro styled songs that find GVP in his best form. Unfortunately, this is also the soundtrack’s segment that gets over the quickest – four songs flying past you in just over six minutes (and all of them feature in the same short). While I understand that their placement in the film does not warrant full length songs, I do wish the makers had gone for extended versions in the soundtrack alone. The processing in Charan’s voice makes Oho Endhan Baby a bit jarring in places, but the melody and arrangement prop it up. Kulfi Kuchchi is one of my favourites – always a sucker for that European-flavoured arrangement; and the song has a very cute video to accompany it in the film. The composer himself delivers this one, alongside Bhavani Sre – interestingly, the song’s melody reminds me of Shankar Jaikishan’s Chaahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe in its entire progression. The same singers pair up to deliver the relatively longer Kannam Adhil Vannam as well, which sort of continues in the same vein as the previous one, but at a slower pace, and is as enjoyable.

G V Prakash’s final song of the album is the title track. Bit of a template anthemic song with the atmospheric piano + strings-based soundscape et al, this one would have been much more entertaining had GVP himself not been singing it. Effective, nevertheless. It is guest composer Govind Vasantha who delivers the soundtrack’s pièce de résistance, though! Written by Karky (GVP’s songs are all penned by Kurangan band’s frontman Kaber Vasuki), the composer does a classical-based composition (dharmavathi/madhuvanthi raga, I feel – the song I get instantly taken back to is Kanda Naal Mudhalaai) in Kannaa Thoodhu Po da and gets Bombay Jayashree to deliver it. While the singer is incredible at her delivery, the composer backs her up with a comparatively minimal, but very effective arrangement comprised of kanjira, mridangam and flute (some beautiful phrases here by Vishnu Vijay, especially in the interlude).

Putham Pudhu Kaalai. G V Prakash Kumar delivers a bunch of really enjoyable songs that I wish were longer, but boy am I glad that Govind Vasantha’s guest composition is long enough!

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: Kannaa Thoodhu Po Da, Kulfi Kuchchi, Manmadhan Naan Dhaana, Kannam Adhil Vannam

Musician Credits

Song Name	Composer	Lyricist	Singer	Other Credits
Putham Pudhu Kaalai – Title Track	G.V. Prakash Kumar	Kaber Vasuki	G.V. Prakash Kumar	Programmer- S. Ganesan, Sound Engineer – Jehovahson Alghar
Kanna Thoodhu Po Da	Govind Vasantha	Karky	Bombay Jayashri	Flute- Vishnu, Percussion- Shruthiraj
Manmadhan Naan Dhaana	G.V. Prakash Kumar	Kaber Vasuki	SPB Charan	Programmer- S. Ganesan, Sound Engineer – Jehovahson Alghar
Oho Endhan Baby	G.V. Prakash Kumar	Kaber Vasuki	SPB Charan, GV Prakash Kumar, Bhavani Sre	Programmer- S. Ganesan, Sound Engineer – Jehovahson Alghar
Kulfi Kuchchi	G.V. Prakash Kumar	Kaber Vasuki	GV Prakash Kumar, Bhavani Sre	Programmer- S. Ganesan, Sound Engineer – Jehovahson Alghar
Kannam Adhil Vannam	G.V. Prakash Kumar	Kaber Vasuki	GV Prakash Kumar, Bhavani Sre	Programmer- S. Ganesan, Sound Engineer – Jehovahson Alghar

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Soorarai Pottru – Music Review (Tamil Movie Soundtrack)

November 17, 2020, 5:26 pm

≫ Next: Ludo – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Putham Pudhu Kaalai – Music Review (Tamil Soundtrack)

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

The short Maara Theme delivered by the movie’s main man Suriya has a bit of a Kalippu (Premam) feel about it, thanks to that combination of edaykka and guitars, and the actor’s aggressive delivery of Arivu’s lines. There is a sense of aggression in the funeral song – the first track in the movie – Mannurunda as well, where K Ekadesi’s lines start off about the pointlessness of accumulating riches in the context of death, before switching over to a rant against casteism in the second half, kind of foreshadowing the struggles the protagonist faces throughout the movie. The rendition here is of course much more musical compared to the first track, with a very competent Senthil Ganesh at the helm. There is a second koothu song in the album as well, along delivered by Senthil, but a much shorter one lasting just over 30 seconds, titled Sooravali. The song’s duration prevents it from rising above its functional aspect though. The doleful Naalu Nimisham sees Krishnaraj handle vocal duties, and the man carries the song through in fine fashion, as G V Prakash Kumar keeps the backdrop minimal, letting the singing voice shine through. I do wish Krishnaraj had sung the more elaborately arranged alternate version of the song titled Usurey as well, which is led by GVP instead. There is a very ARR-esque quality to this song, which is accentuated in this version with the spruced up arrangement (those beats take my mind back to Thoda Thoda Malarndhadhenna). GVP’s work on the orchestration is spectacular here – it is a pity to see his own vocals getting in the way of the song becoming one of the album’s best.

Which takes me to the songs which actually are the soundtrack’s best. My two favourites are the album’s two unconventional romantic tracks – one each for the male and the female protagonists. Both Veyyon Silli and Kaattu Payale carry the hinterland vibe that underlines almost the entire Soorarai Pottru soundtrack. The former has a smattering of rock elements in it as well, making for a heady combo, and it is only fitting that GVP chooses a rock-fusion man behind the mic – Harish Sivaramakrishnan. Harish is fab on his part, nailing the soaring portions as he usually does. Interesting lyrics from Vivek too, starting right with the title which, I understand, translates “a piece of the sun”. Composer gets Dhee to deliver the more upbeat Kaattu Payale, and once again the choice of singer is perfect for the kind of song it is (quite suits Aparna Balamurali’s onscreen persona as well, truth be told). Very imaginative melody from GVP here, playing smartly with the pacing of the words, the occasional switchover to a darker flavour et al. The Malayali-sounding elements doing a cameo in the second interlude is a bit of a mysterious inclusion though. In any case, the next track carries an even more prominent Malayali connection – the makers picking a song from Kerala band Thaikkudam Bridge’s brilliant debut album Navarasam titled Urumbu, a song that voices the struggles faced by ants (yes, the insects), and turning it into a battle cry (well-written by Arunraj Kamaraj) for Maara and friends as they set out to conquer the Aagasam. Splendid adaptation this – GVP’s modifications to the original melody and arrangements work like a charm, and he retains the original singers Christin Jos and Govind Vasantha who deliver it as neatly as they did Urumbu. The album’s final song is another solo act, this time by Saindhavi. And she too is immense form delivering the melancholic Kaiyilae Agasam where the composer once again tones down the backdrop, putting the spotlight on the singer for most part.

G V Prakash Kumar has been on a pretty productive composing run these past couple of years (Asuran last year being one particularly worth a mention), but in Soorarai Pottru he delivers his best soundtrack in a long time!

Music Aloud Rating: 4/5

Top Recos: Kaattu Payale, Veyyon Silli, Aagasam, Kaiyyilae Aagasam

Musician Credits

1. Mannurunda

Singer: Senthil Ganesh
Lyrics: K Ekadesi
Nadaswaram: Thirumurthy
Live Drums: Kumar
Trumpets: Thomas, Ben
Live percussion: Sundar, Vedha, Venkat, Ganapathy,Vikram , Kiran, Hariprasadh, Ranjit
Additional Programming: Ganesan Sekar
Trumpets & Rhythm produced by Kumaran Sivamani
Songs Mixed and Mastered by JehovahsonAalghar, Divine Labs
Trumpets & percussion recorded at AM Studio

2. Veyyon Silli

Singers: Harish Sivaramakrishnan
Lyrics: Vivek

3. Kaattu Payale

Singers: Dhee
Lyrics: Snehan
Programmers: Ganesan Sekar, K C Balasarangan. Raj Kumar Amal
Backing Vocals: K C Balasarangan, Ala B Bala
Recorded at Divine Labs Chennai
Mixed and Mastered by Jehovahson Alghar

4. Sooravali

Singer: Senthil Ganeshh
Lyrics – K Ekadesi

5. Naalu Nimisham

Singer: Krishnaraj
Lyrics: Maya Mahalingam
Recorded at Divine Labs Chennai
Mixed and Mastered by Jehovahson Alghar
Programmed by Raj Kumar Amal

6. Aagasam

Singers: Christin Jos, Govind Vasantha
Lyrics: Arunraja Kamaraj

7. Maara Theme

Singers: Suriya, G.V. Prakash Kumar
Lyrics: Arivu

8. Usurey

Singer: G V Prakash Kumar
Lyrics: Maya Mahalingam
Keyboard Programmer – K C Balasarangan
Backing Vocals: K C Balasarangan, Ala B Bala, Jhanavi, Pooja, Sushma, Padmalatha, Sinduri Vishal
Mixed and Mastered by: Jehovahson Alghar
Recorded at Divine Labs, Chennai

9. Kayilae Aagasam

Singer: Saindhavi
Lyrics: Yugabharathi

↧

Ludo – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

November 24, 2020, 7:04 am

≫ Next: Music Aloud Playback – Best Indian Songs of 2020!

≪ Previous: Soorarai Pottru – Music Review (Tamil Movie Soundtrack)

Songs and musician credits at the end.

Back in 2012, in Anurag Basu’s Barfi!, composer Pritam and lyricist Sayeed Quadri together created the lovely Phir Le Aaya Dil. In Ludo, the two join hands again for another beauty titled Hardum Humdum. While melodically this one belongs in the same semi-classical zone as Phir Le Aaya, the arrangement is a more upbeat mix of electronic and classical elements – Roopak Naigaonkar’s sarod and Feroz Shah’s harmonium being particularly worth mentioning. Quadri’s writing is immaculate, as is its delivery by Arijit Singh who incidentally sang my favourite version of the Barfi! song as well. Aside of the main version, Arijit also sings the longer film version of the song which, true to its title, is a lot more filmi with the classical elements all making way for guitars and synth. While I prefer the original version over this one for this very reason, I do appreciate the appearance of a bass line here. My favourite variant of Hardum Humdum, however, is the third (female) version – the arrangement is more aligned to the original, but with the harmonium standing in for the sarod and sitar well, and Shilpa Rao’s dreamy voice alongside her classical prowess works wonders for the tune! Aabaad Barbaad belongs to the line of breezy melodies that Pritam soundtracks used to regularly feature at one point, to the extent that I had stopped being a fan of those. Listening to one after a long time, however, feels like a pleasant throwback – absence does make the heart grow fonder! The melody is very hummable, Arijit Singh’s delivery effective and the arrangement carrying some lovely little touches, especially Ghulam Ali’s sarangi phrases.

Based on their past few (ok two) works together, there is a level of whimsy and quirkiness that I have begun to associate Anurag Basu-Pritam soundtracks with. While Ludo’s soundtrack doesn’t quite check those boxes, the remaining two songs are the closest it gets to that. Meri Tum Ho has a cheery melody that the composer adorns with a refreshing backdrop that has I D Rao piping up with this assortment of woodwinds and a wonderfully employed chorus. The unplugged version isn’t as fun, but the tune and chorus make it a pleasant listen nevertheless. Jubin Nautiyal and Ash King handle the singing in both versions, and do a commendable job. The album’s best song is where the composer goes folk – Dil Julaha is an absolute delight to listen to! There’s the very jolly, folksy tune that is bolstered by a bevy of exotic-sounding instruments, all from the North East, and a spotless rendition by Darshan Raval. Add to this Swanand Kirkire’s lines (the album features four lyricists for its four original songs) where he constructs some brilliant weaving analogies for love.

While it is a bummer that Ludo’s soundtrack has just four original songs (doesn’t help that the BGM tracks haven’t been released either), Pritam does still manage to produce a top-drawer set for Anurag Basu!

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Musician Credits

Thanks to Anurag Sharma and Chiranjeev Gorur for helping with this

Harpal Humdum

Music – Pritam

Singer – Arijit Singh

Lyrics – Sayeed Quadri

Music Production & Sound Design – DJ Phukan & Sunny M.R.

Music Production and Arrangement – Aditya N.

Additional Music Production and Arrangement – DJ Phukan & Sunny M.R.

Mix & Master – Shadab Rayeen at New Edge

Chief Sound Engineer & Shootmix – Ashwin Kulkarni

Music Production Manager – Anurag Sharma

Vocal Conductor – Akashdeep Sengupta

Sound Engineers – Aniruddh Anantha, Harjot Kaur & Himanshu Shirlekar

Sound Engineer at JAM8 Studio – Aaroh Velankar

Vocal Recording Engineer at Arijit’s Studio – Sukanto Singha

Mixing Assistant to Shadab – Abhishek Sortey & Tapas Sahoo

Live Dubs Conducted by DJ Phukan & Shubham Shirule

MUSICIANS (Dubbed at JAM8 Studio)

Acoustic and Electric Guitar – Roland Fernandes

Harmonium – Feroz Shah

Sarod – Roopak Naigaonkar

Sitar – Salman Khan

Aabaad Barbaad

Music – Pritam

Singer – Arijit Singh

Lyrics – Sandeep Srivastava

Sound Design – DJ Phukan & Sunny M.R.

Music Production and Arrangement – Sourav Roy

Additional Music Production and Arrangement – DJ Phukan

Drop Produced by DJ Phukan

Mix & Master – Shadab Rayeen at New Edge

Chief Sound Engineer & Shootmix – Ashwin Kulkarni

Music Production Manager – Anurag Sharma

Vocal Conductor – Akashdeep Sengupta

Vocal Drop Singer – Shreya Phukan

Chorus Design & Dub – Sourav Roy

Sound Engineers – Aniruddh Anantha & Harjot Kaur

Sound Engineer at JAM8 Studio – Aaroh Velankar

Vocal Recording Engineer at Arijit’s Studio – Sukanto Singha

Mixing Assistant to Shadab – Abhishek Sortey & Tapas Sahoo

Live Dubs Conducted by Shubham Shirule

MUSICIANS (Dubbed at JAM8 Studio)

Viola & Clarinet – Shirish Malhotra

Sarangi – Ghulam Ali

Meri Tum Ho

Music – Pritam

Singers – Jubin Nautiyal & Ash King

Lyrics – Sandeep Shrivastava & Shloke Lal

Music Production, Programming and Arrangement – Sunny M.R. & ZIA

Music Production & Sound Design – DJ Phukan & Sunny M.R.

Mix & Master – Shadab Rayeen at New Edge

Chief Sound Engineer & Shootmix – Ashwin Kulkarni

Music Production Manager – Anurag Sharma

Vocal Conductor – Akashdeep Sengupta

Vocal Design – Sunny M.R. & ZIA

Backing Vocals – ZIA, Sunny M.R., Geet Sagar, Akashdeep Sengupta & Anurag Sharma

Sound Engineers – Ashwin Kulkarni, Aniruddh Anantha & Harjot Kaur

Sound Engineer at JAM8 Studio – Aaroh Velankar & Abhijeet Shesh

Mixing Assistant to Shadab – Abhishek Sortey & Tapas Sahoo

MUSICIANS (Dubbed at JAM8 Studio)

Acoustic and Electric Guitars – Roland Fernandes

Bass Guitar – Roland Fernandes and ZIA

Clarinet, Recorder, Melodica & Flute – ID Rao

Dil Julaha

Music – Pritam

Singer – Darshan Raval

Lyrics – Swanand Kirkire

Music Production and Arrangement – Kalyan Baruah

Additional Music Production and Arrangement – DJ Phukan

Music Production & Sound Design – DJ Phukan & Sunny M.R.

Mix & Master – Shadab Rayeen at New Edge

Chief Sound Engineer & Shootmix – Ashwin Kulkarni

Music Production Manager – Anurag Sharma

Vocal Conductor – Akashdeep Sengupta

Backing Vocals – Tushar Joshi, Akashdeep Sengupta, Aniruddh Anantha and Anurag Sharma

Sound Engineers – Ashwin Kulkarni, Aniruddh Anantha & Harjot Kaur

Sound Engineer at JAM8 Studio – Aaroh Velankar, Akash Mukherjee & Subhashree Das

Mixing Assistant to Shadab – Abhishek Sortey & Tapas Sahoo

MUSICIANS (Dubbed at Auditek, Assam)

Flute – Parameswar Basumatari

Dhol – Lachit Baruah & Debeswar Borah

Taal & Toka – Jayanta Sonowal

Pepa & Gogona – Jayanta Sonowal

↧

Music Aloud Playback – Best Indian Songs of 2020!

December 30, 2020, 8:18 am

≫ Next: Maara – Music Review (Tamil Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Ludo – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Thus, a very strange year – likely the strangest in most of our lifetimes – is about to come to an end. A year that, at least for me, underlined the value of music – it would have been quite difficult to maintain sanity through the barrage of terrible news that hit us this year, without music. Thankfully there was a fair bit of quality music that came our way as well, this year, despite the few number of movie releases. In fact the reduced number of movies meant a glut of songs in the non-film space, so much so that I have created a separate category this time, to cover music from web series. Onto the lists, then – hopefully due to the lockdown etc you will have enough time to check out these lists at length Wish you all a happy and a much more normal 2021!

As usual, I have gone by movie release calendar, and single release date for the indie/indipop list. Also, Music Aloud is now on Spotify as well, so this year the playlists will be available on Apple Music, Youtube and Spotify.

And thanks as always to the awesome @cookydoh for the artwork!

Bollywood

It is incredible that it took a pandemic to improve the musical situation in Bollywood! With the OTT releases etc, there was of course a shift in the whole dynamics, but this was a year of quality over quantity for Hindi music (film and non-film). Most heartening to see was the drop in the remix trend – this could of course be a temporary thing, but one can always hope! Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Pritam and A R Rahman were responsible for a lot of the amazing songs that came out this year, but there was also some great music from other old timers (Sandesh Shandilya, Sachin Jigar etc), debutants (Anshuman Mukherjee, Anuj Garg, Shubham Shirule etc) and the in-betweeners (Amartya Rahut, Ankur Tewari etc). I am a bit gutted about having to leave out one of my favourites from the year, 99 Songs, from the roundup since the movie isn’t out yet. Hoping that I can feature it next year.

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

Aur Tanha (Love Aaj Kal) – Pritam|Irshad Kamil|KK
Khulke Jeene Ka (Dil Bechara) – A R Rahman|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Arijit Singh, Shashaa Tirupati
Khulne Do (Chhapaak) – Shankar Ehsaan Loy|Gulzar|Arijit Singh
Dil Julaha (Ludo) – Pritam|Swanand Kirkire|Darshan Raval
Mann Ki Dori (Gunjan Saxena) – Amit Trivedi|Kausar Munir|Armaan Malik
Khushmizaaj (Darbaan) – Amartya Rahut|Manoj Yadav|Arijit Singh, Amartya Rahut
Do Ka Chaar (Chaman Bahaar) – Anshuman Mukherjee|Apurva Dhar Badgaiyan|Sonu Nigam
Re Bawree (Taish) – Govind Vasantha|Hussain Haidry|Prarthana Indrajith, Govind Vasantha
Mera Naam Kizzie (Dil Bechara) – A R Rahman|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Aditya Narayan, Poorvi Koutish
Mar Jaayein Hum (Shikara) – Sandesh Shandilya|Irshad Kamil|Shradha Mishra, Papon
Shayad (Love Aaj Kal) – Pritam|Irshad Kamil|Arijit Singh
Nayi Dhoop (Unpaused) – Tanishk Bagchi|Rashmi Virag|Zara Khan
Wahin Hai Raste (Panga) – Shankar Ehsaan Loy|Javed Akhtar|Mohan Kannan, Asees Kaur
Do Din Ka Ye Mela Hai (Gulabo Sitabo) – Anuj Garg|Dinesh Pant|Rahul Ram
Aadhe Aadhe Se (Raat Akeli Hai) – Sneha Khanwalkar|Raj Shekhar|Shilpa Rao, Mika Singh
Hardum Humdum (Ludo) – Pritam|Sayeed Quadri|Arijit Singh
Dariyaganj (Jai Mummy Di) – Amartya Rahut|Siddharth Kaushal|Arijit Singh, Dhvani Bhanushali
Raanjhan (Bhangraa Paa Le) – Shubham Shirule (JAM8)|Mandy Gill|Neeti Mohan, Tushar Joshi
Ek Tukda Dhoop (Thappad) – Anurag Saikia|Shakeel Azmi|Raghav Chaitanya
Kahun (Guilty) – Ankur Tewari|Kausar Munir|Divya L
Taare Ginn (Dil Bechara) – A R Rahman|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Mohit Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal
Dil Zara (Atkan Chatkan) – Sivamani|Raqeeb Alam|Hariharan, Runa Sivamani
Paheli (Shakuntala Devi) – Sachin-Jigar|Priya Saraiya|Shreya Ghoshal
Chuney Chuney (Maska) – Mikey McCleary|IP Singh|Jonita Gandhi
Tehas Nahas (Khaali Peeli) – Vishal Shekhar|Kumaar|Shekhar Ravjiani, Prakriti Kakar

Honorary Mentions

Mehrama (Love Aaj Kal) – Pritam|Irshad Kamil|Darshan Raval, Antara Mitra
Roshni Si (Taish) – Prashant Pillai|Hussain Haidry|Preeti Pillai, Ashwin Gopakumar
Ghar Bhara (Shikara) – Sandesh Shandilya|Irshad Kamil|Shreya Ghoshal, Papon
Dil Tera (Indoo Ki Jawani) – Rochak Kohli|Gurpreet Saini, Gautam G Sharma|Benny Dayal, Neeti Mohan
Sikandar (Kaamyaab) – Rachita Arora|Neeraj Pandey|Hariharan

Malayalam

One of the happiest things for me in Malayalam music this year was to see composer Alphonse Joseph make a big return with Anoop Sathyan’s Varane Aavashyamundu (he did do a couple of lower profile films last year) – but the whole covid situation meant that the album did not receive the credit it deserved. The year’s top composers otherwise were Jakes Bejoy – who delivered one of his career-best soundtracks in Ayyappanum Koshiyum, and Prashant Pillai, whose fab work in Saajan Bakery Since 1962 is another favourite I am having to sadly skip in my roundup owing to the movie not having released. There were some promising debutants as well – Rex Vijayan’s brother Jackson Vijayan, Srihari K Nair, Sumesh Somasundar being a few names that found their way into the list.

