Originally published in The Hindu.

Hemanthamen – Kohinoor (Malayalam – Rahul Raj)
Hemanthamen (it is not about a Malayalee named Hemanth, incidentally) is what you get when a composer re-imagines a quintessentially 80s Malayalam filmy melody (the film is set in the 80s) in present times, with the trappings of a more modern sound to accentuate the retro feel. So you do have a wonderfully indulgent and soft melody, beautifully sung by Vijay Yedusas, almost like he’s standing in for the 80s version of his father. What Rahul Raj does in the background is even more interesting – the primary sound is waltz’ish, but it also has a generous dose of sweeping violins and flute that brings back the nostalgia to the fore.

Naina tose lage – Meeruthiya Gangsters (Hindi – Siddhant Madhav)
There used to be an implied understanding in 80s and early 90s Hindi film music that a song sung by certain singers will conform to a specific kind of music and offer markedly better value to listeners. Ghazal singers like Jagjit Singh and Pankaj Udhas topped this list. In current times, it is Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and he seems to be a lot more choosy with his songs, possibly because of the pain of getting a visa to sing in India, besides other organic reasons. Naina tose lage fits into the template perfectly – it is the only song in this film’s soundtrack that is even worth a mention; it is an eminently listenable melody and joins the list of above-average quasi-sufi songs.

Aathi adi aathi – Beedi (Tamil – Ganesh Raghavendra)
Aathi adi aathi is the kind of inoffensive melody that just escapes being generic. For one, it is incredibly pleasant, thanks largely to Saindhavi’s vocals, even as the male singer—Sunandhan—seems to be taking his job as seriously as someone in an interview for the first time – in other words, trying too hard. Ganesh Raghavendra has been composing for quite some time, but with this song, he seems to be heading somewhere.

Neetho aithe – Kundanapu Bomma (Telugu – M.M.Keeravani)
Neetho aithe is every bit a Keeravani song. It features his favorite singer, Ramya Behara (besides Kaala Bhairava and PVSN Rohith) and alternates between interesting sounds as if following his template to the tee. At its core, it is a lovely melody, that starts with an almost-whispery Ramya reciting verses before opening the song with the catchy Neetho aithe hook. The song also gains from uniquely endearing interludes and pallavi-anupallavi bridges.

Journey of truth – Album: Silence Is Bliss (Naveen Kumar)
Silence Is Bliss is the 4th album by the talented flautist (and composer) Naveen Kumar, a long-time A.R.Rahman associate. Like his earlier albums (Fluid, Cafe Fluid and Fluteronics), he collaborates with quite a few musicians (like Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Sivamani, Shillong Chamber Choir etc.). The standout song is the one featuring the mighty underrated Stephen Devassy (who has also arranged and programmed the album for Naveen) on acoustic piano. For almost 2:30 minutes, Journey of truth is Stephen Devassy’s show on acoustic piano. Naveen joins in with his flute and expands on a Shanmukapriya-based tune, bringing the raaga’s nuances beautifully towards the end.
Listen to the song on Saavn.

In Padiyirangunnu, Bijibal makes the phenomenally appropriate decision to rope in Hariharan to sing the incredibly soulful melody that seems most probably like Chakravaham raaga. The result is sheer magic! The title song has a strong whiff of the Middle Eastern, and Shahabaz Aman’s involved vocals has a lot of feeling, as does the title chorus. Ithu paro swargamo has that Arabic twang too, along with generous Latino, but is a lot more cheerful and obviously-exotic. The tune is interestingly unconventional and Jyotsna Radhakrishnan is absolutely fabulous in her singing. Bijibal strikes again, with a highly tuneful and likeable soundtrack.

Keywords: Pathemari, Bijibal

Listen to the songs on Saavn.

The title song is pulsating enough, thanks mostly to Karthik’s earnest rendition. Ditto with Prema ane picchi, where singer Narendra makes a huge difference with his fantastic, cool vocals, backed well by Devi with a punchy rhythm. And despite the familiar sound, Devi’s rhythm in I Love You Too is mighty catchy too, supported by Yazin Nizar’s singing. Andamaine lokam tops the soundtrack with its jazz’y melody that Devi handles really well with the piano-horns combo! Devi runs out of luck in Gunde aagi pothaande, a jaded, check-every-cliche folk-masala ditty. Shivam is the best of Devi, so far, this year.

Keywords: Devi Sri Prasad, Shivam

Listen to the songs

Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab is the soul of Insaaf. She brings her best known trait—breathy vocals that rocked her cover versions of Pakistan’s and the sub-continent’s iconic classics—to add stupendous value to Vishal’s minimal sound. Vishal does an encore with Shaam ke saaye, using Arijit’s voice to create sheer magic in an almost-Pancham tune with exotic lounge’ish music that ends spell-bindingly in the last minute! Patli gali and Zinda are the opposite – Sukhwinder and Rekha Bhardwaj get songs that they’re pigeon-holed at, and beyond the lyrics, they are less interesting. 2 out of 4 again for Vishal, like Drishyam.