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

Ariyaathariyaathe (Ayyappanum Koshiyum) – Jakes Bejoy|Rafeeq Ahammed|Kottakkal Madhu
Vaathukkalu Vellaripraavu (Sufiyum Sujathayum) – M Jayachandran|BK Harinarayanan|Nithya Mammen, Arjun Krishna
Dooram Theerum Neram (Kappela) – Sushin Shyam|Vinayak Sasikumar|Aavani Malhar
Thenezhuthave (Varky) – Sumesh Somasundar|Adarsh Venugopalan|KS Harishankar, Sreenanda
Enthinen Pranayame (Bhoomiyile Manohara Swakaaryam) – Sachin Balu|Sarath Vayalar|Mridula Warrier
Muthunne Kannukalil (Varane Aavashyamundu) – Alphonse Joseph|Shweta Mohan
Vaathil Chaari (Trance) – Jackson Vijayan|Vinayak Sasikumar|Shaktisree Gopalan, Tony John
Thelinje Vaanaake (Kilometers and Kilometers) – Sooraj S Kurup|BK Harinarayanan, Sooraj S Kurup, Lakshmi Menon|Sooraj S Kurup, Sithara Krishnakumar, Aditi Nair
Theeraakkadha (Gauthamante Radham) – Ankit Menon|Vinayak Sasikumar|Ankit Menon, Preetha Madhu Menon, Ashwin Aryan
Aadyathe Nokkil (Kozhipporu) – Bijibal|Vinayak Sasikumar|Bijibal, Anne Amie
Kalakkaatha (Ayyappanum Koshiyum) – Jakes Bejoy|Nanjiamma|Nanjiamma
Peyyum Nilaavu (Maniyarayile Ashokan) – Sreehari K Nair|BK Harinarayanan|KS Harishankar
Muttathu (Halal Love Story) – Bijibal|Anwar Ali|Soumya Ramakrishnan
Pulariyil (Varky) – Sumesh Somasundar|Jyothish T Kasi|Akbar Khan, Sithara Krishnakumar
Minnal Villaal (Paapam Cheyyaathavar Kalleriyatte) – Prashant Pillai|Anu Elizabeth Jose|Sreekanth Hariharan, Preeti Pillai
Raat (Trance) – Jackson Vijayan|Vinayak Sasikumar, Kamal Karthik|Sneha Khanwalkar, Neha S Nair
Kannil Vidarum (Kappela) – Sushin Shyam|Vishnu Shobhana|Sooraj Santhosh, Shweta Mohan
Smaranakal Kadalaayi (Bhoomiyile Manohara Swakaaryam) – Sachin Balu|Anwar Ali|Shahabaz Aman, Sithara Krishnakumar
Kando Kando (Big Brother) – Deepak Dev|Rafeeq Ahammed|Gowri Lekshmi, Amit Trivedi
Paikkoottangal (Uriyaattu) – Sudharsan|Ramesh Pullappalli|Kalesh Karunakaran
Kaanuvaan Kothicha (Uriyadi) – Ishaan Dev|Anil Panachooraan|Ishaan Dev
Unnikrishnan (Varane Aavashyamundu) – Alphonse Joseph|Santhosh Varma, Shelton Pinheiro, Thirumali|Alphonse Joseph, Sherdhin, Shelton Pinheiro, Thirumali
Uyire (Gauthamante Radham) – Ankit Menon|Vinayak Sasikumar|Sid Sriram
Penne (2 States) – Jakes Bejoy|Joe Paul|Karthik
Azhake (Cochin Shaadi @ Chennai 03) – Sunny Viswanath|N Godwin Victor|Delsy Ninan

Honorary Mentions

Diname Diname (Kilometers and Kilometers) – Sooraj S Kurup|BK Harinarayanan|Mridhul Anil
Thornnidaathe (Maniyarayile Ashokan) – Sreehari K Nair|Ajeesh Dasan|Sreehari K Nair
Navaraathri (Varane Aavashyamundu) – Alphonse Joseph|Santhosh Varma, Dr Kritaya|Chithra, Karthik
Thaalam Poyi (Ayyappanum Koshiyum) – Jakes Bejoy|Rafeeq Ahammed|Sangeetha, Jakes Bejoy
Naalukaali Payyalla (Kozhipporu) – Bijibal|Vinayak Sasikumar|Vaikom Vijayalakshmi

Tamil

Continuing his fine composing form from last year, G V Prakash Kumar delivered some excellent tracks this year as well in the two movies he featured in. Other composers who had a good year were Govind Vasantha (on his own, and as Thaikkudam Bridge, courtesy the one adapted song in Soorarai Pottru), Santhosh Narayanan, Vishal Chandrasekhar, Girishh Gopalakrishnan, Leon James and singers Sid Sriram and Vijaynarain, both making their composing debut. There was also the rare instance of a multicomposer soundtrack in the Vicky Donor-remake Dharala Prabhu, which turned out to be a wonderful set of songs as well. My favourite song of the year came from Ilaiyaraja though, in Psycho.

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

Unna Nenachu (Psycho) – Ilaiyaraja|Kabilan|Sid Sriram
Mannava (Vaanam Kottattum) – Sid Sriram|Siva Ananth|Shaktisree Gopalan
Kaadhal Theevey (Dharala Prabhu) – Sean Roldan|Nixy|Sid Sriram
Kaattu Payale (Soorarai Pottru) – G V Prakash Kumar|Snehan|Dhee
Kanna Thoodhu Poda (Putham Pudhu Kaalai) – Govind Vasantha|Karky|Bombay Jayashri
Vaa Chellam (Pon Magal Vandhaal) – Govind Vasantha|Vivek|Brinda Sivakumar
Ennada Life Idhu (Oh My Kadavule) – Leon James|Ko Sesha|Santhosh Narayanan
Desaandhiri (Gypsy) – Santhosh Narayanan|Yugabharathi|Siddharth, Santhosh Narayanan
Paaren Paaren (Dagaalty) – Vijaynarain|Subu|Vijaynarain
Paarthene (Mookuthi Amman) – Girishh Gopalakrishnan|Pa. Vijay|Jairam Balasubramanian
Piriyadha Enna (Pattas) – Vivek-Mervin|Ku. Karthik|Vijay Yesudas, Niranjana
Rani Theni (Kavalthurai Ungal Nanban) – Adithya-Soorya|S Gnanakaravel|Haricharan
Veyyon Silli (Soorarai Pottru) – G V Prakash Kumar|Vivek|Harish Sivaramakrishnan
Nee Mayakkura (Taana) – Vishal Chandrashekhar|Ku. Karthik|Sinduri
Manamengum (Gypsy) – Santhosh Narayanan|Yugabharathi|Dhee, Ananthu, Haricharan
Dharala Prabhu (Dharala Prabhu) – Anirudh Ravichander|Vignesh ShivN|Anirudh Ravichander
Vaasana Poochenda (Seeru) – D Imman|Parvathy|Rajaganapathy
Naan Unarvodu (Silence) – Gopi Sundar|Karunakaran|Chinmayi
Thaai (Penguin) – Santhosh Narayanan|Vivek|Anand Aravindakshan, Santhosh Narayanan
Aigiri Nandini (Mookuthi Amman) – Girissh Gopalakrishnan|Adi Shankaracharya, Pa. Vijay|Aruna Sairam
Thangam (Paava Kadhaigal) – Justin Prabhakaran|Justin Prabhakaran, Shan Karuppuswamy|Murugavel, JKA. Shalini, Justin Prabhakaran
Thaanaai (Oru Pakka Kathai) – Govind Vasantha|Karthik Netha|Sean Roldan, Aanandi Joshi
Kannane (Kanni Raasi) – Vishal Chandrashekhar|Yugabharathi|KS Chithra
Kannu Thangom (Vaanam Kottattum) – Sid Sriram|Siva Ananth|Sid Sriram, Shakthisree Gopalan
Jigidi Killadi (Pattas) – Vivek-Mervin|Vivek|Anirudh Ravichander

Honorary Mentions

Raila Raila (Naadodigal 2) – Justin Prabhakaran|Yugabharathi|Achu Rajamani
Thani Vazhi (Darbar) – Anirudh Ravichander|Yogi B, Senthuzhan, Syan|Yogi B, Anirudh Ravichander, Shakthisree Gopalan
Kulfi Kuchchi (Putham Pudhu Kaalai) – G V Prakash Kumar|Kaber Vasuki|G V Prakash Kumar, Bhavani Sre
Kadhaippoma (Oh My Kadavule) – Leon James|Ko Sesha|Sid Sriram
Aaliyah Aaliyah (Dagaalty) – Vijaynarain|Karky|Harshitha Krishnan, Gowtham Bharadwaj

Indian Indie/Pop

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the slump that movie industries faced, the indie/indipop playlist is the one I had the most difficulty picking this year. There was a lot of amazing music from across languages, even featuring quite a few big names from the film industry. This list, as always, only covers the music that I managed to catch up on in 2020, there could be a lot of great Indipop music that I have missed out on, so apologies in advance for that.

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

The Mountain King – Dhruv Visvanath
Nee Maatale (Elay) – Staccato
Thani Malayalam (The Gypsy Sun) – Sooraj Santhosh
Naina (In Other Words) – Anhad+Tanner feat. Isheeta Chakravarty
Age of Limbo – Mali
Aasai Thathumbucha – Justin Prabhakaran
Ocean Tide – When Chai Met Toast
Voice of Voiceless – Vedan
Baithi Hai (Songs of Trance) – Amit Trivedi, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Sharmishtha Chatterjee
Akale Viriyum – Sithara Krishnakumar
G.O.A.T. (G.O.A.T.) – Diljit Dosanjh
Maaya – Traffic Block
Muraliya (Bhoomi 2020) – Salim Sulaiman, Shradha Pandit, Shreya Ghoshal
Chitta – Prabh Deep
KozhiPunk – Sekhar Menon, K Satchidanandan, Sreenath Bhasi
Nadodi – Thirumali
with you/for you (cold/mess) – Prateek Kuhad
Pani Paali – Neeraj Madhav
Troubled Times (Give Love) – Soulmate
Yavum – Rasika Shekhar
Umeed (Iraada EP) – Vinayak, Apoorva Mudgal, Shashaa Tirupathi
Tu Mera Nahi – Amaal Mallik, Rashmi Virag
Tilt – Thermal and a Quarter
Westlin Winds (Navarasa: Nine Emotions) – Yorkston/Thorne/Khan
Waada Hai – Arjun Kanungo
Ekathara – Sithara Krishnakumar
Njaan Kaalam – Varkey, Sooraj Santhosh
Moti Veerana (Songs of Faith) – Amit Trivedi
Dilli Waali Baatcheet (Mr. Nair) – Raftaar
Jellyfish (The Absence of Laughter) – Jason Zac Band

Web Series

It was great to see a lot of quality music in the web series space, and more importantly, to see them made available on all streaming platforms. And that is why this is a new category in the roundup this time around. Once again there were some big names at play – Anoushka Shankar (A Suitable Boy), Shankar Ehsaan Loy (Bandish Bandits), Pritam (The Forgotten Army)… The playlist is largely made up of Hindi songs, with a smattering of Bengali and Tamil. I have also included a series from 2019, Cheesecake, since I discovered it only this year and the music by Santanu Ghatak (you will remember him from Tumhari Sulu’s Rafu) was too good to pass up.

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

Virah (Bandish Bandits) – Shankar Ehsaan Loy|Sameer Samant|Shankar Mahadevan
Tomake Bhalobeshe (Tansener Tanpura) – Joy Sarkar|Srijato|Piu Mukherjee, Jimut Roy
Dhara Hogi (Bandish Bandits) – Shankar Ehsaan Loy|Sameer Samant|Shankar Mahadevan
Aguun Chhoriye (Tansener Tanpura) – Joy Sarkar|Srijato|Pt. Tushar Dutta, Asmita Kar, Arunita Kanjilal
Gharonda (JL50) – Aseem Trivedi
Scam 1992 Theme (Scam 1992) – Achint
Tittar Bittar (Mirzapur) – Anand Bhaskar|Ginny Diwan|Isheeta Chakravarty
Tu Chala Kahaan (Cheesecake) – Santanu Ghatak|Ronkini Gupta, Nihar Shembekar
Paheli (Panchayat) – Anurag Saikia|Raghav Chaitanya
Aise Kyun (Mismatched) – Anurag Saikia|Raj Shekhar|Anurag Saikia, Raghav Chaitanya, Nikhita Gandhi
Raag Khamaj (A Suitable Boy) – Shujaat Khan
Sab Theek Ho Jaye Ga (Churails) – Biryani Brothers
Chanda (The Forgotten Army) – Pritam|Shaan
Sajan Bin (Bandish Bandits) – Shankar Ehsaan Loy|Divyanshu Malhotra|Shivam Mahadevan, Jonita Gandhi
Pambaram (Karikku) – Street Academics
Safar (Cheesecake) – Santanu Ghatak|Kamakshi Rai
Shey Je Kon (Tansener Tanpura) – Joy Sarkar|Srijato|Pt. Tushar Dutta, Ashmita Kar
Mehfil Barkhaast Hui (A Suitable Boy) – Kavita Seth
Tabdeeli (Mismatched) – Shashwat Singh|Nikhita Gandhi|Nikhita Gandhi
Pagal Hogaya (Churails) – Janoobi Khargosh
Garaj Garaj (Bandish Bandits) – Shankar Ehsaan Loy|Sameer Samant|Farid Hasan, Mohammed Aman
Mera Watan (The Forgotten Army) – Pritam|Arijit Singh, Tushar Joshi
Ye Pal (Cheesecake) – Santanu Ghatak|Nihar Shembekar
Vaaroon (Mirzapur) – Anand Bhaskar|Ginny Diwan|Romy
Shurey Shurey (Tansener Tanpura) – Joy Sarkar|Srijato|Jimut Roy
Moner Moto (JL50) – Aseem Trivedi
Time Enna Boss (Time Enna Boss) – Madley Blues
A Suitable Boy (A Suitable Boy) – Alex Heffes, Anoushka Shankar
Hiya Tho (Panchayat) – Anurag Saikia|Shankuraj Konwar
Churails Title Song (Churails) – Taha Malik|Osman Khalid Butt|Zoe Viccaji

Other Language Films

You will find a dominance of Telugu songs in this list, since I happened to watch a lot of Telugu films during the lockdown period. The usual suspects from the industry mostly had a good year, but the list is obviously topped by Thaman with his blockbuster soundtrack for Alaa Vaikunthapurramuloo. Malayali composers Bijibal and Govind Vasantha had their Telugu debuts with the remakes of Maheshinte Prathikaaram and 96 respectively, and both of them did fabulously, producing songs that clearly drew from the originals but were fresh all the same. There was some exceptional music in Marathi as well, particularly from the man who is fast becoming my favourite composer from the industry – A V Prafullachandra. If you haven’t come across his music, you have got to check them out, particularly for the arrangements – man’s incredibly innovative at it! Also, no ranking in this one; I have just listed the songs by language

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

Butta Bomma (Alaa Vaikunthapurramuloo – Telugu) – S Thaman|Ramajogayya Sastry|Armaan Malik
Samajavaragamana (Alaa Vaikunthapurramuloo – Telugu) – S Thaman|Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry|Sid Sriram
Ramuloo Ramulaa (Alaa Vaikunthapurramuloo – Telugu) – S Thaman|Kasarla Shyam|Anurag Kulkarni, Mangli Satyavati
Praanam (Jaanu – Telugu) – Govind Vasantha|Sri Mani|Chinmayi, Gowtham Bharadwaj
Life of Ram (Jaanu – Telugu) – Govind Vasantha|Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry|Pradeep Kumar
Raletti (World Famous Lover – Telugu) – Gopi Sunder|Sreshta|Divya S Menon
Ventaade Gaayam (HIT – Telugu) – Vivek Sagar|Krishna Kanth|Mohana Bhogaraju
Ningi Chutte (Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya – Telugu) – Bijibal|Viswa|Vijay Yesudas
Nuvvemo (Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya – Telugu) – Bijibal|Rehman|Kaala Bhairava, Sithara Krishnakumar
Repavalu (Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya – Telugu) – Bijibal|Rehman, Raghukul Mokirala|Bijibal, Sangeetha Srikanth
The Guntur Song (Middle Class Melodies – Telugu) – Sweekar Agasthi|Kittu Vissapragada|Anurag Kulkarni
Keelu Gurram (Middle Class Melodies – Telugu) – Sweekar Agasthi|Sanapati Bharadwaj Patrudu|Anurag Kulkarni, Sweekar Agasthi, Ramya Behara
Manchido Cheddadho (Middle Class Melodies – Telugu) – Sweekar Agasthi|Sanapati Bharadwaj Patrudu|Vijay Yesudas
Whattey Beauty (Bheeshma – Telugu) – Mahati Swati Sagar|Kasarla Shyam|Dhanunjay , Amala Chebolu
Sara Sari (Bheeshma – Telugu) – Mahati Swati Sagar|Sri Mani|Anurag Kulkarni
Tharagathi Gadhi (Colour Photo – Telugu) – Kaala Bhairava|Kittu Vissapragada|Kaala Bhairava
Venakane Unna (Choosi Choodangaane – Telugu) – Gopi Sunder|Ananth Sriram|Chinmayi
Manasu Maree (V – Telugu) – Amit Trivedi|Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry|Amit Trivedi, Shashaa Tirupati & Yazin Nizar
Rujala (Kesari – Marathi) – AV Prafullachandra|Kshitij Patwardhan|Manish Rajgire
He Assa Pahila (Kesari – Marathi) – AV Prafullachandra|Sanjay Sathe|Jaydeep Vaidya & Rucha Bondre
Jalmachi Vaari (Dhurala – Marathi) – AV Prafullachandra|Kshitij Patwardhan|Manish Rajgire, Sahil Kulkarni & AV Prafullachandra
Kaakana Kinkin (Dhurala – Marathi) – AV Prafullachandra|Kshitij Patwardhan|Aanandi Joshi, Abhay Jodhpurkar
Kode Sope Thode (Girlfriend – Marathi) – Hrishikesh-Saurabh-Jasraj|Kshitij Patwardhan|Shruti Athavale
Soul of Dia (Dia – Kannada) – B Ajaneesh Loknath|Dhananjay Ranjan|Chinmayi, Sanjith Hegde
Narayana Narayana (Avane Srimannarayana – Kannada) – Charan Raj|Nagarjun Sharma|Anurag Kulkarni, Ananya Bhat
Maadeva (Popcorn Monkey Tiger – Kannada) – Charan Raj|Ritwik Kaikini, HanuManKind|Sanjith Hegde, HanuManKind, Charan Raj
Arare Shuruvaayitu (Gentleman – Kannada) – B Ajaneesh Loknath|Jayanth Kaikini|Vijay Prakash
Aparichita (Shivaji Surathkal – Kannada) – Judah Sandhy|Jayanth Kaikini|Shreya Sundar Iyer
Loka Mayabazaru (Mayabazar 2016 – Kannada) – Midhun Mukundan|Yogaraj Bhat|S P Balasubramanyam
Koneyilla Madalilla (Mayabazar 2016 – Kannada) – Midhun Mukundan|Pavan KB|Nithin Rajaram Shastry

↧

Maara – Music Review (Tamil Soundtrack)

January 7, 2021, 4:33 pm

≫ Next: Tsunami – Music Review (Malayalam Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Music Aloud Playback – Best Indian Songs of 2020!

Songs and musician credits at the end.

Sid Sriram’s Yaar Azhaippadhu starts off in a curious fashion – a flute solo that starts off languidly before the flautist Nathan picks up pace, as if suddenly realising 10 seconds in that he needs to get on with it Love that refrain though, that keeps popping up through the song. The occasional hint of processing in Sriram’s voice aside, I quite enjoyed the song – the melody is engaging, and the arrangement top notch. The melody, or a part of it, appears twice more in the soundtrack. First is in the short Unnai Thaane (very well delivered by Deepthi Suresh) where the placid melody suddenly takes off in the interlude with the soaring Yaar Azhaippadhu refrain (I assume there is some throwback reference in the visuals to justify this) before ending the way it began. And the other instance – my favourite among the three – is the instrumental theme piece titled Maara & Paaru which is a glorious throwback to early year Ghibran compositions with its haunting combination of keys and strings! Composer does a pretty good job in his other instrumental track of the album as well, the more frenetically paced piece titled Search of Soul. Shabir’s snake-and-ladder based analogies in the hip-hop track Pagada (that he himself delivers) are quite catchy, but in the overall album I would rate it as one of the weaker tracks.

Oh Azhage has a tune that is decent, but Ghibran’s sprawling backdrop that lifts the song considerably, as does Benny Dayal’s singing. There is a Hindi version of the song as well titled O Ajooba which I did not think much of, largely owing the diction by the singer, one of the composer’s regulars for a long time now – Yazin Nizar. Nizar does get a brilliant song in the soundtrack though, alongside Sanah Moidutty. Celtic music is a genre that seldom fails to entertain, and the composer here uses that base to craft an absolutely infectious piece in Oru Arai Unadhu – while the song understandably rides on the percussion and violins, both the singers are on point here. Another of the album’s top songs, Theeranadhi, is delivered by one more of Ghibran’s frequently featured singers, Padmalatha. Lovely classical-flavoured composition, this one (brindavana saranga, perhaps, the raga) that lady delivers with finesse, while the chorus lends it a slight qawwali-esque feel. And bringing up the rear is melancholic Kaathirundhen. Like Theeranadhi, this one too is classical-based (charukeshi raga, from the sound of it), and at the hands of the very competent and soulful Ananthu and Srisha Vijayasekar, the melody works like a charm.

In a recent interview around the movie, Madhavan apparently said that Maara isn’t an exact remake of Charlie, rather an adaptation with a few changes made to the original story. Perhaps the same reflects in the soundtrack as well – there aren’t a lot of songs in Maara that I was able to mentally equate to a song from Malayalam. What is quite evident, however, is Ghibran showing a level of consistency that he has not done in quite a long time. Gopi Sunder’s music was one of the key factors behind the immense success of Charlie; Ghibran therefore had big shoes to fill here. And the man does indeed rise to the challenge in style!

Music Aloud Rating: 4/5

Top Recos: Theeranadhi, Oru Arai Unadhu, Maara & Paaru, Kaathirundhen

Musician Credits

Yaar Azhaippadhu
Lyrics: Thamarai
Singer: Sid Sriram
Music: Ghibran

Theeranadhi
Lyrics: Thamarai
Singer: Padmalatha
Music: Ghibran

Oru Arai Unathu
Lyrics: Thamarai
Singer: Yazin Nizar & Sanah Moidutty
Music: Ghibran

Oh Azhage
Lyrics: Thamarai
Singer: Benny Dayal
Music: Ghibran

Kaathirundhen
Lyrics: Thamarai
Singer: Ananthu & Srisha Vijayasekar
Music: Ghibran

Pagada
Lyrics: Shabir
Singer: Shabir
Music: Ghibran

Unnaithane
Lyrics: Thamarai
Singer: Deepthi Suresh
Music: Ghibran

Maara & Paaru
Music: Ghibran

O Ajooba
Lyrics: Ravichand Nallappa
Singer: Yazin Nizar
Music: Ghibran

Search Of Soul
Music: Ghibran

Music Composed and Arranged by Ghibran
Additional Song Arrangements: LJ.Vijay & Hary Nair
Chorus backing Vocals: Aravind Srinivas, Sarath Santhosh, Shenbagaraj, Deepthi suresh
Srisha Vijayasekar, Roshini jkv
Songs Vocals Conductor: Gold Devaraj
Soundtrack Arrangements: Hary Nair
Flute: Nathan
String sections: Rithu & Balaji
String instruments : Subhani
Rhythm section : Prithvi
Production Management: Andria Miranda and Britto David
Recorded and Edited by Wesley, Chandrasekaran TK at Aksharaa Sound Forge
Yaar Azhaippadhu ,Oru Arai Unathu ,Oh Azhage : Mixed & Mastered By Balu Thankachan @ 20dB Studios
Kaathirunthen, Pagada Pagada, Search Of Soul : Mixed & Mastered by Abin Paul @ Mixwithabin, Chennai
Studio Management: Chandru, Ponnaiyan

Music Assistants : Gold Devaraj, Dr.V.Sritharan
Musician’s Fixer: Sudhakar

↧

Tsunami – Music Review (Malayalam Soundtrack)

March 8, 2021, 11:08 am

≫ Next: Pagglait – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Maara – Music Review (Tamil Soundtrack)

Songs and musician credits at the end.

There was a time when actors singing a song used to be a source of much excitement, given the rare occurrence it used to be. These days, however, with every other soundtrack featuring non-playback-singers behind the mic, that novelty has sort of worn off. That said, I don’t think I have seen a song feature as many actors as SaMaGaReSa has, in quite a long time – the last Malayalam song of the kind that comes to mind is Onnaam Mala Keri Povande (Kalyanaraman). Leading the line here is Innocent (incidentally part of the Kalyanaraman song as well), who interestingly also shares composing credits with Tsunami’s lead composers Neha Nair and Yakzan Gary Pereira. As per Neha, the opening verse is a tune that Innocent’s mother used to sing to him as a kid – something that is referenced in the song’s lines as well, written by the movie’s co-director Lal. Neha-Yakzan build well on that tune to create a light-hearted, hummable song that does not require the singers to do any heavy-lifting. The title should ideally have been SaPaGaReSa, but apparently this is how Innocent recollected it and they just retained it as-is (got reminded of Colonial Cousins’ blockbuster hit SaNiDhaPa which, as per the notes sung, should have been titled DhaNiDhaPa :D). My favourite bit of the song is where a bus horn, quite a common one in Kerala, is incorporated into the song and tune fits right in! This was apparently Lal’s idea – man seems to have a great ear for music! A bit surprised that the long actor-singer line-up does not feature any female actors, it is Neha handling the female voice here. My favourite song of the movie (from the massive line-up of TWO songs) though is Aaraanu, a dreamy romantic number once again written by Lal. Lovely use of harmonies here – particularly loved Neha repeating the aaraanu phrase sotto voce when Keshav Vinod sings the opening verse. Nice to see both the song videos feature the movie’s leading lady playing the flute, in correspondence to a flute solo in the backdrop (Subin in this song, Nathan in the first) – the solo in this one is especially charming.

It sort of looks like I tried to make up for Tsunami’s annoyingly short soundtrack with a disproportionately long review (well maybe I did, a bit), but the trivia related to the songs was too interesting to not share! Hope Lal Jr. (who is the movie’s other director, alongside his father) starts including more than 2-3 songs in his movies, considering the songs therein turn out to be quite enjoyable, much like this one. And if/when that happens, I hope that soundtrack is done by Neha Nair and Yakzan Gary Pereira, the duo are long overdue a proper-length album (just ridiculous that the last soundtrack they did which had more than two songs, was Iyobinte Pusthakam, back in 2014!)

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Musician Credits

Song Name : SaMaGaReSa
Music : Innocent, Neha S Nair and Yakzan Gary Pereira
Lyrics : Lal
Singers : Innocent, Lal, Mukesh, Suresh Krishna, Aju Varghese, Balu Varghese, Unni Karthikeyan, Neha S Nair
Chorus,Anoop Venugopal,Nithin Michael,Alex J Pullilkyal,Yakzan Gary Pereira,Jazeer
Live Guitars and Ukulele by Yakzan Gary Pereira
Flute by Nathan
Percussions by SruthiRaj
Recording Engineer – Kashyap R
Studio – 2BarQ Studios, Chennai
Song Mixed And Mastered by Vivek Thomas

Song Name : Aaraanu
Music : Neha S Nair and Yakzan Gary Pereira
Lyrics: Lal
Singers: Neha S Nair & Keshav Vinod
Flute: Subin
Mixed & Mastered by Vivek Thomas Productions

↧

Pagglait – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

March 21, 2021, 4:34 am

≫ Next: Toofaan – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Tsunami – Music Review (Malayalam Soundtrack)

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

In his post announcing the album, Arijit Singh dedicated Pagglait to A R Rahman, in addition to thanking all the musicians involved in the album and his gurus. ~~A name that was surprisingly absent from the post was Pritam, the man with whom Arijit worked extensively in some of his biggest hits from the past decade~~ (apparently he has credited Pritam for his mentorship and influence in interviews around the movie). The composer’s influence too is quite evident in Arijit’s work, in more ways than one. I mean, the 12 vocal tracks of the soundtrack are comprised of five original tunes, with one song having as many as four versions – could there be a better Pritam tribute than that?

Coming back to the person who is named in the tribute post, Arijit’s nod to the maestro is most evident in the eclectic fusion tracks Pagal/Phire Faqeera. True to its title, there is much madness at play here – Neelesh Misra’s pensive lines delivered part melodically (Arijit Singh, modulating his voice to almost sound like ARR even, and Amrita Singh) and part in rap (Raja Kumari) while the backdrop is dominated by electronic sounds, peppered with some brilliant alaaps by Amrita, and some outlandish laughs towards the close of the track – heady track, this! There isn’t a lot to separate the two variants barring Arijit taking a more dominant role in the latter, but I like Pagal more, largely because of Tapas Roy’s oud phrases in the opening minute or so that I felt were a fitting addition to the general sufi-ness of the song. Amrita Singh returns for the title song that is, relatively speaking, the album’s most ordinary song. Written by Raftaar (who also sings alongside Amrita), this one is a party song that is all too familiar in its format.

It is in the melodic tracks of the album that Arijit knocks it out of the park. And my current favourite among the lot is Lamha with its charming, laid-back European sound (Pedro Medina Morejon on the nylon string guitar, and Jovika Djordjevic with the accordion, doing the business). While Antara Mitra sounds delightful delivering the original, Arijit’s raspy voice makes for a wonderfully contrasting addition to her sweet voice, in the Revisited version. In a surprise twist, the composer gives the tune an Indian classical-based makeover in the Reprise version. Sumana Bannerjee gets behind the mic for this track that features a lot of strings, most importantly Momin Khan’s sarangi. I do prefer the duet version though, the minimal setting seems most suited to the melody. Dil Udd Jaa Re and Thode Kam Ajnabi, at least in their original forms, could slot right into an Imtiaz Ali movie! Both the songs are set to a sprawling soundscape, and it is a good move to place these two songs next to each other in the soundtrack considering how well one segues into the next. Though the first version of Dil Udd Jaa Re is a Neeti Mohan solo (and a fine solo act at that), crediting Tapas Roy alongside her wouldn’t have been out of place, given how prominently his tar is employed in the song. In fact, Neeti’s appearance in the song only happens after an extended prelude by Tapas. The alternate version of the song has Meghna Mishra taking over from Neeti, and Arijit joining her. The arrangement loses some of the atmospheric, highland-ish vibe in this version, and Aditya Shankar’s guitar is the prominent presence here. Thode (Se) Kam Ajnabi has the most gorgeous melody, and Himani Kapoor does a fab job delivering it. The soulfulness of the piece is accentuated in the second half with flautist Nirmalya Dey making his entry (surprisingly, the other vocal tracks feature no flute). Thode Kam.. is the song that the composer presents in three more versions. The Reprise version is largely the same, except it is a duet between Himani and Arijit, but this also means some lovely harmonies between the two singers (which I wish there was more of). The two other variants are titled Meera’s Poem and Radha’s Poem, although lyrically they don’t seem any different either. In the former, the composer goes for a folk backdrop; Tapas Roy picking up the rabab this time, and ZIA playing the harp. Not a big fan of the singing by Jhumpa Mondal, though. Arijit hands Radha’s Poem to the amazing Chinmayi, while sprucing up the arrangements with violins and horns.

The other half of the album is entirely instrumental, and most of these background pieces are mostly just that – amorphous tunes that seem largely situational and don’t really stick, even the longer tracks, barring the occasional allusion to one of the vocal tracks (Dil Udd Jaa in particular is referenced in multiple tracks) don’t have much recall value, but could make for perfect BGM while working. There are of course bits to excite musical instrument geeks like me – I learnt about the virtual instrument called Jubal flute, thanks to this. I say most of the tracks, because things take an interesting turn in the final six pieces. Two things that are different about these – Jim Satya stepping in as arranger + associate composer, and veteran flautist Naveen Kumar. And man, does he produce some scintillating solos here! The final song of the album, Oh Beautiful Unknown, is the only one that is entirely based on a vocal track, and quite fittingly, it is the song that opens the soundtrack, Dil Udd Jaa Re.

It is a bit amusing to see a soundtrack that is over 1.5 hours long for a movie that is most likely going to be of approximately the same length. Not that I am complaining, of course, this has been an immensely pleasurable soundtrack to listen to. Arijit Singh has produced the finest composing debut in Bollywood since Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, whose review I incidentally posted on this very same day, two years back! Like Pritam said in his tweet thread congratulating Arijit, it is really gladdening to see the music rights being given to Arijit (the music label, Oriyon Music, is Arijit’s own) and the effect that freedom has had clearly shows. Let us indeed hope that this trend is here to stay.

Music Aloud Rating: 4/5

Top Recos: Lamha (duet), Thode Kam Ajnabi, Pagal, Dil Udd Jaa Re, Everytime I Realise

Musician Credits

Dil Udd Ja Re

Song Composed and Produced by Arijit Singh

Written by Neelesh Misra

Vocals by Neeti Mohan and Sunny M.R.

Creative Assistant (Composing) – Koyel Singh

Second Music Composed by Tapas Roy

Music Post Production & Sound Design – Sunny M.R.

Tar – Tapas Roy

Song Edited by Ritvik Shah, Sunny M.R. and Arijit Singh

Soft Synths used – Analogue Lab and Vienna Instrument

Vocals recorded by Neeti Mohan

Instrument “Tar” Recorded by Ritvik Shah at Fiddle On The Roof

Music Assistants – Sukanto Singha, ZIA, Anriban Sinha Chowdhury

Mixed & Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Production Staff – Jana, Ranjit

Special Thanks – Ravindra Darekar and his team

Thode Kam Ajnabi

Song Composed and Produced by Arijit Singh

Written by Neelesh Misra

Vocals by Himani Kapoor

Composition Sitting Assistant – Payel Roy

Instrument “Tar” – Tapas Roy

Bass – Anirban Sinha Choudhary

Flute – Nirmalya Dey

Acoustic Guitar, Guitalele – Arijit Singh

Special thanks to Dappu Khan

Song Edited by Sunny M.R. and Arijit Singh

Soft Synths used – Analogue Lab and Vienna Instrument

Vocals recorded by Deep at Rabab Studios

Online Recording For Tapas Roy – Nirmalya Dey

Music Assistant Sukanto Singha

Mixed & Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Production Staff – Cannot Lepcha, Jana

Phire Faqeera

Song Composed and Produced by Arijit Singh

Written by Neelesh Misra

Vocals by Raja Kumari, Amrita Singh and Arijit Singh

Creative Assistant (Composing) – Koyel Singh

Song Edit and Design – Arijit Singh

Music Post Production and Sound Design – Sunny M.R.

Instrument “Tar” – Tapas Roy

Bass Guitar – Raj Kumar Dewan

Guitar – Aditya Shankar

Synth & Keys – ZIA

Guitar – Prachotosh Bhowmick

Software used – Analogue Lab, Vienna Instrument, Retrologue, Serum, knifonium,

Arturia V Collection

Hardware Synth – Prophet 6, Sub 37, Minitaur

Music Assistant Sukanto Singha

Raja Kumari’s Vocal recorded by Nacho Larazza at Sita Devi Sounds

Mixed & Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Meera’s Poem

Song Composed by Arijit Singh

Written by Neelesh Misra

Vocals by Jhumpa Mondal

Rabab played by Tapas Roy

Instrument “Harp” – ZIA

Bass Guitar – Raj Kumar Dewan

Song Produced By – ZIA

Song Edited by Sunny M.R. and Arijit Singh

Soft Synths used – Analogue Lab and Vienna Instrument

Rabab Recorded by ZIA and Ritivk Shah at Fiddle On The Roof

Music Assistant Sukanto Singha

Mixed & Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Production Staff – Jana, Rajesh Baity

Pagglait

Song Composed and Produced by Arijit Singh

Written by Raftaar

Vocals by Amrita Singh, Raftaar and Arijit Singh

Associate Music Producer (Drop Sound Design) – Sunny M.R.

Acoustic Guitar – Arijit Singh

Electric Guitar – Aditya Shankar

Keys – ZIA

Choir – Anjan Guha, Ravi Chowdhury, Saket Bairoliya, Sanjay Acharjee

Song Edited by Sunny M.R. and Arijit Singh

Soft Synths used – Analogue Lab, Retrologue, Sylenth Spire and Arturia Jupiter

V3, ANA 2, Knifonium

Hardware Synth – Prophet 12

Vocals recorded by Ritvik Shah

Studio – Enzy

Music Assistant – Sukanto Singha

Mixed & Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assitant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Lamha

Song Composed and Produced by Arijit Singh

Written by Neelesh Misra

Vocals by Antara Mitra

Nylon String Guitar – Pedro Medina Morejon (Composed and Played)

Accordion – Jovika Djordjevic (Composed and Played)

Rhythm – ZIA

Bass Guitar – Raj Kumar Dewan (composed and played)

Music Assistant – Sukanto Singha

Vocals Recorded by Ritvik Shah at Fiddle on The Roof

Song Edited by Sunny M.R. and Arijit Singh

Mixed & Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Radha’s Poem

Song Composed and Produced by Arijit Singh

Written by Neelesh Misra

Vocals by Chinmayi Sripada

Song Edited by Sunny M.R. and Arijit Singh

Soft Synths used – Analogue Lab and Vienna Instrument

Music Assistant Sukanto Singha

Chinmayi’s Vocal Recorded by Naresh at Jubilee 10 Studios

Mixed & Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Production Staff – Jana, Rajesh Baity

Dil Udd Ja Re (Revisited)

Song Composed by Arijit Singh

Written by Neelesh Misra

Vocals by Meghna Mishra and Arijit Singh

Music Produced by Sunny M.R. and Arijit Singh

Bass Guitar – Anirban Sinha Choudhury

Guitars Composed and Played by Aditya Shankar

Song Edited by Ritvik Shah, Sunny M.R. and Arijit Singh

Soft Synths used – Analogue Lab and Vienna Instrument

Arijits Vocals recorded by Sukanto Singha

Mixed & Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Lamha (Reprise)

Song Composed and Produced by Arijit Singh

Written by Neelesh Misra

Vocals by Sumana Banerjee

Produced by ZIA and Arijit Singh

Additional Programmer – Somanshu Agarwal

Associate Producer – Kaushik Das

Bass Guitar – Raj Kumar Dewan

Strings Sound Design – Sunny M.R.

Sarangi – Momin Khan

Software used – Analogue Lab, Vienna Instrument

Song Edit – ZIA

Music Assistant – Sukanto Singha

Vocals Recorded by Sameeer & Rahul at Studio 504

Mixed & Mastered by Kohinoor Mukherjee

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Thode Kam Ajnabi (Reprise)

Song Composed and Produced by Arijit Singh

Written by Neelesh Misra

Vocals by Himani Kapoor and Arijit Singh

Instrument “Tar” – Tapas Roy

Bass – Anirban Sinha Choudhary

Flute – Nirmalya Dey

Acoustic Guitar, Guitalele – Arijit Singh

Special thanks to Dappu Khan

Song Edited by Sunny M.R. and Arijit Singh

Soft Synths used – Analogue Lab and Vienna Instrument

Arijit’s Vocal Recorded by Anirban Sinha Choudhary

Himani’s Vocal Recorded by Deep at Rabab Studios

Online Recordist For Tapas Roy – Nirmalya Dey

Music Assistant Sukanto Singha

Mixed & Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Production Staff – Jana, Rajesh Baity

Pagal

Song Composed and Produced by Arijit Singh

Written by Neelesh Misra

Vocals by Raja Kumari and Amrita Singh

Creative Assistant (Composing) – Koyel Singh

Music Produced by – ZIA, Sunny M.R.