Keywords: Vishal Bhardwaj, Talwar, Talvar

Listen to the songs on Saavn.

Jayachandran delivers a spritely Kannondu chollanu that owes a lot to Shreya Ghoshal’s enchanting vocals. Shreya aces Kaathirunnu too, a blissful melody that Jayachandran orchestrates oh-so-beautifully. He sings Iruvanji puzhapenne himself and adds terrific value to the melody’s folk lilt that sounds Rahman’ish in its sound! Ramesh Narayan gets Ee mazhathan‘s expansive tune wonderfully right, along with its ambient music. Ramesh’s daughter Madhushree is the soul of the engrossing Priyamullavane that Ramesh adorns with his piano. Sharadambaram tries a bit too obviously to create retro-style and ends up sounding like a parody. Highly melodious offering from Jayachandran and Ramesh Narayan.

Keywords: Ennu Ninte Moideen, Ramesh Narayan, M.Jayachandran

Listen to the soundtrack:

The title song is a wonderfully pleasant combination of Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt’s Mohan Veena and Naveen’s Naveen Flute. The soothing melody is ably supported by Sivamani’s drums and Ojas Adhiya’s tabla, and the four converge their craft for a heady finale! For almost 2:30 minutes, Journey of truth is Stephen Devassy’s show on acoustic piano. Naveen joins in with his flute and expands on a Shanmukapriya-based tune, bringing the raaga’s nuances beautifully towards the end. Naveen blends his flute version of A R Rahman’s Netru illaadha with Devassy’s piano and Shillong Chamber Choir to add an enjoyable new dimension. In Like a prayer, a Kitaro’ish reimagination of Vladimir Vavilov’s aria Ave Maria, Naveen’s flute is splendidly supported by Sivamani and Taku Hirano’s percussions. Song of praise‘s prayer-like sound is brought alive with Ojas’s soft tabla and Naveen’s flute. Shillong Chamber Choir’s Ibarisha Lyngdoh leads Naveen’s version of Vincenzo Bellini’s arietta, Vaga luna impeccably well, even as Naveen and Taku Hirano join her in flute and percussions, respectively, turning it into lively celtic folk. Shillong Harvest, led by Rimi Nique, blends North Eastern folk music in a captivating package, topped by Sivamani’s percussion. Four-in-a-row for the talented flautist and composer!

Keywords: Silence Is Bliss, Naveen Kumar, Flute Naveen, 200, #200

Listen to the album on Saavn.

Reviews of earlier albums by Naveen:
Fluid – Flute Grooves (2006) | Cafe Fluid (2010) | Fluteronics (2013)

Originally published in The Hindu.

Mayako – Asurakulam (Tamil – C.Sathya)
C.Sathya has proven himself to be a pretty nifty and functional composer so far, though a ‘big’ film still seems to be eluding him. Yet another not-so-big film that he’s part of is Asurakulam, and he produces a crackling acid jazz’ish Mayako (Mayakkam, actually), delivered fabulously by Alphonse.

Nenape nithya mallige – Kendasampige (Kannada – V.Harikrishna)
After Vidyasagar (primarily in Malayalam) and D.Imman (in Tamil), Kannada composer V.Harikrishna is the other current-day composer who seems to have truly imbibed the ‘Ilayaraja-sound’, in that while he adds something on his own, the soul seems to be that of the quintessential Raja melody. Nenape nithya mallige is a fantastic example of this. When the second interlude plays, you’d automatically go, ‘Is this by Ilayaraja?’. And yes, Karthik does a brilliant job of handling the soulful tune.

Saturday night gave me a Sunday morning – Burning Bridges (Jon Bon Jovi)
This is supposedly a ‘fan’ album – as if every other album is not meant for fans! Much has been said about Bon Jovi’s split from their music label Mercury (Burning Bridges, the title, is symbolic of that, it is believed!) and the fact that this is the first album without guitarist Richie Sambora! Oddly enough, Richie is credited with co-writing the best song of the album, Saturday Night Gave Me A Sunday Morning, a neat companion piece of sorts with one of Bon Jovi’s biggest hits, Someday I’ll Be A Saturday Night (1994).

Sur niraagas ho – Katyar Kaljat Ghusali (Marathi – Shankar Ehsaan Loy)
Shankar Ehsaan Loy produce a wonderfully nuanced and enthralling bhajan of sorts that gains incredibly from two things – Shankar Mahadevan’s spell-binding vocals (he also plays a role in the film, looking completely in-sync with the proceedings, complete with a Maharashtrian Pheta!) and visuals that bring back memories of a more pious, simpler times. The background music treats the bhajan with the right dose of austerity, but takes some liberties in making it broadly enjoyable too – the ‘Morya Morya’ break-out, in particular, is a goosebumps-inducing moment, as is the brief moment when the little girl sings Shankar’s ‘Adhipati Sukhapati…’ line almost instinctively.