Song Edit and Design – Arijit Singh

Software used – Analogue Lab, Vienna Instrument, Retrologue, Serum, Knifonium,

Arturia V Collection

Hardware Synth – Prophet 6, Sub 37, Minitaur

Instrument “Oud” – Tapas Roy (Composed and Played)

Bass Guitar – Raj Kumar Dewan (Composed and Played)

Guitar – Aditya Shankar (Composed and Played)

Additional Drums – Souvik Roy

Synth & Keys – ZIA (Composed and Played)

Guitar – Prachotosh Bhowmick (Composed and Played)

Synths Played By – Arijit Singh

Arijits Vocals Recorded by Sukanto Singha

Raja Kumari’s Vocal recorded by Nacho Larazza at Sita Devi Sounds

Mixed & Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Lamha (Revisited)

Song Composed and Produced by Arijit Singh

Written by Neelesh Misra

Vocals by Antara Mitra, Arijit Singh

Nylon String Guitar – Pedro Medina Morejon (Composed and Played)

Accordion – Jovika Djordjevic (Composed and Played)

Rhythm – ZIA

Bass Guitar – Raj Kumar Dewan (composed and played)

Music Assistant – Sukanto Singha

Antara’s Vocal Recorded by Ritvik Shah at Fiddle on The Roof

Arijit’s Vocal Recorded by Anirban Sinha Choudhary

Song Edited by Sunny M.R. and Arijit Singh

Mixed & Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assitant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Artist Coordinator – Tarsame Mittal

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

OST

Designs are movements of life –

Sound, Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument “Tar” – Tapas Roy

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Produced, Edited and Designed by – Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Loss is all that is left –

Sound, Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument Tar – Tapas Roy

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Produced, Edited and Designed by – Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Desire makes reality –

Sound, Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument “Tar” – Tapas Roy

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Produced, Edited and Designed by – Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Confusion –

Sound, Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument “Tar” – Tapas Roy (Composed and played)

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey (Composed and played)

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Produced, Edited and Designed by – Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Choice and Decision –

Sound, Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument “Tar” – Tapas Roy (Composed and played)

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey (Composed and played)

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Produced, Edited and Designed by – Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Beraho (Love is melancholic) –

Sound Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument “Tar” – Tapas Roy

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Produced, Edited and Designed by – Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

A Prayer –

Sound, Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument Tar – Tapas Roy

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey

Flute – Naveen Kumar

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Produced, Edited and Designed by – Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Music Arranger, Associate Orchestrator and Associate Music Composer – Jim

Satya

Orchestra – Studio 28 (Bangkok)

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Every time when I realise –

Sound, Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument “Tar” – Tapas Roy

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey

Flute – P.M.K. Naveen Kumar

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Music Arranger,Associate Orchestrator and Associate Music Composer – Jim

Satya

Orchestra – Studio 28 (Bangkok)

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

A Catalyst thought –

Sound, Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument Tar – Tapas Roy (Composed and played)

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey (Composed and played)

Flute – P.M.K. Naveen Kumar

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Produced, Edited and Designed by – Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny –

Ritvik Shah Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Music Arranger, Associate Orchestrator and Associate Music Composer – Jim

Satya

Orchestra – Studio 28 (Bangkok)

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

New beginning –

Sound, Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument Tar – Tapas Roy

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey

Flute – P.M.K. Naveen Kumar

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Produced, Edited and Designed by – Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Music Arranger,Associate Orchestrator and Associate Music Composer – Jim

Satya

Orchestra – Studio 28 (Bangkok)

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Holding on to the last attachment –

Sound, Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument “Tar” – Tapas Roy

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey

Flute – P.M.K. Naveen Kumar

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Produced, Edited and Designed by – Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny –

Ritvik Shah Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Music Arranger, Associate Orchestrator and Associate Music Composer – Jim

Satya

Orchestra – Studio 28 (Bangkok)

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

Oh beautiful unknown –

Sound, Recorded and Sampled by – Arijit Singh

Instrument Tar – Tapas Roy

Flute and Wind – Nirmalya Dey

Flute – P.M.K. Naveen Kumar

Software used – Vienna Instrument, Jubal Flute

Produced, Edited and Designed by – Arijit Singh

Mixed and Mastered by Sunny M.R.

Assistant Mix Engineer to Sunny – Ritvik Shah

Sunny M.R. uses UAD powered plugins

Music Arranger,Associate Orchestrator and Associate Music Composer – Jim

Satya

Orchestra – Studio 28 (Bangkok)

Executive Producer (Music) – Ashish Biswal

OST Orchestra Credits –

Orchestra – Studio 28 (Bangkok)

Studio Manager – Supisa Williamson

Orchestra Service – 28PRODUCTION

Head Production – Rapeedech Kulabusaya

Session Producer – Sathapat Sangsuwan

Orchestra Manager – Thitanon Kollasathsenee

Conductor – Trisdee na Patalung

Violin I –

Chalat Limpisiri

Pittaya Pruksacholavit

Arkom Kitinoppakun

Atippatai Promsurin

Karn Watcharaprapapong

Bodin Pukang

Usa Chotchamchoi

Punyawas Manomaiphibul

Anantasit Na-ngam

Ittipat Pisalchaiyapol

Violin II –

Chitipat Darapong

Pacharapol Techatanachai

Napat Nanasombat

Kulisara Sangchan

Kiratikorn Promdewet

Nirutsa Usomboon

Hiran Bongkotmas

Setthawut Milton

Viola –

Miti Wisuthumporn

Atjayut Sangkasem

Contrabass –

Pongsathorn Surapab

Rutawat Sintutepparat

Horn –

Nantawat Waranich

Chuta Chulavalaivong

Chaiyanan Wan-in

Clarinet – Ratchanon Intarasathit

Trombone –

Suttipong Mainaikij

Thanapoom Sriwiset

Tuba –

Teerapat Decha

Suphanat Khemapattanasamarn

Oboe – Kijjarin Pongkapanakrai

English Horn – Pratchaya khemnark

Recording Studios –

Studio 28 (Bangkok) – Orchestra

Engineers – Patrick Chinnawong & Henry Watkins

Stone Media Studio (Mumbai) – Tapas’s Recording

Engineer – Santanu Das

Fiddle on the Roof

↧

Toofaan – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

July 15, 2021, 11:59 am

≫ Next: Mimi – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Pagglait – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Songs and musician credits at the end.

You don’t need to look at the credits to surmise that Jo Tum Aa Gaye Ho isn’t a Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy composition. The song comes from Samuel (Shetty)-Akanksha (Nandrekar) who debuted in Jalebi back in 2018 (this is their first film song since then I believe). While I like this better than Tum Se, what with Arijit Singh pouring his heart out, this too carries a similar sound (Bhatts). The arrangement is markedly better too, love that the duo got Ehsaan Noorani to play guitars on this one. SEL’s set starts with the title track whose anthemic rock flavour and the presence of Siddharth Mahadevan evokes the obvious comparison with an eight year-old song that involved pretty much the entire team, Zinda from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. While there are definite parallels to be drawn, what is noticeably missing – not just in this track, but in the whole album – is the Punjabi flavour, courtesy the movie’s Mumbai setting. And Toofaan holds its own well in comparison to Zinda, thanks to Siddharth Mahadevan’s vocal efforts and some slick guitars. Siddharth is joined by Divya Kumar and Himani Kapoor in the dance-y Star Hai Tu (Divya Kumar incidentally had a similarly peppy Maston Ka Jhund in BMB) that carries a slightly 90s sound. While the heavy street band style orchestration props the song up considerably, it fails to create much of an impression – my favourite bit is Himani’s entry towards the end of the song, to the backdrop of the Marathi folk beats. Like BMB had Gurbaani, Toofaan has Ganpati Vandana, and this too is presented in a simple fashion – Ojas Adhiya’s tabla and some lovely flute by Paras Nath accompanying Meenal Jain and Vedanti Satyajit Prabhu’s (and chorus) competent rendition. Towards the end when a shehnai solo joined the proceedings, my mind went back to Hrishikesh-Saurabh-Jasraj’s brilliant Ranga Maliyela (Anandi Gopal).

Shankar Mahadevan’s incredible adeptness at delivering classical-flavoured tunes (and a great backing team) goes a long way in making Purvaiya one of the album’s top songs. Javed Akhtar’s pensive lines are on point, and set to a fine melody by the trio – it is only the rock fusion arrangement that doesn’t seem to work consistently. The album takes an indie turn in the remaining three tracks. In Ananya, the composers get everything right – a gentle folk pop-ish piece that Arijit Singh croons in his trademark languid style, while the arrangement is kept fittingly minimal. A movie set in Mumbai, focusing on the struggles of a commoner, in a post Gully Boy era, it isn’t surprising that this story features two rap songs. Both Dekh Toofaan Aaya Hai and Todun Taak are written and performed by D’Evil, the former composed by SEL and the latter by Dub Sharma. I like D’Evil’s delivery, but the songs feel very run-of-the-mill. I liked the fact that central hook of Dekh Toofaan Aaya Hai is built around a sporting chant, but nothing else really stands out.

For a team that gave us Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and more importantly Mirzya, Toofaan is underwhelming. There are clearly equivalents in the soundtrack to songs from BMB; wish they had picked BMB’s best songs to do this.

Music Aloud Rating: 3/5

Top Recos: Ananya, Purvaiya, Toofaan

Musician Credits

Song: Toofaan (Title)
Singer: Siddharth Mahadevan
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Drums: Jai Row Kavi
Chorus: Ravi Mishra & Arshad Mohammed
Siddharth Mahadevan Singer recorded at Lambodara Studios
Drums recorded by Kuber Sharma at FatCat Studios
Produced by Tubby
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde, Vrikpal Singh Khambay assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Song mixed by Vijay Benegal at Lambodara Studios
Assisted by Ameya Mategaonkar
Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Todun Taak
Singer: D’Evil
Composer: Dub Sharma
Lyrics: D’Evil
Mastered by Donal Whelan at HAFOD Mastering, UK

Song: Star Hai Tu
Singer: Himani Kapoor, Siddharth Mahadevan & Divya Kumar
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Chorus – Soumil Shringarpure, Arshad Mohammed & Shehnaz Akhtar
Shehnai – Yogesh More
Mandolin & Saaz – Tapas Roy
Live Rhythm & Percussion Arranged & Conducted by Dipesh Varma
Percussion performed by Dipesh Varma & Omkar Salunkhe
Divya Kumar Singer recorded by Rushik Patel at Psalm 33 Studio, Bandra
Siddharth Mahadevan Singer recorded at Lambodara Studios
Tapas Roy recorded by Ameya Mategaonkar at Lambodara Studios
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Song mixed by Vijay Benegal at Lambodara Studios
Assisted by Ameya Mategaonkar
Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Jo Tum Aa Gaye Ho
Singer: Arijit Singh
Composers: Samuel & Akanksha
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar, Manoj Kumar Nath
Music Arrangement and Production : Samuel Shetty & Akanksha Nandrekar
Song programmed by : Samuel Shetty
Drums : Samuel Shetty
(Drums Recorded LIVE by Aslam Khan & Benvin Fernandes at Headroom Studios, Mumbai)
Guitars : Ehsaan Noorani
Vocal Recording Engineer at Arijit’s Studio : Ritvik Shah
Song Mixed by : Vijay Benegal at Island City Studios, Mumbai
Assisted by Adhithya Sivakumar and Hersh Desai
Song Mastered by : Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Purvaiya
Singer: Shankar Mahadevan
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Chorus – Arshad Mohammed, Ravi Mishra, Mani Mahadevan & Latesh Poojari
Shankar Mahadevan recorded by Ameya Mategaonkar at Lambodara Studios
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Song mixed by Vijay Benegal at Lambodara Studios
Assisted by Ameya Mategaonkar
Album Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Ananya
Singer: Arijit Singh
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Violin: Manas Kumar
Arijit Singh Singer recorded by Sukanto Singha
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Song mixed by Vijay Benegal at Lambodara Studios
Assisted by Ameya Mategaonkar
Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Dekh Toofaan aaya hai
Performed By D’Evil
Lyrics / Written by D’Evil
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Music Production: DAWgeek
Mixed by DAWgeek
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

Song: Ganpati Vandana
Singers: Meenal Jain & Vedanti Satyajit Prabhu
Lyrics: Traditional
Composers: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Chorus: Prajakta Shukre, Zeenia Roy & Madhura Paranjape
Tabla: Ojas Adhiya
Flute: Paras Nath
Song recorded at Purple Haze Studios by Abhay Rumde assisted by Sreejith Padmakumar
Song mixed by Vijay Benegal at Lambodara Studios
Assisted by Ameya Mategaonkar
Mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering, UK

↧

Mimi – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

July 22, 2021, 11:34 am

≫ Next: Udanpirappe – Music Review (Tamil Movie Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Toofaan – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

Nearly nine years after she recorded her first song with A R Rahman, singer Shilpa Rao gets a second song with the composer, a similarly upbeat piece to Ishq Shava – Phuljhadiyon (should it be just Phuljhadiyo?). While this one is upbeat, Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lines (loaded with some smart analogies) make it quite clear that it is about the pregnancy situation that forms one of the key plot devices of the movie. My favourite bits of the song happen in the interludes though, particularly the second one (the first interlude features Tanvi Shah with a Spanish cameo) that sees a surprise digression into a soulful melody with a seemingly synth-generated woodwind solo. Rakshita Suresh’s supremely assured handling of the Arabic melody is the undoubted highlight of Yaane Yaane – the song itself doesn’t impress a lot apart from that, despite a Middle Eastern-electronic fusion arrangement et al. ARR’s compositions reminding us of his older songs has been a fairly common occurrence in the composer’s recent albums. In Mimi, this is most prominently felt in Rihaayi De – the pensive track brings to mind multiple songs in the genre, and the feel is only accentuated by the composer’s own handling of the vocals. Absolutely loved the way the track ends though; an ethereal chorus singing a folkish verse that echoes across the sprawling soundscape as the song fades away. Things are kept pretty simple in the bidaai song, the album’s only other track to have a male singer in the lead – Chhoti Si Chiraiya. There is a soothing classical-based melody, and the arrangement headlined by Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Manonmani on the mohan veena and sarangi respectively.

And that leaves us with the three songs which are my current favourites from the soundtrack. Rock-a-bye Baby is a very interestingly constructed lullaby – the interspersing of Canadian singer/songwriter Julia Gartha’s English bits (written by Julia herself) with Amitabh Bhattacharya’s Hindi verse sung by Khatija Rahman works wonderfully, the segue from one to the other is made even more alluring due to the latter’s gentler rendition style. Hututu is another of the album’s tracks that carries a strong heard-before element, that opening verse is especially evocative of Tu Bin Bataye, but unlike Rihaayi, this one is a delightful listen even so, especially for Shashaa Tirupati’s spectacular vocals. Asad Khan’s sitar that has minimal presence in the top notch orchestration during the initial portions of the song, gets in on the action as it progresses into its second half, eventually closing the piece with a beautiful – and curiously muted – 30 second(ish) solo. Param Sundari is A R Rahman nailing the “mass entertainer” formula in a way that he hasn’t done in a while! Shreya Ghoshal is on fire delivering this one, but equally praiseworthy is the chorus that matches her brilliantly. Good luck getting that bass hook out of your head by the way; love it when Shreya hums it herself, towards the end. On a random aside, Amitabh Bhattacharya (who is in fine form here too – the man rarely fails with the quirky ones!) ended the song with a “ghadi ka kaanta hickory dickory dock ri”, the mind went back to the Clock Tower mystery segment of Jagga Jasoos where he used a “ghadi ka kaanta tick tock tick tock”. Random aside over.

The poster of Mimi says, “nothing like what you are expecting”. Not sure about the movie, but the soundtrack has completely lived up to this claim. Until the start of this month, most people were not even aware of such a movie coming out, let alone the involvement of A R Rahman in it. And the expectations from the soundtrack were therefore fairly low as well, but once again it has thrown up a surprise with a very diverse and engaging set of songs. More such low-profile projects please!

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: Param Sundari, Hututu, Rock-a-bye Baby

Musician Credits

Param Sundari

Song Composed Produced and Arranged by A R Rahman

Singer – Shreya Ghoshal

Lyrics – Amitabh Bhattacharya

Music Supervisor – Hiral Viradia

Musicians:

Additional Arrangements and Programming – Ranjit Barot

Additional Vocals – Sarthak Kalyani, Suryansh, Hriday Gattani, Nakul Abhyankar,

Pooja Tiwari, Rakshita Suresh

Guitar – Sunil Miller

Folk Voice, Morsing and Khadtal – Kutle Khan

Indian Percussion – Dipesh Varma

Sound Engineers:

Panchathan Record inn, Chennai

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran

Mixed by – Nakul Abhyankar

Mastered by – Suresh Permal

Yaane Yaane

Song Composed Produced and Arranged by A R Rahman

Singer – Rakshita Suresh

Lyrics – Amitabh Bhattacharya

Music Supervisor – Hiral Viradia

Musicians:

Remix Arrangements – Gulraj Singh

Additional Vocals – Aditi Paul, Pooja Tiwari

Mandolin, Saz, Banjo – Tapas Roy

Flute – Kamalakar

Sunshine Orchestra, Chennai Conducted by V. J. Srinivasa Murthy

Special Thanks – Sanaa Moussa

Sound Engineers:

Panchathan Record inn, Chennai

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran

Mixed by – Mixing Team, Panchathan India

Mastered by – Suresh Permal

Phuljhadiyon

Song Composed Produced and Arranged by A R Rahman

Singer – Shilpa Rao

Lyrics – Amitabh Bhattacharya

Music Supervisor – Hiral Viradia

Musicians:

Spanish Rap Written and Sung by – Tanvi Shah

Additional Vocals – Rakshita Suresh, Hiral Viradia, Pooja Tiwari

Additional Programming – Kumaran Sivamani

Sound Engineers:

Panchathan Record inn, Chennai

Suresh Permal, Hriday Gattani, Karthik Sekaran

Mixed by – Mixing Team, Panchathan India

Mastered by – Suresh Permal

Hututu

Song Composed Produced and Arranged by A R Rahman

Singer – Shashaa Tirupati

Lyrics – Amitabh Bhattacharya

Music Supervisor – Hiral Viradia

Musicians:

Guitars, Ukulele – Keba Jeremiah

Sitar – Asad Khan

FAME’S Studio Orchestra (Macedonia)

Conductors : Oleg Kontradenko

Orchestrator: Japjisingh Valecha

Orchestra & Orchestration co-ordinator: Andrew T. Mackay/Bohemia Junction Ltd

Sound Engineers:

Panchathan Record inn, Chennai

Suresh Permal, Hriday Gattani, Karthik Sekaran

Mixed by – Mixing Team, Panchathan India

Mastered by – Suresh Permal

Rihaayi De

Song Composed Produced and Arranged by A R Rahman

Singer – A R Rahman

Lyrics – Amitabh Bhattacharya

Music Supervisor – Hiral Viradia

Musicians:

Additional Vocals – Khatija Rahman, Hiral Viradia

Backing vocals by El Fé , Arranged by Roe Vincent Nisha Sharon

Angelin Nisha

Anuj Mathew

Rohit Sridhar

Reshwin Nishith

Flute – Kamlakar

Sound Engineers:

Panchathan Record inn, Chennai

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran

Mixed by – Mixing Team, Panchathan India

Mastered by – Suresh Permal

Choti Si Chiraiya

Song Composed Produced and Arranged by A R Rahman

Singer – Kailash Kher

Lyrics – Amitabh Bhattacharya

Music Supervisor – Hiral Viradia

Musicians:

Mohan Veena – Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

Indian Rhythm – Sai Shravanam

Sarangi – Manonmani

Harmonium – Suryansh

Sound Engineers:

Panchathan Record inn, Chennai

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran

Kailasa Studios, Mumbai

Franco Bhalla

Mixed by – Nakul Abhyankar

Mastered by – Suresh Permal

Rock a Bye Baby

Song Composed Produced and Arranged by A R Rahman

Singer – Julia Gartha, Khatija Rahman

Hindi Lyrics – Amitabh Bhattacharya

English Lyrics – Julia Gartha

Music Supervisor – Hiral Viradia

Musicians:

Guitars – Keba Jeremiah

Bass – Mohini Dey

Drums – Ramkumar Kanagarajan

Backing vocals by El Fé , Arranged by Roe Vincent Nisha Sharon

Angelin Nisha

Anuj Mathew

Rohit Sridhar

Reshwin Nishith

FAME’S Studio Orchestra (Macedonia)

Conductors : Oleg Kontradenko Orchestrator: Japjisingh Valecha

Orchestra & Orchestration co-ordinator: Andrew T. Mackay/Bohemia Junction Ltd

Sound Engineers

Panchathan Record inn, Chennai

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran

Mixed by – Mixing Team, Panchathan India

Mastered by – Suresh Permal

↧

Udanpirappe – Music Review (Tamil Movie Soundtrack)

October 16, 2021, 6:38 am

≫ Next: Oh Manapenne – Music Review (Tamil Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Mimi – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

One of the highlights of the soundtrack of Udanpirappe is the playback debut that composer Imman hands two promising musicians. Riding on the back of her immense social media success over the last year and a half or so, Malayali singer-songwriter Arya Dhayal (if you are, for some reason, unaware of her, you need to check out her Instagram/Youtube channel) sounds extremely assured in her delivery of the haunting, melancholic melody that is Yenge Yen Ponmaalai. Delhi-based Pavithra Chari is the album’s other debutante, one half of the band Shadow and Light (the other half being Advaita keyboardist Anindo Bose), who last year came out with this lovely Tamil single featuring Haricharan. And she gets to sing Deivam Neethaane, a song that appears to be thematic to the movie’s sibling-love setting (Yugabharathi, the lyricist). One of my favourite songs from the soundtrack, this one – the melody is beautifully poignant (mayamalavagoula raga-based, perhaps) and there is some fine instrumentation, highlighted by Nathan’s flute solos and Kishore’s work on the sitar and sarod.

There are a few things that are generally a given when it comes to Imman soundtracks – Shreya Ghoshal getting the choicest of songs from the album, and the obvious hat-tip to Ilayaraja. Both of these hold true here as well; the latter especially applicable to pretty much every song of the movie (including the two I already discussed). Shreya’s song Anney Yaaranney (another of the “thematic” songs) comes in two versions, and I like it better in the slower Reprise version, the orchestration in the former feels a tad dated, and the slower pace and downplayed orchestration around the vocal portions in the latter allows Shreya more freedom for a nuanced delivery. Also loved the use of naadhaswaram (Balasubramaniam) here, especially with the violins in the dramatic outro. Sid Sriram is fab in Othapana Kaatteri, one of the album’s more upbeat songs that owes a large part of its appeal to the singing and arrangement. Composer gets Nithyasree Mahadevan to lead the proceedings in the festive-sounding Karambakudi Kanaga – bar her characteristically spirited singing though, the song is average.

Udanpirappe. A quintessentially Imman soundtrack.

Music Aloud Rating: 3/5

Top Recos: Deivam Neethaane, Anney Yaaranney, Yenge Yen Ponmaalai

Musician Credits

1. ANNEY YAARANNEY
Singer- Shreya Ghoshal
Lyricist- Yugabharathi
Music Production:-Ranjan,D.Imman,Deena
Solo Violin-Manoj
Percussions conducted by Kaviraj
Performed by
Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri
Chennai Strings orchestra conducted by Yensone Bagyanathan,
Violins- Rex Isaac,Ramachandran,Sasi,Murali,B.G.Venkatesh,George,Mohan,Dhayalan,David Ling,Samson,Prabhu,Ruben,Baskar,Vijayabaskar,Jayakumar,Selva,Shiva,Sekar,Seenu,Narayana Rao,Manoj.
Violas- Sebastian,Balu,Hemanth,Girijan,Selva,Gopi,Chandran,Anita,Joseph,Cyril,Dinakar,Vinaykumar
Cellos-Sekar,Somnath,Francis,Seenu
Basses-Bidhyut,Suresh
Acoustic,Electric n Bass guitars-Keba Jeremiah
Nadaswaram- Balasubramaniam
Elfe Choir- Roe Vincent,Angelin Nisha,Sheryl Suraj,Deepa Shankar,Nisha Sharon,Krithika Konda,Sneha Sathya,Padmaja Sreenivasan,Snigdha Chandra,Anuj Mathew,Rohit Sridhar,Reshwin Nishith,Aneesh Solomon
Elfe Choir conducted by Maria Roe Vincent
Stringed Instruments- Seenu
Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman
Song digitally recorded at-
D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman
Studio Manager-Peter
Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,
Recordist- Lijesh Kumar
Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar
Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,
Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.
System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan
Project Co-Ordinator-David.

2. OTHAPANA KAATTERI
Singer- Sid Sriram
Lyricist- Yugabharathi
Music Production:-Ranjan,D.Imman
Solo Violin-Manoj, Woodwinds-Nathan
Acoustic,Electric n bass guitars-Keba Jeremiah
Cello-Sekar
Indian percussions conducted by Kaviraj
Performed by
Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri
Chennai Strings orchestra conducted by Yensone Bagyanathan,
Violins- Rex Isaac,Ramachandran,Sasi,Murali,B.G.Venkatesh,George,Mohan,Dhayalan,David Ling,Samson,Prabhu,Ruben,Baskar,Vijayabaskar,Jayakumar,Selva,Shiva,Sekar,Seenu,Narayana Rao,Manoj.
Violas- Sebastian,Balu,Hemanth,Girijan,Selva,Gopi,Chandran,Anita,Joseph,Cyril,Dinakar,Vinaykumar
Cellos-Sekar,Somnath,Francis,Seenu
Basses-Bidhyut,Suresh
Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman
Song digitally recorded at-
D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman
Studio Manager-Peter
Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,
Recordist- Lijesh Kumar
Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar
Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,
Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.
System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan
Project Co-Ordinator-David.

3. DEIVAM NEETHAANEY
Singers- Pavithra Chari
Lyricist- Yugabharathi
Music production:-Ranjan,D.Imman
Electric,Acoustic and Bass guitars- Keba Jeremiah
Sitar,Sarod-Kishore, Woodwinds,Clarinet-Nathan
Indian Percussions Conducted by Kaviraj
Performed by
Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri
Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman
Song digitally recorded at-
D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman
Studio Manager-Peter
Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio
Recordist- Lijesh Kumar
Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar
Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge
Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.
System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan
Project Co-Ordinator-David.

4. KARAMBAKUDI KANAGA
Singers- Nithyasree Mahadevan,Jeyamoorthi
Lyricist- Snehan
Music Production:- Ranjan,D.Imman
Electric,Bass and Acoustic Guitars- Keba Jeremiah
IndianPercussions Conducted by Kaviraj
Performed by
Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri
Stringed Instruments-Seenu
Woodwinds,Saxophone-Nathan
Nadaswaram- Balasubramaniam
Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman
Song digitally recorded at-
D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman
Studio Manager-Peter
Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,
Recordist- Lijesh Kumar
Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar
Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,
Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.
System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan
Project Co-Ordinator-David.

5. YENGE YEN PONMAALAI
Singers- Arya Dhayal
Lyricist- Yugabharathi
Music Production:- Ranjan,D.Imman
Acoustic,Electric n Bass guitars-Keba Jeremiah
Solo Violin-Manoj, Woodwinds- Nathan
Shenai- Balesh
Indian Percussions Conducted by Kaviraj
Performed by
Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri
Stringed Instruments-Seenu
Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman
Song digitally recorded at-
D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman
Studio Manager-Peter
Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,
Recordist- Lijesh Kumar
Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar
Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,
Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.
System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan
Project Co-Ordinator-David.

BGM SCORE
Score composed and written by D.Imman
Music Production- Sathish,Rajesh
Bgm score recorded at
D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman
Studio Manager-Peter
Chennai Strings orchestra conducted by Yensone Bagyanathan
Violins- Rex Isaac,Ramachandran,Sasi,Murali,B.G.Venkatesh,George,Mohan,Dhayalan,David Ling,Samson,Prabhu,Ruben,Baskar,Vijayabaskar,Jayakumar,Selva,Shiva,Sekar,Seenu,Narayana Rao,Manoj.
Violas- Sebastian,Balu,Hemanth,Girijan,Selva,Gopi,Chandran,Anita,Joseph,Cyril,Dinakar,Vinaykumar
Cellos-Sekar,Somnath,Francis,Seenu
Basses-Bidhyut,Suresh
Woodwinds,Saxophone and Clarinet-Nathan
Solo Violin- Manoj
Sitar-Kishore
Acoustic,Electric and Bass Guitars- Keba Jeremiah
Backing Vocals- Vandana Srinivasan,Maria Roe Vincent,Jithinraj
Harmony Vocals- Santosh Hariharan,Deepak,Shenbagaraj,Aravind Srinivas,Narayanan,Vignesh Narayanan,Veena Murali,Sowmya Mahadevan,Deepthi Suresh,Abinaya Shenbagaraj,Ala B Bala,Soundarya Nandakumar
Elfe Choir- Roe Vincent,Angelin Nisha,Sheryl Suraj,Deepa Shankar,Nisha Sharon,Krithika Konda,Sneha Sathya,Padmaja Sreenivasan,Snigdha Chandra,Anuj Mathew,Rohit Sridhar,Reshwin Nishith,Aneesh Solomon
Elfe Choir conducted by Maria Roe Vincent
System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan
Project Co-Ordinator-David

↧

Oh Manapenne – Music Review (Tamil Soundtrack)

October 22, 2021, 11:14 am

≫ Next: Annaatthe – Music Review

≪ Previous: Udanpirappe – Music Review (Tamil Movie Soundtrack)

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

Back when I reviewed composer K’s very underappreciated soundtrack for Ammani (five years back this month, incidentally), I had labelled Rotora Padhayile the Tamil Saigal Blues. In Oh Manapenne, Vishal Chandrashekhar produces a better contender for that title with the Lazy Song, even if this one goes primarily on the classical fusion route. Not enough gets spoken about how consistently good Vishal has been with Carnatic fusion right from his Jil Jung Juk days (I refer of course to the brilliant adaptation of Nee Maatale in a pivotal fight sequence towards the end) – Lazy Song is another testament to this. The song about the protagonist’s lethargic ways (Mohan Rajan supplying the witty lines), receives a characteristically madcap packaging from the composer that gets even better when he introduces a snippet of Swathi Thirunaal’s Dhanashree Thillana. Sinduri’s languid (but superbly nuanced) delivery is perfect for this, and Lady Kash’s punchy rap ties things up in a bow. I would also recommend this live unplugged version of the track, particularly for how good Sinduri is with her singing. It also features the mysterious “lazy” refrain that was present in the initial promos of the song, but went missing in the soundtrack version – no idea what happened there! Continuing on the quirky route, the composer channels his Red Road-u form to produce an equally groovy electro-swing piece in Aao Ji Aao. The presence of Bala’s naadaswaram amidst the horns is a splendid touch, and Gaana Bala who aces such wacky songs whenever he gets them, is in his element here as well.

While I was not able to make a 1-to-1 connection between every song from Oh Manapenne and those from Pelli Choopulu (I figured that Lazy Song corresponds to Ee Babu Gariki), one song where the connection is pretty evident is the title song. And it is brilliant how Vishal derives elements from Aanandamayenu and ends up creating a better, much more elaborate classical-based (bahudaari raga, perhaps?) track. It is hard not to think of Rahman’s Adhisaya Thirumanam when you hear that opening chorus refrain – though the resemblance ends there. This song features my favourite arrangements from the album – two aspects deserving a special mention being Punya Srinivas’s veena solos, and the harmonic overlay of Sinduri’s Sakhiye alaap on the chorus segments. The two relatively “conventional” tracks from the soundtrack are both of the romantic kind. Nee Yenadharuginil Nee is a short but lovely waltz, sung in style by Shaktisree Gopalan with some excellent guitar work from Martin Gioani and Chris Jason in support. Anirudh Ravichander and Shashaa Tirupati lead the immersive Bodhai Kaname – not sure if it is the presence of the former behind the mic, but had I heard this song without seeing the composing credits, I would have guessed that it is an Anirudh composition. Total winner of a melody from the composer that is delivered well by the singers, and more veena-based delight from Punya Srinivas. Given the general quality of the songs, Sakiye comes off as the relatively ordinary track, but even this one has a lot of things going for me, not least of which is Yazin Nizar singing his heart out, with some wonderful harmonies from the chorus to boot. S Sayee Rakshith’s brief violin solo elevates the arrangement, although at that point the song increasingly evokes memories of Aaromale.

Oh Manapenne. One of Vishal Chandrashekhar’s career-best soundtracks – I have not obsessively looped a complete soundtrack like this in quite some time! While I really liked Vivek Sagar’s music in Pelli Choopulu, Vishal’s work here is definitely clear of the former. Incidentally this is the second Tamil album this year that has stood its ground in comparison to a solid original – Maara being the other.

Music Aloud Rating: 4/5

Top Recos: All of them!

Musician Credits

Song: Aao Ji Aao

Composed by: Vishal Chandrashekhar
Singer: Gana Bala
Lyrics: Mohan Rajan
Nadaswaram: Bala
Violin: Balaji
Keys and Rhythms: Vishal Chandrashekhar
Backing Vocals: Pitty Vikram, Arvind Annest, Balaji Sri, Shibi Srinivasan
Vocals & Recording Co-Ordinator: Sinduri
Backing Vocals Recorded @ 20db Sound Studios by Avinash Sathish and Hariharan
Mixed by Jai Ganesh
Mastered By A M Rahmathullah @ AM Studios

Song: Bodhai Kaname

Composed by: Vishal Chandrashekhar
Lyrics: Vivek
Sung by: Anirudh Ravichander & Shashaa Tirupati
Veena: Punya Srinivas
Bass Guitar: Napier Naveen
Guitar: Chris Jason
Violin: S.Sayee Rakshith | Balaji
Keys and Rhythms: Vishal Chandrashekhar
Backing Vocals: Pitty Vikram | Arvind Annest | Balaji Sri | Shibi Srinivasan | Arvind K Sandhya | Padmaja Sreenivasan | Lavita Lobo | Triya Sushma | Sushmitha Narasimhan | Akshaya Shivkumar | Bhuvana | Sanjana Mohandoss
Voice & Recording Co-Ordinator: Sinduri
Backing Vocals Recorded @ 20dbSoundstudios by Avinash Sathish and Hari Haran
Mixed By: Jai Ganesh
Mastered By: A M Rahmathullah @ AM Studios

Song: Lazy Song

Composed by: Vishal Chandrashekhar
Lyrics: Vishal Chandrashekhar | Mohan Rajan
Singer: Sinduri
RAP Written & Performed By LADY KASH
Guitars: Chris Jason
Keys and Rhythms: Vishal Chandrashekhar
Chorus: Padmaja Sreenivasan, Triya Sushma, Sushmitha Narasimhan, Akshaya Shivkumar
Vocals Recorded @20dbSoundstudios by Avinash Sathish and Hari Haran
Mixed By: Jaiganesh
Mastered By: Rahmthullah AM @ AM STUDIOS

Song: Sakiyae

Composed by: Vishal Chandrashekhar
Singer: Yazin
Lyrics: Mohan Rajan
Guitars: Chris Jason
Violin: S. Sayee Rakshith
Backing Vocals : Dominique Prashanth Gaspar, Regis Tony, Shibi Srinivasan, Aravind Annest
Anjana Rajagopalan, Shilvi Sharon, Daisy Yensone, Sinduri
Voice & Recording Co-Ordinator: Sinduri
Backing Vocals Recorded @ 20dbSoundstudios by Avinash Sathish and Hari Haran
Mixed By: Jai Ganesh
Mastered By: A M Rahmathullah @ AM Studios

Song: Oh Manapenne

Composed by: Vishal Chandrashekhar
Singer: Sinduri
Lyrics: Mohan Rajan
Veena: Punya Srinivas
Guitars, Guitalele and Ukulele: Chris Jason
Backing Vocals: Pitty Vikram | Arvind Annest | Balaji Sri | Shibi Srinivasan | Arvind K Sandhya | Padmaja Sreenivasan | Lavita Lobo | Triya Sushma | Sushmitha Narasimhan | Akshaya Shivkumar | Bhuvana | Sanjana Mohandoss
Voice & Recording Co-Ordinator: Sinduri
Backing Vocals Recorded @ 20dbSoundstudios by Avinash Sathish and Hari Haran
Mixed By: Jai Ganesh
Mastered By: A M Rahmathullah @ AM Studios

Song: Nee Yenadharuginil Nee

Composed by: Vishal Chandrashekhar
Singer : Shakthisree Gopalan
Lyrics: Niranjan Bharathi
Guitars: Martin Gioani, Chris Jason
Recorded at Crimson Avenue
Mixed By: Jai Ganesh
Mastered By: A M Rahmathullah @ AM Studios

↧

Annaatthe – Music Review

November 3, 2021, 2:37 pm

≫ Next: Meenakshi Sundareshwar – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Oh Manapenne – Music Review (Tamil Soundtrack)

Songs and complete musician credits at the end of the review.

‘Tis the season to be composing sibling sentiment-based songs for Imman it would seem – last month we had Udanpirappe, in Annaatthe he gets Yennuyire in the same theme. The song sort of sits in the same zone as Anney Yaaranney from the movie even musically, but with a more grandiose arrangement. While lyricist Thaamarai modifies the lyrics in the male and female versions of the song (sung brilliantly by Sid Sriram and K S Chithra) to fit the respective perspectives, the composer too makes changes in the arrangement across the two variants. The former has Pradeep Kumar’s slide guitar as one of the highlights, and the orchestral strings that took me back to Sundari Kannaal Oru Sethi from Thalapathi at times. Chithra’s version features heavier percussion and Balasubramaniam’s naadhaswaram takes the more prominent role. While Chithra is obviously the superior singer among the two, I prefer Sid’s version for its arrangement. There’s also a naadhaswaram rendition of the song based off Sid Sriram’s version, played by K P Kumaran – clearly this composition is the centrepiece of the album. Sid Sriram gets one other song, a duet with Shreya Ghoshal title Saara Kaattrae. No points for guessing that this is one of the soundtrack’s top songs – the composer produces a beautiful sindhubhairavi raga-based melody here. This is also one of only two songs in the album to not have a profusion of folk percussions.

The title song is obviously special, being the last song where we will hear the legendary SPB provide the musical voice for Rajni onscreen (hurts more when you hear the man as vibrant as ever, even here), but musical quality-wise it would not rank very high in that incredible repertoire of the combo. I found the voiceover announcing the wedding at the start of Marudhaani (felt almost like the promo of some Tamil serial) a bit weird, but that aside, this wedding song has really grown on me over the past few days. Very catchy, albeit derivative, arrangement (love how Imman incorporates Keba Jeremiah’s guitars into the dominantly folk arrangement, especially that Latin-esque segue at the start of second verse) and Vandana Srinivasan (great to hear her after long), Nakash Aziz and Anthony Daasan are in fine form. The remaining two vocal tracks are clearly meant to accompany action scenes in the movie and will have to be watched onscreen for full effect. Vaa Saamy’s backdrop is an engaging combo of chendamelam and electric guitars for most part – very nicely done. A For Annaatthe is written and delivered by rapper Arivu (there had to be a rap track!), with Rajni’s voice making the occasional appearance. Very effective rapping from Arivu, as expected, that makes for a potent combination with the kutthu percussion. Very intriguing that the chorus here delivers what sounds like vocal percussion (dhirana.. dhira dhira na..), Imman gets Sid Sriram to do something similar in Saara Kaattrae as well (dhinthak thakina..). The album’s final two tracks are instrumental – Thalaivar Rampage Theme Music is actually two bgm pieces rolled into one, Village Kuthu Theme Music is, as guessable from the title, an extended kutthu piece.

Annaatthe. Imman strikes a fine balance between his musical sensibilities and the grandeur expected of a Rajni movie to produce an entertaining soundtrack.

Music Aloud Rating: 3.5/5

Top Recos: Saara Kaattrae, Marudhaani, Yennuyirey

Musician Credits

ANNAATTHE ANNAATTHE…-

Singer- S.P.Balasubrahmanyam

Lyricist- Viveka

Music production:-Ranjan,D.Imman

Acoustic and Bass guitars- Keba Jeremiah

IndianPercussions Conducted by Kaviraj

Performed by

Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri

Chennai Strings orchestra conducted by Yensone Bagyanathan

Violins- Rex Isaac,Ramachandran,Sasi,Murali,B.G.Venkatesh, George,Mohan,Dhayalan,David Ling,Samson,Prabhu,Ruben, Baskar,Vijayabaskar,Jayakumar,Selva,Shiva,Sekar,Seenu,Narayana Rao,Manoj.

Violas- Sebastian,Balu,Hemanth,Girijan,Selva,Gopi,Chandran,Anita,Joseph,Cyril,Dinakar,Vinaykumar

Cellos-Sekar,Somnath,Francis,Seenu

Basses-Bidhyut,Suresh

Trumpet-Maxwell

Harmony-Santosh Hariharan,Deepak,Shenbagaraj,Aravind Srinivas,Narayanan,Vignesh Narayanan,Veena Murali,Sowmya Mahadevan,Deepthi Suresh,Abinaya Shenbagaraj,Ala B Bala,Soundarya Nandakumar

Kids Chorus- Neha,Idhazhika,Dhanyasri,Shivathmika,Sahana

Elfe Choir- Roe Vincent,Angelin Nisha,Sheryl Suraj,Deepa Shankar,Nisha Sharon,Krithika Konda,Sneha Sathya,Padmaja Sreenivasan,Snigdha Chandra,Anuj Mathew,Rohit Sridhar,Reshwin Nishith,Aneesh Solomon

Elfe Choir conducted by Maria Roe Vincent

Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman

Song digitally recorded at-

D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman

Studio Manager-Peter

Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,

Recordist- Lijesh Kumar

Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar

Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,

Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.

System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan

Project Co-Ordinator-David.

2.SAARA SAARA KAATTRAE…-

Singers- Sid Sriram,Shreya Ghoshal

Lyricist- Yugabharathi

Music Production:-Ranjan,D.Imman

Solo Violin-Manoj, Woodwinds-Nathan

Acoustic,Electric n bass guitars-Keba Jeremiah

Indian percussions conducted by Kaviraj

Performed by

Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri

Chennai Strings orchestra conducted by Yensone Bagyanathan

Violins- Rex Isaac,Ramachandran,Sasi,Murali,B.G.Venkatesh,George,Mohan,Dhayalan,David Ling,Samson,Prabhu,Ruben,Baskar,Vijayabaskar,Jayakumar,Selva,Shiva,Sekar,Seenu,Narayana Rao,Manoj.

Violas- Sebastian,Balu,Hemanth,Girijan,Selva,Gopi,Chandran,Anita,Joseph,Cyril,Dinakar,Vinaykumar

Cellos-Sekar,Somnath,Francis,Seenu

Basses-Bidhyut,Suresh

Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman

Song digitally recorded at-

D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman

Studio Manager-Peter

Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,

Recordist- Lijesh Kumar

Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar

Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,

Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.

System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan

Project Co-Ordinator-David.

3.MARUDAANI

Singers- Nakash Aziz,Anthony Daasan,Vandana Srinivasan,Superstar Rajinikanth

Lyricist- Mani Amuthavan

Music production:-Ranjan,D.Imman

Electric,Acoustic and Bass guitars- Keba Jeremiah

Nadaswaram-Balasubramani, Woodwinds,Clarinet-Nathan

Solo Violin-Manoj

Indian Percussions Conducted by Kaviraj

Performed by

Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri

Harmony-Santosh Hariharan,Deepak,Shenbagaraj,Aravind Srinivas,Narayanan,Vignesh Narayanan,Veena Murali,Sowmya Mahadevan,Deepthi Suresh,Abinaya Shenbagaraj,Ala B Bala,Soundarya Nandakumar

Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman

Song digitally recorded at-

D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman

Studio Manager-Peter

Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,

Recordist- Lijesh Kumar

Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar

Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,

Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.

System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan

Project Co-Ordinator-David.

4.YENNUYIREY (MALE)

Singer- Sid Sriram

Lyricist- Thamarai

Music Production:- Ranjan,D.Imman

Electric,Bass and Acoustic Guitars- Keba Jeremiah

Electric Slide Guitar- Pradeep Kumar

Indian Percussions Conducted by Kaviraj

Performed by

Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri

Woodwinds,Saxophone-Nathan

Shenai-Balesh

Stringed Instruments (Bouzouki,Mandolin,Oud,Pipa,Banjolin)- Subhani

Harmony-Santosh Hariharan,Deepak,Shenbagaraj,Aravind Srinivas,Narayanan,Vignesh Narayanan,Veena Murali,Sowmya Mahadevan,Deepthi Suresh,Abinaya Shenbagaraj,Ala B Bala,Soundarya Nandakumar

Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman

Song digitally recorded at-

D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman

Studio Manager-Peter

Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,

Recordist- Lijesh Kumar

Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar

Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,

Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.