Stolen Car – Sting, featuring Mylene Farmer
Stolen Car was part of Sting’s 2003 album, Sacred Love. The song, which started its life as a Radio Version (was called ‘Stolen Car – Take Me Dancing’), a pop-Middle Eastern mix, later had a Studio (original) version too, that spruced up and got the Middle Eastern exotica right, by also heavily referring to Sting’s own Fragile, in an unusual set-up. The new version featuring French superstar Mylene Farmer (the song will reportedly be featured on the Farmer’s upcoming album Nébuleuses), amps up the world music’ness of the song significantly, adding French to the mix, and sounds better than ever.
Listen to the song online.

Anjezhuthilum plays like a carefully designed prayer song, with Kiruthiya’s lyrics and Haricharan’s deliberately pronounced pitch-perfect singing adding to the piety, before ending in a frenzy. The hip-hop’ish theme song merely passes muster. Gowri Lakshmi rules over Anbane anbane, structured like a classic R&B/Soul tune, while Yedharkku penne seems to use a pretty decent combo of pop and gospel! Polladhava is standard-issue city kuthu that Sathya usually does well, and Oru vetha is too short a pathos to make an impact. The soundtrack’s highlight is Mayako, a funky acid jazz’ish package led by Alphonse’s vocals. More interesting music from Sathya.

Keywords: C.Sathya, Asurakulam

Listen to the songs:

Originally published in The Hindu.

Rockstar – Ali Zafar (Coke Studio Season 8, Episode 2)
Beyond putting good looks to good use in Bollywood as a questionable second lead, it’s good to see Ali Zafar keeping in touch with his musical past, returning to Coke Studio after 6 years. For Rockstar, he turns Nickelback’s famous song of the same title, on its head – into a fantastic parody. Singing in an impressive falsetto, Ali goes, ‘I’m a superstar, mujhe roz hota hai pyaar’. Elsewhere he sings, ‘My name is AZ, sweet baby… baby you’re the one… but allowed toh hain naa chaar’, echoing Nickelback’s ‘The girls come easy (and the drugs come cheap)’. Ali pulls of this madness in impressive style, with a flashy Broadway style tune to boot.

Kinna sona – Bhaag Johnny (Hindi – Mithoon)
Long before Mithoon settled into his disappointing, droning current sound, he composed pure gems like ‘Maula mere’ (Anwar, 2007). He had nailed the pop-Sufi sound so well back then. So, it’s heartening to see him bring that back with Kinna sona, in Bhaag Johnny. Sung beautifully by Sunil Kamath, though with predictably cringe-worthy lyrics by Amitabh Verma, the tune and Mithoon’s music is incredibly engaging, with little nifty touches like the sax that plays after ‘Kinna sona tu sona to haan’.

Maya O Maya – Courier Boy Kalyan (Telugu – Karthik)
Maya O Maya is composer (and singer, of course) Karthik’s way of giving us what is a textbook template of an instantly likeable uptempo pop song. It checks every single box in the feel-good pop genre – catchy, persistent rhythm, flowing horns, an addictive ‘Aiyo aiyo Rama’ hook and of course, Karthik’s endearing vocals. All this… including a cool mandolin’ish second interlude!

Ove janiya – Katti Batti (Hindi – Shankar Ehsaan Loy)
Mohan Kannan, of the band Agnee, breathes life into this immersive song that can best be described as Punjabi-Soul. Composers Shankar Ehsaan Loy let the tune’s inherent beauty permeate by keeping the orchestration wonderfully restrained and appropriate using keyboard and a mild percussion to great effect. Lyricist Kumaar too helps the process with his easy Hindi-Punjabi mix.

Title song – Subramanyam For Sale (Telugu – Mickey J Meyer)
Subramanyam For Sale, the entire soundtrack, is decidedly Mickey out of his comfort zone and playing to the gallery in style, including a remake of Raj-Koti’s evergreen Khaidi No.786 number, Guvva Gorinka. The highlight of the soundtrack is however the flamboyant title song that uses a punchy 80s pop sound, complete with a percussion-only second interlude that reminds one of the 80s dance battles between the hero and the villain! The song gains immensely from Rahul Nambiar’s full-throated singing, incidentally.

Mele mele, beautifully sung by Shreya Ghoshal, has an ethereal feel. Anil gives the soft melody a great build-up, retaining the feathery sound for the anupallavi, with suddenly interefering violins, and a more pop’ish sound for the charanam (that Najim Arshad partly takes over in the duet version). Ketoo njan too holds a similar light outlook, but is less engaging, with Sangeetha Prabhu doing the honors this time. Kaalame, featuring Vijay Yesudas, sees Anil work darn well with the orchestration, building intrigue in an otherwise background’ish tune. Minimal and functional soundtrack, in true Jeethu Joseph – Anil Johnson combination’s style.

Keywords: Jeethu Joseph, Anil Johnson, Life of Josutty

Listen to the songs on Saavn.