System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan

Project Co-Ordinator-David.

5.VAA SAAMY

Singers- Mukesh Mohamed,Nochipatti Thirumoorthi,Keezhakarai Samsutheen

Lyricist- Arunbharathi

Music Production:- Ranjan,D.Imman

Acoustic,Electric n Bass guitars-Keba Jeremiah

IndianPercussions Conducted by Kaviraj

Performed by

Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri

Stringed Instruments (Mandolin,Oud,Bouzouki,Pipa,Saz)- Subhani

Harmony-Santosh Hariharan,Deepak,Shenbagaraj,Aravind Srinivas,Narayanan,Vignesh Narayanan,Veena Murali,Sowmya Mahadevan,Deepthi Suresh,Abinaya Shenbagaraj,Ala B Bala,Soundarya Nandakumar

Elfe Choir- Roe Vincent,Angelin Nisha,Sheryl Suraj,Deepa Shankar,Nisha Sharon,Krithika Konda,Sneha Sathya,Padmaja Sreenivasan,Snigdha Chandra,Anuj Mathew,Rohit Sridhar,Reshwin Nishith,Aneesh Solomon

Elfe Choir conducted by Maria Roe Vincent

Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman

Song digitally recorded at-

D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman

Studio Manager-Peter

Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,

Recordist- Lijesh Kumar

Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar

Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,

Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.

System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan

Project Co-Ordinator-David.

6.A FOR ANNAATTHE

Singers- Arivu,Superstar Rajinikanth

Lyricist- Arivu

Music Production:- Ranjan,D.Imman

Acoustic,Electric n Bass guitars-Keba Jeremiah

Whistle- Swetha Suresh

Indian Percussions Conducted by Kaviraj

Performed by

Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri

Stringed Instruments (Mandolin,Oud,Bouzouki,Pipa,Saz)- Subhani,

Harmony-Santosh Hariharan,Deepak,Shenbagaraj,Aravind Srinivas,Narayanan,Vignesh Narayanan,Veena Murali,Sowmya Mahadevan,Deepthi Suresh,Abinaya Shenbagaraj,Ala B Bala,Soundarya Nandakumar

Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman

Song digitally recorded at-

D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman

Studio Manager-Peter

Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,

Recordist- Lijesh Kumar

Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar

Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,

Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.

System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan

Project Co-Ordinator-David.

7.YENNUYIREY (FEMALE)

Singer- K.S.Chithra

Lyricist- Thamarai

Music Production:- Ranjan,D.Imman

Electric,Bass and Acoustic Guitars- Keba Jeremiah

Nadaswaram-Balasubramaniam

IndianPercussions Conducted by Kaviraj

Performed by

Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri

Woodwinds,Saxophone-Nathan

Sitar-Kishore

Harmony-Santosh Hariharan,Deepak,Shenbagaraj,Aravind Srinivas,Narayanan,Vignesh Narayanan,Veena Murali,Sowmya Mahadevan,Deepthi Suresh,Abinaya Shenbagaraj,Ala B Bala,Soundarya Nandakumar

Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman

Song digitally recorded at-

D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman

Studio Manager-Peter

Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,

Recordist- Lijesh Kumar

Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar

Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,

Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.

System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan

Project Co-Ordinator-David.

8.THALAIVAR RAMPAGE- Instrumental

Music Production- Ranjan,Deena

Electric,Bass and Acoustic Guitars- Keba Jeremiah

Nadaswaram-Balasubramaniam

Indian Percussions Conducted and Performed by Krishna Kishor

Harmony-Santosh Hariharan,Deepak,Shenbagaraj,Aravind Srinivas,Narayanan,Vignesh Narayanan,Veena Murali,Sowmya Mahadevan,Deepthi Suresh,Abinaya Shenbagaraj,Ala B Bala,Soundarya Nandakumar

Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman

Song digitally recorded at-

D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman

Studio Manager-Peter

Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,

Recordist- Lijesh Kumar

Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar

Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,

Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.

System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan

Project Co-Ordinator-David.

9.VILLAGE KUTHU- Instrumental

Music Production-Deena

IndianPercussions Conducted by Kaviraj

Performed by

Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri

Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman

Song digitally recorded at-

D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman

Studio Manager-Peter

Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,

Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.

System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan

Project Co-Ordinator-David.

10.YENNUYIREY- Instrumental (Nadaswaram)

By K.P.Kumaran (Jaffna)

Music Production:- Ranjan,D.Imman

Electric,Bass and Acoustic Guitars- Keba Jeremiah

Electric Slide Guitar- Pradeep Kumar

Indian Percussions Conducted by Kaviraj

Performed by

Babu,Pradeep,Raja,Balu,Manoj,Saravanan,David,Chiranjeevi,Azhagiri

Woodwinds,Saxophone-Nathan

Shenai-Balesh

Stringed Instruments (Bouzouki,Mandolin,Oud,Pipa,Banjolin)- Subhani

Song composed,arranged,recorded and mixed by D.Imman

Song digitally recorded at-

D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman

Studio Manager-Peter

Strings recorded at- Voice and Vision Studio,

Recordist- Lijesh Kumar

Studio Manager- Ashok Kumar

Song Mastered by Shadab Rayeen at New Edge,

Assistant Engineers- Pukhraj and Milan.

System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan

Project Co-Ordinator-David.

BGM SCORE

Score composed and written by D.Imman

Music Production- Sathish,Rajesh

Bgm score recorded at

D.Imman’s Sound Factory(Audio suite A and B),Chennai,D.Imman

Studio Manager-Peter

Chennai Strings orchestra conducted by Yensone Bagyanathan

Violins- Rex Isaac,Ramachandran,Sasi,Murali,B.G.Venkatesh,George,Mohan,Dhayalan,David Ling,Samson,Prabhu,Ruben,Baskar,Vijayabaskar,Jayakumar,Selva,Shiva,Sekar,Seenu,Narayana Rao,Manoj.

Violas- Sebastian,Balu,Hemanth,Girijan,Selva,Gopi,Chandran,Anita,Joseph,Cyril,Dinakar,Vinaykumar

Cellos-Sekar,Somnath,Francis,Seenu

Basses-Bidhyut,Suresh

Woodwinds,Saxophone and Clarinet-Nathan

Solo Violin- Manoj

Nadaswaram-Balasubramaniam

Sitar-Kishore

Acoustic,Electric and Bass Guitars- Keba Jeremiah

Backing Vocals- Vandana Srinivasan,Maria Roe Vincent,Jithinraj

Harmony Vocals- Santosh Hariharan,Deepak,Shenbagaraj,

Aravind Srinivas,Narayanan,

Vignesh Narayanan,Veena Murali,Sowmya Mahadevan,

Deepthi Suresh,Abinaya Shenbagaraj,Ala B Bala,

Soundarya Nandakumar

Elfe Choir- Roe Vincent,Angelin Nisha,Sheryl Suraj,Deepa Shankar,

Nisha Sharon,Krithika Konda,Sneha Sathya,

Padmaja Sreenivasan,Snigdha Chandra,Anuj Mathew,

Rohit Sridhar,Reshwin Nishith,Aneesh Solomon

Elfe Choir conducted by Maria Roe Vincent

System Consultant-Audio Visuals Inc.,Tamilselvan

Project Co-Ordinator-David

↧

Meenakshi Sundareshwar – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

November 6, 2021, 9:23 am

≫ Next: Atrangi Re – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Annaatthe – Music Review

Songs and complete musician credits at the end.

My favourite song from Abhimanyu Dassani’s debut film Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota back in 2019 (you know, back when we did not have stuff like COVID – fun times) was Rappan Rappi Rap, a track that was as much fun for its nostalgic lyrical references, as it was for the funky retro base. In Meenakshi Sundareshwar we have an equally entertaining Vaada Machaaney that also features the ever-reliable Benny Dayal in the lead and that, after a mock-melancholic cameo by Romy (loved the shayari-binary rhyming from lyricist Raj Shekhar, taking a dig at the profession of the crowd), also settles into a similarly groovy setting. Don’t be misled by the title, the song does not have any Tamil aside of that phrase, and this holds true for most of the soundtrack – a smattering of Tamil amidst the Hinglish, to remind us of the movie’s setting, although composer Justin Prabhakaran’s music more prominently showcases the South element. Take Mann Kesar for instance, a fantastic melodic piece where the naadhaswaram, thavil and the konnakol proclaim that this is a South Indian wedding song. Interestingly structured song that is essentially two versions of the first verse melody, respectively sung by Shashwat Singh and Aanandi Joshi (both brilliant on their part) separated by a chorus segment (at which point you also sense a shift in the arrangement, before coming full circle at the end). If you keep aside the wedding-evocative elements, this is a very Rahman-esque song, takes me back particularly to a melody the man composed for another Meenakshi (Meenaxi, if you will), Yeh Rishta. Beautiful composition, whose only sour note is the suno kanmani phrase that still feels odd after multiple hearings (Shashwat’s pronunciation of it doesn’t help either). The soundtrack has two more vocal tracks of the romantic kind, both set around long distance relationships, and both featuring Abhay Jodhpurkar, but contrasting moods. Raj Shekhar’s lines in Tu Yahin Hai beautifully capture the hopes of a newly-married couple, but it is Justin’s dreamy soundscape that elevates the song to another level. The waltz base almost never fails to impress, and this one has some brilliant touches along the way, like the Tamil folk interlude featuring Resmi Satheesh. This is incidentally Abhay’s second waltzy song in Hindi (after his debut in Zero), and he is joined by an equally brilliant Madhushree – so good to hear her after long. In Ratti Ratti Reza Reza the love and excitement appears to have run its course, and Justin’s melody and subdued orchestration is just perfect for the situation. And who better to deliver such a delicate piece alongside Abhay, than Shreya Ghoshal!

The percussions (cajon?) that kick off Tittar Bittar are perhaps meant to mimic the rhythm of a train, considering those hawker sounds at the start, but the composer keeps deftly switching from genre to genre in this one, almost as if presenting a musical in 4.5 minutes – that kids’ segment in between especially took me back to the Clock Tower Mystery segment of Jagga Jasoos. The lyrics are on point with the quirkiness, particularly enjoyed the gully cricket analogy in the earlier-mentioned segment. Although the song has a lot of singers sharing credits, the lead vocalists appear to be Romy and Mohana Bhogaraju (I think), both in fine form – really happy to see Romy and Abhay get two songs each in this movie, both thoroughly under-utilised in Bollywood in my opinion. The remaining six songs of the soundtrack are all BGM pieces. Thalaivaa, written and sung by Anthony Daasan (who now goes by Folk Marley!) is a tribute to Rajinikanth, obviously, and replete with references to his movies and quotes. A proper kuthu song this one, and completely in Tamil. The soundtrack’s diverse set of genres throws up another surprise with Down and Dirty, the second reggae song this year by a Tamil composer that I have heard and loved – the first being this belter from Anirudh for Master. The man who wrote and sang that song, Bjorn Surrao (frontman of the Chennai band Franks Got The Funk), reprises both roles for this song as well, but Lavita Lobo makes a bigger impression with her punchy vocals. I expected Waltz with Meenakshi to be an instrumental adaptation of Tu Yahin Hai, but it turned out to be a new tune, and not really in the waltz rhythm either. Looking At The Moon however is based on the second verse of Tu Yahin Hai – the English lines sound a bit weird, but it is quite a nice listen otherwise, violin solos always have my heart – my favourite part though is when the song briefly reprises the wedding mode with the naadhaswaram, thavil and some Carnatic guitaring. Meenakshi Sundareshwar Theme features another singer who hasn’t been heard in Hindi music a while, Sadhana Sargam. And her humming (alongside the movie’s director Vivek Soni and a wonderful chorus) is indeed the high point of the wordless track that briefly revisits Ratti Ratti. And finally, my favourite instrumental tracks from the album, First Kiss –that flute (P Vijay Ananth) is an instant throwback to the early 2000s Tamil love themes, especially from Harris Jayaraj (Minnale/RHTDM, anyone?) and I understand this was indeed intended as a nod to the man!

Justin Prabhakaran’s career graph has been on a consistent upward trajectory over the past recent years, and in Meenakshi Sundareshwar he produces his best work yet, with ample help from Raj Shekhar. Ironic that the year that has been the most disappointing for Bollywood music in recent times, has also witnessed two of its best composing debuts in recent times (the other one of course being Arijit in Pagglait – both Sanya Malhotra-starrers, incidentally!).

Music Aloud Rating: 4/5

Top Recos: All of them!

Album Credits

TITTAR BITTAR

SINGERS: ROMY, GOLDIE SOHEL, PRINCE BHATRA, MOHANA BHOGARAJU, HEMAMBIGA, SWATI SHARMA, CHITRALEKHA SEN, YAJAT GARG
LYRICS: RAJ SHEKHAR

PERCUSSIONS – BALU, LAKSHMI NARAYANAN, RAJU , VEDHA, SHRUTHI RAJ, KAVI RAJ

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMERS: SEBASTIAN SATHISH, C DISHON PRINCE, DAN KRISTEN

ADDITIONAL RHYTHM PROGRAMMER – BARATH DHANASEKAR

VOCAL TUNING ENGINEER: SREE SHANKAR

MUSICIANS CO-ORDINATORS – NIRMAL RAJ (HYMN STUDIO), ANTONY RAJ (THE STATION INN)

RECORDING ENGINEERS – RUPJIT DAS (PLAYHEAD STUDIO), DIVINE ANTONY (2BQ STUDIO)

SONGS MIXING ENGINEER – BALU THANKACHAN (20 DB BLACK)

MIXING ASSISTANT HARIHARAN (20 DB BLACK)

MASTERED BY SHADAB RAYEEN (NEW EDGE STUDIO)

MANN KESAR KESAR

SINGERS : SHASHWAT SINGH & AANANDI JOSHI

ADDITIONAL VOICE : GOLDIE SOHEL

LYRICS : RAJ SHEKHAR

MUSIC COMPOSED BY : JUSTIN PRABHAKARAN

CHORUS : UMESH JOSHI, VIJAY DHURI, JANARDAN DHATRAK, SANTOSH BOTE, DR NARAYANAN, SAM P. KEERTHAN, YOGI SEKAR, VELMURUGAN, PRAGATI JOSHI, ADITI PRABHUDESAI, AROHI MHATRE, RUCHA PADHYE, DIVYA TAWDE, MADHURA PARANJAPE, PRIYA PRAKASH, KARPAGAM, HEMAMBIGA, LAVANYA

NOSE FLUTE - JUSTIN PRABHAKARAN

BOUZOUKI, DULCIMER, SWARMANDAL – SEENU

ACOUSTIC & ELECTRIC GUITAR – KEBA JERAMIAH

PERCUSSIONS – BALU, SHRUTHI RAJ, KAVI, VIKRAM, SUNDAR, BARATH DHANASEKAR

BASS GUITAR – NAVEEN NAPIER

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMERS: SEBASTIAN SATHISH, C DISHON PRINCE, DAN KRISTEN

VOCAL TUNING ENGINEER: SREE SHANKAR

MUSICIANS CO-ORDINATORS – NIRMAL RAJ (HYMN STUDIO), ANTONY RAJ (THE STATION INN)

RECORDING ENGINEERS – RUPJIT DAS (PLAYHEAD STUDIO), DIVINE ANTONY (2BQ STUDIO)

SONGS MIXING ENGINEER – BALU THANKACHAN (20DB BLACK)

MIXING ASSISTANT HARIHARAN (20DB BLACK)

MASTERED BY SHADAB RAYEEN (NEW EDGE STUDIO)

RATTI RATTI REZA REZA

SINGERS: ABHAY JODHPURKAR, SHREYA GHOSHAL
MUSIC COMPOSER : JUSTIN PRABHAKRAN
LYRICS: RAJ SHEKHAR

STRINGS BY BUDAPEST SCORING ORCHESTRA

CONDUCTOR: PETER ILLENYI

SESSION PRODUCER: BALINT SAPSZON

ORCHESTRA COORDINATOR: BERTALAN VEER

RECORDING ENGINEER: DENES REDLY

LIBRARIAN: ANNA SAPSZON

ORCHESTRA CEO: BALINT SAPSZON

ORCHESTRATOR: BALASUBRAMANIAN G

ADDITIONAL ORCHESTRATION: ABHISHEK V

FLUTE - P. VIJAY ANANTH

ACOUSTIC GUITAR – JOSHUA MARK RAJ
BASS GUITAR – NAVEEN NAPIER

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMERS: SEBASTIAN SATHISH, C DISHON PRINCE, DAN KRISTEN
VOCAL TUNING ENGINEER: SREE SHANKAR

MUSICIANS CO-ORDINATORS – NIRMAL RAJ (HYMN STUDIO), ANTONY RAJ (THE STATION INN)
RECORDING ENGINEERS – RUPJIT DAS (PLAYHEAD STUDIO), DIVINE ANTONY (2BQ STUDIO), BIJU (VGP STUDIO)

SONGS MIXING ENGINEER – BALU THANKACHAN (20 DB BLACK)

MIXING ASSISTANT HARIHARAN (20 DB BLACK)

MASTERED BY SHADAB RAYEEN (NEW EDGE STUDIO)

DOWN & DIRTY

SINGERS: BJORN SURRAO, LAVITA LOBO
MUSIC COMPOSER : JUSTIN PRABHAKARAN
LYRICS: BJORN SURRAO

BACKING VOCALS:
PRIYA PRAKASH, KARPAGAM, HEMAMBIGA, LAVANYA

ELECTRIC GUITAR – JOSEPH VIJAY, DAN KRISTEN

BASS GUITAR – NAVEEN NAPIER

ADDITIONAL RHYTHM PROGRAMMER – BARATH DHANASEKAR

VOCAL TUNING ENGINEER: SREE SHANKAR

MUSICIANS CO-ORDINATORS – NIRMAL RAJ (HYMN STUDIO), ANTONY RAJ (THE STATION INN)

RECORDING ENGINEERS – DIVINE ANTONY (2BQ STUDIO)

SONGS MIXING ENGINEER – BALU THANKACHAN (20 DB BLACK)

MIXING ASSISTANT HARIHARAN (20 DB BLACK)

MASTERED BY SHADAB RAYEEN (NEW EDGE STUDIO)

VAADA MACHAANEY

SINGER: BENNY DAYAL
ADDITIONAL VOICE: ROMY
MUSIC COMPOSER: JUSTIN PRABHAKARAN
LYRICS: RAJ SHEKHAR

BACKING VOCALS: UMESH JOSHI, VIJAY DHURI, JANARDAN DHATRAK, SANTOSH BOTE, DR NARAYANAN, SAM P. KEERTHAN, YOGI SEKAR, VELMURUGAN

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMERS: SEBASTIAN SATHISH, C DISHON PRINCE, DAN KRISTEN

VOCAL TUNING ENGINEER: SREE SHANKAR

MUSICIANS CO-ORDINATORS – NIRMAL RAJ (HYMN STUDIO), ANTONY RAJ (THE STATION INN)

RECORDING ENGINEERS – RUPJIT DAS (PLAYHEAD STUDIO), DIVINE ANTONY (2BQ STUDIO)

SONGS MIXING ENGINEER – BALU THANKACHAN (20 DB BLACK)

MIXING ASSISTANT HARIHARAN (20 DB BLACK)

MASTERED BY SHADAB RAYEEN (NEW EDGE STUDIO)

WALTZ WITH MEENAKSHI

PLAYED BY BUDAPEST SCORING ORCHESTRA

CONDUCTOR: PETER ILLENYI

SESSION PRODUCER: BALINT SAPSZON

ORCHESTRA COORDINATOR: BERTALAN VEER

RECORDING ENGINEER: DENES REDLY

LIBRARIAN: ANNA SAPSZON

ORCHESTRA CEO: BALINT SAPSZON

STRINGS AND ARRANGEMENTS: DAN KRISTEN

ORCHESTRATOR: BALASUBRAMANIAN G

ADDITIONAL ORCHESTRATION: ABHISHEK V

FLUTE - P. VIJAY ANANTH

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMERS: SEBASTIAN SATHISH, C DISHON PRINCE, DAN KRISTEN

MUSICIANS CO-ORDINATORS – NIRMAL RAJ (HYMN STUDIO), ANTONY RAJ (THE STATION INN)

SONGS MIXING & MASTERING ENGINEER – BALU THANKACHAN (20 DB BLACK)

MIXING ASSISTANT HARIHARAN (20 DB BLACK)

THALAIVAA

SINGER : FOLK MARLEY ANTHONY DAASAN
ADDITIONAL VOICE FX – ACS RAVICHANDRAN
MUSIC COMPOSER : JUSTIN PRABHAKARAN
LYRICS: FOLK MARLEY ANTHONY DAASAN

ELECTRIC GUITAR – DAN KRISTEN

PERCUSSIONS – LAKSHMI NARAYANAN, RAJU , VEDHA, SRUTHI RAJ, KAVI RAJ
R.D.BAND TEAM ( CHENNAI )

TRUMPET – R.D.UDHAYA , SURESH

TENOR HORN – R.D.MURUGAN

CLARINET – PARTHIBAN

DHOL – ARUMUGAM

SNARE – RAGU, SARATH

BASS DRUM – PARAKASH , SATHAM

CYMBAL – MANI

MUSICIANS CO-ORDINATORS – NIRMAL RAJ (HYMN STUDIO), ANTONY RAJ (THE STATION INN)

RECORDING ENGINEERS – BIJU (VGP STUDIO)

SONGS MIXING ENGINEER – BALU THANKACHAN (20 DB BLACK)

MIXING ASSISTANT HARIHARAN (20 DB BLACK)

MASTERED BY SHADAB RAYEEN (NEW EDGE STUDIO)

MEENAKSHI SUNDARESHWAR THEME

SINGERS : SADHANA SARGAM, VIVEK SONI
MUSIC COMPOSER : JUSTIN PRABHAKARAN

SOLO VIOLIN – AKKARSH KASYAP

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMERS: DAN KRISTEN

MUSICIANS CO-ORDINATORS – NIRMAL RAJ (HYMN STUDIO), ANTONY RAJ (THE STATION INN)

RECORDING ENGINEERS – RUPJIT DAS (PLAYHEAD STUDIO)

SONGS MIXING & MASTERING ENGINEER – BALU THANKACHAN (20 DB BLACK)

MIXING ASSISTANT HARIHARAN (20 DB BLACK)

LOOKING AT THE MOON

SINGER : LAVITA LOBO
MUSIC COMPOSER : JUSTIN PRABHAKARAN

FLUTE - P. VIJAY ANANTH

SOLO VIOLIN – AKKARSH KASYAP

ELECTRIC GUITAR –DAN KRISTEN

MUSICIANS CO-ORDINATORS – NIRMAL RAJ (HYMN STUDIO), ANTONY RAJ (THE STATION INN)

SONGS MIXING & MASTERING ENGINEER – BALU THANKACHAN (20 DB BLACK)

MIXING ASSISTANT HARIHARAN (20 DB BLACK)

FIRST KISS

MUSIC COMPOSER : JUSTIN PRABHAKARAN

BACKING VOCALS – DR NARAYANAN, SAM P. KEERTHAN, YOGI SEKAR, VELMURUGAN,

FLUTE - P. VIJAY ANANTH

ACOUSTIC & ELECTRIC GUITAR – JOSEPH VIJAY, DAN KRISTEN

PERCUSSIONS – BALU, LAKSHMI NARAYANAN, RAJU , VEDHA, SHRUTHI RAJ, KAVI RAJ

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMERS: SEBASTIAN SATHISH, C DISHON PRINCE, DAN KRISTEN

ADDITIONAL RHYTHM PROGRAMMER – BARATH DHANASEKAR

VOCAL TUNING ENGINEER: SREE SHANKAR

MUSICIANS CO-ORDINATORS – NIRMAL RAJ (HYMN STUDIO), ANTONY RAJ (THE STATION INN)

RECORDING ENGINEERS – RUPJIT DAS (PLAYHEAD STUDIO), DIVINE ANTONY (2BQ STUDIO), BIJU (VGP STUDIO)

SONG MIXING & MASTERING ENGINEER – BALU THANKACHAN (20 DB BLACK)

MIXING ASSISTANT HARIHARAN (20 DB BLACK)

TU YAHIN HAI

SINGERS: ABHAY JODHPURKAR, MADHUSREE

ADDITIONAL VOICE: RESMI SATEESH

MUSIC COMPOSER : JUSTIN PRABHAKARAN

LYRICS: RAJ SHEKHAR

STRINGS AND BRASS BY BUDAPEST SCORING ORCHESTRA

CONDUCTOR: PETER ILLENYI

SESSION PRODUCER: BALINT SAPSZON

ORCHESTRA COORDINATOR: BERTALAN VEER

RECORDING ENGINEER: DENES REDLY

LIBRARIAN: ANNA SAPSZON

ORCHESTRA CEO: BALINT SAPSZON

STRINGS AND BRASS ARRANGEMENTS: DAN KRISTEN

ORCHESTRATOR: BALASUBRAMANIAN G

ADDITIONAL ORCHESTRATION: ABHISHEK V

FLUTE - P. VIJAY ANANTH

ACOUSTIC & ELECTRIC GUITAR DAN KRISTEN

PERCUSSIONS – BALU, LAKSHMI NARAYANAN, RAJU , VEDHA, SHRUTHI RAJ, KAVI RAJ

ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMERS: SEBASTIAN SATHISH, C DISHON PRINCE, DAN KRISTEN

VOCAL TUNING ENGINEER: SREE SHANKAR

MUSICIANS CO-ORDINATORS – NIRMAL RAJ (HYMN STUDIO), ANTONY RAJ (THE STATION INN)

RECORDING ENGINEERS – RUPJIT DAS (PLAYHEAD STUDIO), DIVINE ANTONY (2BQ STUDIO), PRAVEEN IYYER (MUSIC GARAGE)

SONGS MIXING ENGINEER – BALU THANKACHAN (20 DB BLACK)

MIXING ASSISTANT HARIHARAN (20 DB BLACK)

DONAL WHELAN (TU YAHIN HAI SONG) (HAFORD MASTERING)

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Atrangi Re – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

December 10, 2021, 5:35 pm

≫ Next: Music Aloud Playback – Best Indian Songs of 2021!

≪ Previous: Meenakshi Sundareshwar – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

Songs and musician credits at the end.

At one point in its second half, Little Little bursts into a profusion of kuthu beats, and the mind went back to a similar transition in the gem that was Strawberry Kannae/Aankhein (I would really love to see Dhanush break into a dance à la Prabhudeva here!) – the composition does pretty much sit in the same quirky, laid-back zone, except with the drunk-romantic theme. I have never been a big fan of Dhanush’s singing, but this is a song that is pretty much down his alley and the man makes it work quite well (although I might have been still happier with another singer ). The arrangement is delightful – a bit bummed though that the clarinet from Sax Raja does not make another appearance after a corker of a solo early in the song. I remember a twitter thread once (unable to find it now), listing various instances where ARR has worked wonders with the delayed introduction of the second singer in a duet. Little Little is a worthy addition to that list – Hiral Viradia’s entry is just brilliant (that hiccup is an inspired touch); only wish she had a longer portion though, she sounds very promising. More 90s ARR throwback happens when the flamenco guitars kick off the proceedings in Toofaan Si Kudi (so happy to see Santhosh Chandran’s name against this one, having been a huge admirer of the ace guitarist – sample this, this and this to get a quick idea as to why), and it is indeed the guitars that turn out the highlight of the infectious song, even as A R Rahman appears to be having a lot of fun throwing in surprise percussive elements like dhols, ghatam, edaykka(!) and even manjira towards the end. Irshad Kamil chooses an interestingly contrasting mix of phrases as well in his lines, presumably to go with the wacky fusion on the musical front. The backing vocalists and choir do a fine job on the vocal front, it is Rashid Ali who doesn’t sound the same as he did back in his peak and proves to be the weak link. The album’s “massiest” track Garda, headed by Daler Mehndi, is the only song in the album that failed to impress me despite the lively brass orchestra. Even the novelty in the garda udaa diye quote by Himanshu Sharma (the movie’s writer, I presume) wears off pretty quick.

There is no way that you listen to the guitar strums that open Tumhein Mohabbat and guess the kind of song that is about to follow. Rahman keeps the arrangement minimal in this one to let the sombre, enigmatic melody (partly puriya dhanashree raga based I think) take the spotlight, and how it flows! Irshad Kamil is in fine fettle here – love the fact that the song is named after the phrase that appears at the very end, underlining the finality of the unrequited love (something that the composer conveys beautifully with his arrangement as well, or rather the lack of it). Arijit Singh often gets a bad rep for the melancholic songs in his portfolio, but few contemporary singers would be able to deliver this song as poignantly as he has. My current favourite from the album, this one. Going from the minimal to the most richly orchestrated song of the album – I wonder if there is a bit of a nod in the Murali Ki Dhun refrain in Tere Rang intended towards Naushad’s classic Madhuban Mein Radhika (guessing this based on the hameer raga, the genre and even the lyrical overlap in terms of Radhika, murli etc). The rest of the song is a lot different of course, and is a beautifully realised semiclassical piece at that, delivered fabulously by Haricharan and Shreya Ghoshal – it is a delight to hear the two play off each other in the second verse. Shreya is equally excellent at delivering the festive Chaka Chak, a song that is evocative of multiple ARR songs from the past. It makes for an engaging listen nevertheless, although given the quality of the other songs, doesn’t rate as high in the pecking order. Finally, Rait Zara Si has a melody that would fit snugly into an Ashutosh Gowariker movie, but is otherwise replete with Tamil elements, both arrangement-wise and lyrically (love that Tamil chorus!). Speaking of the arrangement, special mention to Kareem Kamalakar (flute) and Kishore (sarod) for being an incredibly soothing addition to the proceedings. Arijit Singh is back behind the mic on this one, joined by an equally competent Shashaa Tirupati.

Atrangi Re. A R Rahman delivers another winner with Irshad Kamil! Incidentally the second Bollywood soundtrack in just over a month to carry a Southern flavour to it, the other one of course being Meenakshi Sundareshwar, which was also a brilliant album – perhaps this is the magic ingredient to make Bollywood albums sound good from here on?

Music Aloud Rating: 4/5

Top Recos: Tumhein Mohabbat, Little Little, Tere Rang, Toofan Si Kudi, Rait Zara Si

Album Credits

Rait Zara Si

Song Composed, Arranged and Produced By A R Rahman

Singers: Arijit Singh, Shashaa Tirupati

Lyrics: Irshad Kamil

Music Supervisor: Hiral Viradia

Musicians

Flute : Kareem Kamalakar

Sarod : Kishore

Bass Guitar : Keba Jeremiah

Additional Voice : Arjun Chandy, Nakul Abhyankar, Hriday Gattani, Hiral Viradia

Rhythm : Kaviraj, Ranjith magi, Hariprasad, Krishna Kishore, Tumba Raja, Mani, Venkat

Strings : Chennai Orchestra & Sunshine Orchestra

Conducted by Jerry Vincent

Score Transcription by Karthik Manickavasakam

Additional Programming : Karthik Devraj, Suryansh

Additional Rhythm Arrangement: Kumaran Sivamani

Sound Engineers:

Panchathan Record Inn,

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Nakul Abhyankar, Pradvay Shivashankar

ARR Studios, Mumbai

Dilshaad Shabbir Shaik, Hriday Gattani, Nitish Kumar

KM Showcase Lab: Riyasdeen Riyan, Aravind Crescendo

AM Studios : Sivakumar S, Pradeep Menon, Aravind MS, Krishnan Subramanian

Mixed By: T R Krishna Chetan

Mastered By : Suresh Permal

Masters For iTunes : Karthik Sekaran

Musician Co Ordinators : Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum, TM Faizudeen, Siddique

Little Little

Song Composed, Arranged and Produced By : A R Rahman

Singers : Dhanush, Hiral Viradia

Lyrics : Irshad Kamil

Music Supervisor : Hiral Viradia

Musicians

Rhythm : Ranjith, Hariprasadh

Clarinet & Alto Sax : Sax Raja

Solo Violin : Anna Kondeatenko

Chennai Orchestra & Sunshine Orchestra

Conducted by Jerry Vincent

Score Transcription by Karthik Manikavasagam

Additional Vocals : Hriday Gattani, Nakul Abhyankar, Arjun Chandy

Additional Rhythm Arrangement : Kumaran Sivamani, Suryansh

Sound Engineers

Panchathan Record Inn, Chennai

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Pradvay Shivashankar

ARR Studios, Mumbai

Dilshad Shabir Sheik, Hriday Gattani, Nitish

KM Showcase Lab, Chennai

Riyasdeen Riyan, Aravind Crescendo

AM Studios, Chennai

Sivakumar S, Pradeep Menon, Aravind MS, Krishnan Subramanian

Mixed By : Nakul Abhyankar

Mastered By : Suresh Permal

Masters For iTunes : Karthik Sekaran

Musician Co Ordinators : Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum, TM Faizudeen, Siddique

Toofaan Si Kudi

Song Composed, Arranged and Produced By : A R Rahman

Singers : Rashid Ali

Additional Vocals : Mayank Kapri, Varun Uday, Nisa Shetty, Pooja Tiwari

Lyrics : Irshad Kamil

Music Supervisor : Hiral Viradia

Musicians

Guitars : Santhosh Chandran, Vijay Joseph, Matt Beacon

Flute : Kareem Kamalar

Sarod : Kishore

Choir : El Fè

Strings Chennai Orchestra & Sunshine Orchestra

Conducted by Jerry Vincent

Score Transcription by Karthik Manikavasagam

Sound Engineers

Panchathan Record Inn,

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Nakul Abhyankar, Pradvay Shivashankar

ARR Studios, Mumbai

Dilshad Shabir Sheik, Hriday Gattani, Nitish

KM Showcase Lab

Riyasdeen Riyan, Aravind Crescendo

AM Studios

Sivakumar S, Pradeep Menon, Aravind MS, Krishnan Subramanian

Mixed By : Nakul Abhyankar

Mastered By : Suresh Permal

Masters For iTunes : Karthik Sekaran

Musician Co Ordinators : Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum, TM Faizudeen, Siddique

Tumhein Mohabbat

Song Composed, Arranged and Produced By : A R Rahman

Singer : Arijit Singh

Lyrics : Irshad Kamil

Music Supervisor : Hiral Viradia

Musicians

Chennai Orchestra & Sunshine Orchestra

Conducted by Jerry Vincent

Score Transcription by Shubam Bhat

Sound Engineers

Panchathan Record Inn, Chennai

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Pradvay Shivashankar

ARR Studios, Mumbai

Dilshad Shabir Sheik, Hriday Gattani, Nitish

KM Showcase Lab, Chennai

Riyasdeen Riyan, Aravind Crescendo

AM Studios, Chennai

Sivakumar S, Pradeep Menon, Aravind MS, Krishnan Subramanian

Mixed And Mastered by: Suresh Permal

Masters For iTunes : Karthik Sekaran

Musician Co Ordinators : Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum, TM Faizudeen, Siddique

Tere Rang

Song Composed, Arranged and produced: A R Rahman

Singers: Haricharan Seshadri, Shreya Goshal

Lyrics: Irshad Kamil

Chaka Chak

Song Composed, Arranged and Produced By A R Rahman

Singer – Shreya Ghoshal

Lyrics – Irshad Kamil

Music Supervisor – Hiral Viradia

Choreography: Vijay Ganguly

Musicians

Rhythm : Lakshman, Raju, Krishna Kishore, Ranjith, Hariprasadh, Tumba Raja, Vedha

Shenai : Balesh

Nadaswaram : Mambalam Siva

Flute : Kareem Kamalar

Dotara : Pradipto Sengupta

Chennai Orchestra & Sunshine Orchestra

Conducted by Jerry Vincent

Score Transcription by Karthik Manickavasakam

Additional Rhythm Programming

T R Krishna Chetan, Kumaran Sivamani, Nakul Abhyankar

Sound Engineers

Panchathan Record Inn,

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Santhosh Dhayanithi

Vocal Supervision

Dilshad Shabir Sheik, Hriday Gattani

KM Showcase Lab

Riyasdeen Riyan, Aravind Crescendo

AM Studios

Sivakumar S, Pradeep Menon, Aravind MS, Krishnan Subramanian

Mixed By

T R Krishna Chetan

Mastered By

Suresh Permal

Masters For iTunes

Karthik Sekaran

Musician Co Ordinators

Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum, TM Faizudeen, Siddique

Garda

Song Composed, Arranged and Produced By : A R Rahman

Singer : Daler Mehndi

Additional Vocals: Himanshu Sharma

Lyrics: Irshad Kamil

Music Supervisor : Hiral Viradia

Musicians

Rhythm : Dipesh Varma, Keyur Barve, Omkar Salunkhe, Shikhar Naad Qureshi & Satyajit Jamsandekar

Clarinet : Sax Raja, Chris Whiter

Flute, Saxophones : Chris Whiter

Guitars : Keba Jeremiah, Fardeen Siddiqui

Choir : El Fé, Nivas, Sharath Santhosh

Sunshine Brass

Angelin

Karthick

Mohammed

Conducted by Lisa Sarasini

Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra

Score Performed by F.A.M.E.S Orchestra

Lead Orchestrator : Joaquin Badia

Indian Orchestra co-ordinator : Andrew T. Mackay/ Bohemia Junction Ltd.

Chennai Orchestra & Sunshine Orchestra

Conducted by Jerry Vincent

Score Transcription by Shubham Bhat

Additional Vocals : Nakul Abhyankar, Shenbagaraj, Deepak Blue, Lavita Lobo, Rakshita Suresh

Additional Rhythm Arrangement: Parag Chhabra, Dipesh Varma

Additional Programming : Ishaan Chhabra

Sound Engineers

Panchathan Record Inn, Chennai

Suresh Permal, Karthik Sekaran, Pradvay Shivashankar

ARR Studios, Mumbai

Dilshaad Shabir Sheik, Hriday Gattani, Nitish

KM Showcase Lab, Chennai

Riyasdeen Riyan, Aravind Crescendo

AM Studios, Chennai

Sivakumar S, Pradeep Menon, Aravind MS, Krishnan Subramanian

Yashraj studios, Mumbai

Vijay Dayal

Assisted by Chinmay Mestry

Mixed By: T R Krishna Chetan

Mastered By : Suresh Permal

Masters For iTunes : Karthik Sekaran

Musician Co Ordinators

Samidurai R, Abdul Haiyum, TM Faizudeen, Siddique

Music Label: T-Series

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Music Aloud Playback – Best Indian Songs of 2021!

December 31, 2021, 12:13 am

≫ Next: Hridayam – Music Review (Malayalam Soundtrack)

≪ Previous: Atrangi Re – Music Review (Bollywood Soundtrack)

2022 is nearly upon us. As is Omicron, unfortunately. At this point, one can only wait and hope that Covid tires itself out before we run out of Greek letters. To reiterate what I said last year, music has been of paramount importance in getting through these times. And here at Music Aloud, we hope to continue serving “mini meals” through our various channels for anyone who is as reliant on music as I am.

In 2020, although there was a drop in the number of movies, the quality of music more than made up for that drop, especially in the web series space. That hasn’t been the case this year however – in fact, the only web series whose music I found appealing was Amit Trivedi’s Grahan, which I therefore have had to incorporate into the Hindi movie songs list. On the flipside though, a lot of movies across industries had their OSTs out online this year, which allowed me to create a new list for instrumental theme pieces. The rest of my lists remain the same – Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Indie+pop and other language movies. As always, I have gone by the release date of the movie rather than the song – while I admit that it is getting increasingly tricky with the changing industry dynamics, I find this to be the best way to make sure I give every soundtrack, however non-descript, a fair chance, and end up unearthing great songs that I would almost certainly have missed otherwise.

For anyone checking out our lists for the first time, the entry format is the same as before: Song name (Movie Name) – Composer(s)|Lyricist(s)|Singer(s), and for Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil, it’s a top 25 followed by an honorary list of five. Like last year, the playlists have been put up on Apple, Spotify and YouTube this time as well – not all songs are available across all platforms, unfortunately.

Wishing everyone reading this post a safer and happier 2022!

And thanks as ever to @cookydoh for the artwork!

Hindi

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

In my review of Justin Prabhakaran’s brilliant Meenakshi Sundareshwar, I had mentioned the irony of two of the best composing debuts in Bollywood in recent times happening in a year that has been a rather disappointing one for the industry. Barring the two debuts I mentioned – Justin, and Arijit with Pagglait – the good stuff largely came from A R Rahman (who appears to have switched gears over the lockdown period!). Interestingly, there was a bit of a spike in December, with Bob Biswas (Vishal Shekhar, Anupam Roy, Clinton Cerejo+Bianca Gomes), ’83 (Pritam, doing better here after a disappointing Tadap earlier in the year) and Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui (Sachin-Jigar, who had a busy year but didn’t deliver much of note, until this). And as usual, there were low-key projects that threw up some pleasant surprises – Oni-Adil in Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele, Shabbir Ahmed in Bhavai (also a composing debut for the lyricist, I believe), Rajeev Bhalla and Mukund Suryawanshi (JAM8) in 14 Phere to name a few. Sagar Desai’s superb work in Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi also deserves a special mention – and as I do every time I hear a new soundtrack of his, I continue to wonder how the man doesn’t get more movies.

1 Tu Yahin Hai (Meenakshi Sundareshwar) – Justin Prabhakaran|Raj Shekhar|Madhushree, Abhay Jodhpurkar, Resmi Sateesh

2 O Aashiqa (99 Songs) – A R Rahman|Navneet Virk|Shashwat Singh

3 Lamha (Pagglait) – Arijit Singh|Neelesh Misra|Arijit Singh, Antara Mitra

4 Param Sundari (Mimi) – A R Rahman|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Shreya Ghoshal

5 Ek Adhoora Kaam (Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi) – Sagar Desai|Neeraj Pandey|Arnab Chakraborty, Ninad Kamat

6 Tumhein Mohabbat (Atrangi Re) – A R Rahman|Irshad Kamil|Arijit Singh

7 Chori Chori (Grahan) – Amit Trivedi|Varun Grover|Rupali Moghe, Abhijeet Srivastava

8 Tu Toh Gaya Re (Bob Biswas) – Vishal-Shekhar|Vishal Dadlani|Bianca Gomes

9 Kiston (Roohi) – Sachin-Jigar|Amitabh Bhattacharya|Jubin Nautiyal

10 Ishq Fitoori (Bhavai) – Shabbir Ahmed|Shabbir Ahmed|Mohit Chauhan

11 Mann Kesar Kesar (Meenakshi Sundareshwar) – Justin Prabhakaran|Raj Shekhar|Shashwat Singh, Aanandi Joshi

12 Pagal (Pagglait) – Arijit Singh|Neelesh Misra|Raja Kumari, Amrita Singh, Arijit Singh

13 Gori Godh Bhari (99 Songs) – A R Rahman|Navneet Virk|Anuradha Sriram, Alka Yagnik, Shweta Mohan

14 Gustakh Mausam (Nail Polish) – Ronit Chaterji|Sudeep Naik|Vibha Saraf, Ronit Chaterji

15 Tere Rang (Atrangi Re) – A R Rahman|Irshad Kamil|Haricharan, Shreya Ghoshal

16 Yeh Hausle (83) – Pritam|Kausar Munir|KK

17 Hai Tu (14 Phere) – Raajeev V. Bhalla|Geet Sagar|Raajeev V. Bhalla, Himani Kapoor, Sarvpreet Singh

18 Kalle Kalle (Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui) – Sachin-Jigar|Priya Saraiya|Priya Saraiya

19 O Jogiya (Grahan) – Amit Trivedi|Varun Grover|Asees Kaur, Shahid Mallya

20 Dheeme Dheeme (Haathi Mere Saathi) – Shantanu Moitra|Swanand Kirkire|Adriz Ghosh

21 Bulawa Aaya Re (Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi) – Sagar Desai|Neeraj Pandey|K. Mohan, Abhigyan Dasgupta, Sagar Desai

22 Sang Rehna (Ajeeb Daastaans – Geeli Puchchi) – Alokananda Dasgupta|Varun Grover|Ronkini Gupta

23 Shine On Me (Skater Girl) – Salim-Sulaiman|Salim-Sulaiman, Nishu Sharma, Dhiren Garg|Mohd. Fazil, Raja Kumari, Salim-Sulaiman

24 Chal Wahin Chalein (Saina) – Amaal Mallik|Manoj Muntashir|Shreya Ghoshal

25 Nazdeekiyaan (Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele) – Oni-Adil|Saurabh Negi|Parul Mishra

Honorary Mentions

26 Humnawaa (99 Songs) – A R Rahman|Dilshad Shabbir Shaikh, Abhay Jodhpurkar|Armaan Malik, Shashaa Tirupati

27 Tittar Bittar (Meenakshi Sundareshwar) – Justin Prabhakaran|Raj Shekhar|Romy, Goldie Sohel, Prince Bhatra, Mohana Bhogaraju, Hemambiga, Swati Sharma, Chitralekha Sen, Yajat Garg

28 Ananya (Toofaan) – Shankar Ehsaan Loy|Javed Akhtar|Arijit Singh

29 Mujhe Mujhse Kaun Bachayega (Bob Biswas) – Anupam Roy|Siddhant Kaushal|KK

30 Thode Kam Ajnabi (Pagglait) – Arijit Singh|Neelesh Misra|Himani Kapoor, Arijit Singh

Malayalam

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

Compared to recent years, Malayalam music had a less fruitful 2021, with a lot of the standout tracks coming out in the final quarter, including Shaan Rahman and Sushin Shyam’s work for the current Malayalam sensation, Minnal Murali, which to me is the Malayalam soundtrack of the year. Both composers had a good run this year in general, Sushin in particular producing some good songs in Malik and Kurup. The composers who were the busiest this year were Neha Nair and Yakzan Gary Pereira, composing for as many as five movies (eventhough it was three or less songs in each of them). Another Justin who is fast growing in stature, Justin Varghese (two singles out from his next movie Super Sharanya are already looking like strong contenders for my next yearender!), also had a great year, although his best work of the year came in the background score for Joji (which I will obviously be featuring in the OST list). And it gives me a lot of joy to be able to finally feature songs from Prashant Pillai’s Saajan Bakery Since 1962 (which would have been my top soundtrack of the year had Minnal Murali not happened), and Ramesh Narayan’s Kolaambi whose release has been stalled for over two years now (I am still not sure if all the songs from the movie are out, I might have to cheat and include one next year if something compelling releases late).

1 Kaanaa Dooram (Saajan Bakery Since 1962) – Prashant Pillai|Anu Elizabeth Jose|Preeti Pillai

2 Aarodum Parayuka Vayya (Kolaambi) – Ramesh Narayan|Prabha Varma|Madhushree Narayan

3 Uyire (Minnal Murali) – Shaan Rahman|Manu Manjith|Narayani Gopan, Mithun Jayaraj

4 Chiramabhayamee (Aarkkariyaam) – Yakzan Gary Pereira-Neha S Nair|Anwar Ali|Madhuvanthi Narayan

5 Theerame (Malik) – Sushin Shyam|Anwar Ali|K S Chithra, Sooraj Santhosh

6 Payyaram (Thinkalaazhcha Nishchayam) – Mujeeb Majeed|Nidheesh Naderi|Anne Amie, Harishankar KS

7 Akashamayavale (Vellam) – Bijibal|Nidheesh Naderi|Shahabaz Aman

8 Appalaale (Nayattu) – Vishnu Vijay|Anwar Ali|Madhuvanthi Narayan

9 Gaaname (Madhuram) – Hesham Abdul Wahab|Vinayak Sasikumar|Sooraj Santhosh, Nithya Mammen

10 Thee Minnal (Minnal Murali) – Sushin Shyam|Manu Manjith|Marthyan, Sushin Shyam

11 Thoraamazhayilum (Saajan Bakery Since 1962) – Prashant Pillai|Anu Elizabeth Jose|Vineeth Sreenivasan,Preeti Pillai

12 Pakalukal (Santhoshathinte Onnaam Rahasyam) – Basil C J|Sherin Catherine|Sithara Krishnakumar

13 Hijabi (Meow) – Justin Varghese|Suhail Koya|Adheef Muhammad

14 Bheemante Vazhippaattu (Bheemante Vazhi) – Vishnu Vijay|Muhsin Parari|Haricharan

15 Ollulleru (Ajagajantharam) – Traditional Dance song of Mavila Community, arranged by Justin Varghese|Praseetha Chalakudy

16 Enkilumen (Krishnankutty Pani Thudangi) – Anand Madhusoodanan|B K Harinarayanan|P Jayachandran, Sithara Krishnakumar

17 Kanne Uyirin (The Priest) – Rahul Raj|B K Harinarayan|Narayani Gopan

18 Oru Theera Novu (Mohan Kumar Fans) – Prince George|Jis Joy|K.S.Chithra, Abhijith Kollam

19 Kannil Ente (Marakkar Lion of the Arabian Sea) – Ronnie Raphael|B K Harinarayanan|Zia Ul Haq, Vineeth Sreenivasa, Shweta Mohan

20 Mankoodil (Kuruthi) – Jakes Bejoy|Rafeeq Ahammed|Keshav Vinod

21 Kamini (Anugraheethan Antony) – Arun Muraleedharan|Manu Manjith|Harishankar KS

22 Neeyum Njaanum (Sumesh & Ramesh) – Yakzan Gary Pereira-Neha S Nair|Vinayak Sasikumar|Sangeeth, Neha S Nair

23 Oru Kudam (The Great Indian Kitchen) – Mathews Pulickan|Mrudula Devi S|Haritha Balakrishnan, Sulekha Kapadan

24 Kaarmekham Moodunnu (Kaaval) – Ranjin Raj|B K Harinarayanan|Santhosh

25 Ila Peythu (Ellaam Sheriyaakum) – Ouseppachan|B K Harinarayanan|Sithara Krishnakumar

Honorary Mentions

26 Aayiram Thaara Deepangal (Star) – Ranjin Raj|B K Harinarayanan|Mridula Warrier

27 Kaattin Saadhakame (Backpackers) – Sachin Shankor Mannath|Jayaraj|Haricharan, Archana Vijayan

28 Ravil (Minnal Murali) – Sushin Shyam|Manu Manjith|Pradeep Kumar

29 Kaalam Varum Nin (Kho Kho) – Sidhartha Pradeep|Arjun Ranjan|Bindu Anirudhan

30 Mukilu Thodanaayi (Home) – Rahul Subrahmanian|Arun Alat|Madhu Balakrishnan

Tamil

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

Like Arijit Singh up North, Pradeep Kumar had a great year in Tamil, both as composer and singer. His soundtrack for Vaazhl was pretty much on similarly experimental lines as the director’s first movie Aruvi. Tamil music in general had a splendid 2021 with a fine mix of mainstream and offbeat music – Anirudh, Vishal Chandrashekhar, Ghibran, Santhosh Narayanan, Sean Roldan, Govind Vasantha, Thaman etc being some of the expected names on the list, while some of the surprise entries were Judah Paul (Kadaseela Biriyani), Revaa (Mughizh), Sundaramurthy KS (Navarasa) and Simon K King (Kabadadaari).

1 Lazy Song (Oh Manapenne) – Vishal Chandrashekhar|Vishal Chandrashekhar, Mohan Rajan, Lady Kash|Sinduri, Lady Kash

2 Vaathi Raid (Master) – Anirudh Ravichander|Arivu|Arivu, Anirudh Ravichander

3 Theeraanadhi (Maara) – Ghibran|Thamarai|Padmalatha

4 Thala Kodhum (Jai Bhim) – Sean Roldan|Rajumurugan|Pradeep Kumar

5 Kaanal Neerai (Writer) – Govind Vasantha|Muthuvel|Pradeep Kumar

6 Tum Tum (Enemy) – Thaman S|Vivek|Sri Vardhini, Aditi, Satya Yamini, Roshini & Tejaswini

7 Aaraariro (Kadaseela Biriyani) – Judah Paul|Uma Devi|Alphons Joseph

8 Manjanathi Puranam (Karnan) – Santhosh Narayanan|Yugabharathi|Deva, Reetha Anthony

9 Chellamma (Doctor) – Anirudh Ravichander|Sivakarthikeyan|Anirudh Ravichander, Jonita Gandhi

10 En Iniya Thanimaye (Teddy) – D Imman|Madhan Karky|Sid Sriram

11 Naan (Vaazhl) – Pradeep Kumar|Pradeep Kumar|Pradeep Kumar

12 Oh Manapenne (Oh Manapenne) – Vishal Chandrashekhar|Mohan Rajan|Sinduri

13 Vaathi Coming (Master) – Anirudh Ravichander|Gana Balachandar|Anirudh Ravichander, Gana Balachandar

14 Idhuvum Kadandhu (Netrikann) – Girishh Gopalakrishnan|Karthik Netha|Sid Sriram

15 Karichaan Kuyile (Sarbath) – Ajesh|Muthamil|Ajesh

16 Unthan Kangalil (Thalaivii) – G V Prakash Kumar|Madhan Karky|Nakul Abhyankar, Niranjana Ramanan

17 Oru Arai Unadhu (Maara) – Ghibran|Thamarai|Yazin Nizar, Sanah Moidutty

18 The Bleeding Heart/Osara Parandhu Vaa (Navarasa) – Sundaramurthy KS|Soundararajan|Vrusha Balu

19 Kaatrile Mudhal Isai (Vanam) – Ron Ethan Yohann|S. Gnanakaravel|Ron Ethan Yohann, Shweta Mohan

20 Kanavil Kan Malarum (Kabadadaari) – Simon K King|Ku. Karthik|Pradeep Kumar

21 Neeye Oli (Sarpatta Parambarai) – Santhosh Narayanan|Shan Vincent de Paul, Arivu|Shan Vincent de Paul, Navz-47, Santhosh Narayanan

22 Un Kannanguzhiyil (Thittam Irandu) – Satish Raghunathan|Mohan Rajan|Karthika Vaidyanathan

23 Saara Kaatrae (Annaatthe) – D Imman|Yugabharathi|Shreya Ghoshal, Sid Sriram

24 Bujji (Jagame Thanthiram) – Santhosh Narayanan|Vivek|Anirudh Ravichander, Santhosh Narayanan

25 Oyaadha Alai Poley (Mughizh) – Revaa|Balaji Tharaneetharan|Pradeep Kumar, Revaa

Honorary Mentions

26 Sendumalli (Jai Bhim) – Sean Roldan|Yugabharathi|Ananthu, Kalyani Nair

27 Nellu Vaasam (Vellaiyaanai) – Santhosh Narayanan|Rajumurugan|Santhosh Narayanan, Shreenitha, Dharshan B M, Sidharth D Sekar, Idhazhiga I

28 Yaadho (Navarasa) – Govind Vasantha|Madhan Karky|Chinmayi Sripaada

29 Bodhai Kaname (Oh Manapenne) – Vishal Chandrashekhar|Vivek|Anirudh Ravichander, Shashaa Tirupati

30 Vaanil Pogum Megham (Annabelle Sethupathy) – Krishna Kishor|Uma Devi|Armaan Malik, Chinmayi Sripaada

Indian Indie/Pop

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

The list obviously had to begin with Enjoy Enjaami! The usual caveat about this only being a reflection of the music I managed to catch over the year still applies, so apologies for missing out any obvious entry in here. I have tried to strike a balance across languages..and instrumentals.

1 Enjoy Enjaami – Santhosh Narayanan, Arivu, Dhee

2 This Will Be My Year (Hindsight is 2020) – Blackstratblues

3 Dear Madeleine (The Book of I) – Dhruv Visvanath

4 Rang – Sheykhar

5 Shakti – Aditi Ramesh

6 Absolute (Caution to the Wind) – Mali

7 Harinamakeerthanam (Gypsy Sun) – Sooraj Santhosh

8 Angana Morey – Soumyadeep Ghoshal, Shreya Ghoshal

9 Inside Out – Thermal and a Quarter

10 Hues (Abhay Nayampally) – Abhay Nayampally feat. Seb Read & Sandeep Chowta

11 Banjar – Santanu Ghatak, Shaurya Singh

12 Kaisi Ho? – Amartya Bobo Rahut

13 Roz Roz – Yellow Diary feat. Shilpa Rao

14 Kitni Aasaani Se – Nihira Joshi

15 Thonnal – Govind Vasantha, Haniya Nafisa

16 Smrithiyude Thaazhvaaram – Afzal Yusuff, Anne Amie

17 Tharuni – Sithara Krishnakumar, Mithun Jayaraj

18 Ajnabi (Songs of Love) – Amit Trivedi

19 When We Feel Young (When We Feel Young) – When Chai Met Toast

20 Minnaminniye – Sudeep Palanad, Indulekha Warrier

21 The Khamaj Connection – Mahesh Raghvan, Nandini Shankar

22 Naale – Everafter

23 Moodswings – Jatayu, Akshay Ganesh

24 Kaadu (Salim Sulaiman’s Bhoomi 2021) – Ricky Kej and Arivu feat. Charan Raj, Rasika Shekar, Darshan Doshi

25 Jugnu – Badshah, Nikhita Gandhi

26 Kanaa – NUCLEYA, 2jaym, Sublahshini

27 Thalavara – Skinny Local x ThirumaLi

28 Yakeen Hai (Ukustic Tales) – Vasuda Sharma

29 Makin’ My Move – Easy Wanderlings

30 Ovotaar – aswekeepsearching ft. Shankuraj Konwar

Instrumental Themes

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

My new section for the round-up, as I mentioned earlier – a collection of instrumental pieces I loved from the year.

1 Main Theme (Joji) – Justin Varghese

2 The Oracle (99 Songs) – A R Rahman

3 Title Track (Ajeeb Daastaans) – Shailendra Barve

4 Title Track (Navarasa) – A R Rahman

5 First Kiss (Meenakshi Sundareshwar) – Justin Prabhakaran

6 Time To Meet My Friend (Sardar Udham) – Shantanu Moitra

7 Every Time When I Realise (Pagglait) – Arijit Singh

8 Karnan Theme (Karnan) – Santhosh Narayanan

9 Vaazhl Theme (Vaazhl) – Pradeep Kumar

10 Maara and Paaru (Maara) – Ghibran

11 Malik (Malik) – Sushin Shyam

12 Theme of Kunjali (Marakkar Lion of the Arabian Sea) – Rahul Raj

13 World Record 175* (83) – Pritam

14 Designs are Movements of Life (Pagglait) – Arijit Singh

15 Search of Soul (Maara) – Ghibran

Other Language Films

Playlist on: Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube

While this section usually contains more languages, this year the list is limited to Telugu and Kannada songs, as I did not actively track any of the other industries I usually do. No ranking here – just a listing of songs starting with Telugu, and movies with more than one song first in each case. Although Devi Sri Prasad’s work in Pushpa didn’t impress as per the hype, he did have a terrific year otherwise, as did Gopi Sunder, Vivek Sagar and the like. Ilaiyaraja’s only Telugu movie of the year, Gamanam, had a great song as well. In Kannada, Ajaneesh Lokanath, Charan Raj, Midhun Mukundan, Judah Sandhy and Vasuki Vaibhav were the top performers – I continue to hope that Midhun Mukundan composes in Malayalam at some point, absolutely loved his work in Garuda Gamana Vrishaba Vaahana!

1 Naa Kanulu Yepudu (Rang De – Telugu) – Devi Sri Prasad|Shreemani|Sid Sriram

2 Rangule (Rang De – Telugu) – Devi Sri Prasad|Shreemani|Shweta Mohan

3 Manasulone Nilichipoke (Varudu Kaavalenu – Telugu) – Vishal Chandrashekhar|Sirivennela Sitarama Sastry|Chinmayi Sripaada

4 Vaddaanam (Varudu Kaavalenu – Telugu) – Thaman S|Raghuram|Geetha Madhuri,ML Gayathri,Aditi Bhavaraju,Sruthi Ranjani & Sri Krishna

5 Guche Gulabi (Most Eligible Bachelor – Telugu) – Gopi Sunder|Ananta Sriram, Shreemani|Armaan Malik

6 Leherayi (Most Eligible Bachelor – Telugu) – Gopi Sunder|Shreemani|Sid Sriram

7 Maaya Maaya (Raja Raja Chora – Telugu) – Vivek Sagar|Sanapathi Bharadwaj Pathrudu|Anurag Kulkarni

8 Nijam Idhe Kadha (Raja Raja Chora – Telugu) – Vivek Sagar|Krishnakanth|Sid Sriram

9 Entha Entha Choosina (Gamanam – Telugu) – Ilaiyaraja|Krishnakanth|Jithin Raj, Vibhavari

10 Chetteki (Kondapolam – Telugu) – M M Keeravani|Chandrabose|Kaala Bhairava, Shreya Ghoshal

11 Pranavalaya (Shyam Singha Roy – Telugu) – Mickey J Meyer|Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry|Anurag Kulkarni

12 Jala Jala Jalapaatham (Uppena – Telugu) – Devi Sri Prasad|Shreemani|Jaspreet Jasz, Shreya Ghoshal

13 Ra Ra Linga (Skylab – Telugu) – Prashanth R Vihari|Sanapati Bharadwaj Patrudu|Sean Roldan

14 Srivalli (Pushpa: The Rise – Telugu) – Devi Sri Prasad|Chandrabose|Sid Sriram

15 Maguva Maguva (Vakeel Saab – Telugu) – Thaman S|Ramajogayya Sastry|Sid Sriram

16 Ala Ila (Stand Up Rahul – Telugu) – Sweekar Agasthi|Anantha Sriram|Satya Yamini, Sweekar Agasthi

17 Saranga Dariya (Love Story – Telugu) – Pawan CH|Suddala Ashok Teja|Mangli

18 Cheppake Cheppake (Maha Samudram – Telugu) – Chaitan Bharadwaj|Chaitanya Prasad|Deepthi Parthasarathy

19 Salaga (Salaga – Kannada) – Charan Raj|Nagarjun Sharma|Yogi B, Sharath, Charanraj, Sanjith Hegde

20 Maleye Maleye (Salaga – Kannada) – Charan Raj|Nagarjun Sharma|Sanjith Hegde, Aishwarya Rangarajan

21 Endo Bareda (Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana – Kannada) – Midhun Mukundan|Pavan Bhat|Vasuki Vaibhav

22 Demon In Me (Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana – Kannada) – Midhun Mukundan|Manek D’Silva|Anjali Sankaran, Rakshitha Rao

23 Premakke Kannilla (Sakath – Kannada) – Judah Sandhy|Jayanth Kaikini|Pancham Jeeva, Shreya Iyer

24 Shuruvaagide (Sakath – Kannada) – Judah Sandhy|Arjun Luis|Sid Sriram

25 Nenapina Hudugiye (Hero – Kannada) – B Ajaneesh Loknath|Yogaraj Bhat|Vijay Prakash

26 Alemaariye (Rathnan Prapancha – Kannada) – B Ajaneesh Loknath|Rohit Padaki|Sanjith Hegde, B Ajaneesh Loknath

27 Pataki Poriyo (Kotigobba 3 – Kannada) – Arjun Janya|Anup Bhandari (ABCD)|Vijay Prakash, Anuradha Bhat

28 Neenaade Naa (Yuvarathnaa – Kannada) – Thaman S|Ghouse Peer|Armaan Malik, Shreya Ghoshal, Thaman S

29 Aagaga Nenapaguthale (Badava Rascal – Kannada) – Vasuki Vaibhav|Daali Dhananjay|Vasuki Vaibhav

30 Choose Me (Ikkat – Kannada) – Dossmode|Sujith Venkataramaiah|Vasuki Vaibhav

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