Milliblog Weeklies, Week 275 – May 25, 2025 – Milliblog!

Milliblog Weeklies – India’s only multilingual, weekly, new music playlist.
Week 275: YouTube | Spotify

Back after 3 weeks owing to a lot of travel! And it’s a bumper Weeklies with two impressive soundtracks and a lot more!

Sugar Baby, Muththa Mazhai, Vinveli Nayaga, Anju Vanna Poove, O Maara, Engeyo, and Let’s Play – Thug Life (A R Rahman) – Tamil: Even though Sugar Baby seems simplistic, the song gets progressively better (not the ‘Sugar Baby’ hook, though) when the music breaks out after the Sugar Baby hook! Alexandra Joy (along with Shuba and Sarath Santosh) is in superb form handling the sensuous rendition, while the backgrounds by Rahman are mesmerizing enough to stay in your mind long after the song. Muththa Mazhai is going to be so obviously linked to Rangeela’s Hai Rama (‘Tauba Meri Tauba’), but if you look past the opening, this is a cracker of a song that also harks back to Bombay’s KaNNaalane! Rahman navigates the two soundscapes beautifully, aided by Dhee’s powerful vocals. But there’s a surprise third carnatic’ish classical soundscape too, starting with ‘O Paalai Nilathinil’, with the voice (chorus?) uncredited – a surprise for a Rahman soundtrack!

ViNveli Naayagaa has a powerful call-out and a throbbing background that keeps it consistently enjoyable all through. I suppose the lyrics (Karthik Netha) are constructed to evoke ‘Nayakan’. This is perhaps the best song by Shruti Haasan in recent times. Anju Vanna Poove is a blast from Rahman’s Indira past! Charulatha Mani’s singing makes a huge difference to the tune while the children’s chorus adds terrific value too. The Rahman-sung Reprise offers a somber callback to the same tune. O Maara’s rhythm changes and the pulsating sound help Paal Dabba deliver a highly listenable song. Engeyo, brilliantly sung by Rakshita Suresh, seems like a very clever hat-tip to Mani-Rahman’s Iruvar, with the obviously retro sound evocative of that outstanding soundtrack. Let’s Play, by Shiv Vaishnav aka thoughtsfornow (who had earlier sung Rahman’s Cobra song Adheera and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam’s Hayati) offers a short, catchy hip-hop number.

I had written about the first single from the album, Jinguchaa, earlier.

Two things are evident: One, there’s absolutely no comparison with this album and Ilayaraja’s iconic music for Nayakan. The periods are completely different, and the audience needs too are totally different. Two, after massively disappointing music in Mani’s recent films with Rahman (O Kadhal Kanmani, Chekka Chivantha Vaanam), the duo did comeback stupendously—and thankfully—with Ponniyin Selvan. They don’t go back on that promise and build on that impressively with Thug Life’s soundtrack.

Diya Diya – Bun Butter Jam (Nivas K Prasanna) – Tamil: An absolutely gorgeous melody by Nivas, handled exceptionally by Sid Sriram. The song’s flow seemed like Karaharapriya raaga at places, though it moves in multiple directions with the ‘Diya Diya’ call out (sung by Nivas K Prasanna), I guess. The charm of the tune extends to the beautifully mounted anupallavi too, layered with Ananthakrishnan’s violin and Navin Iyer’s flute.

Punnagaiye – Retro – Side B (Santhosh Narayanan) – Tamil: As of the already impressive soundtrack (not the film, as I hear; yet to see it) was not enough, Santhosh adds another lovely track to the Side B version of the soundtrack. He also sounds very unlike himself in Punnagaiye, though that doesn’t change the impact of the haunting melody. The song does seem tailor-made for someone like Vijaynarain, though.

Dheivamagane Dheivamagane – Maaman (Hesham Abdul Wahab) – Tamil: Where did Hesham come into this Imman-zone film soundtrack, I wonder! His music is surprisingly subpar, with Dheivamagane being the sole standout, with its energetic sound and excellent singing by K. S. Harisankar. Hesham even rehashes his Hridhayam number Pottu Thotta Pournami in Kannale Pesuma, surprisingly.

Kanavellam – 3BHK (Amrit Ramnath) – Tamil: Amrit’s second soundtrack after Varshangalkku Shesham starts off on a wonderfully positive note with Kanavellam, a song that traverses so much of Sean Roldan’s zone that I even heard Sean in Ananthu’s voice 🙂 There’s also a strong whiff of Rahman’s ‘Chinna Chinna MazhaithuLigal’ from En Swasa Kaatre somewhere in the melody. Where Amrit scores really well is in bringing the voices harmoniously – Ananthu, Kalyani Nair, Uthara Unnikrishnan, and Amrit himself. A special mention for the anupallavi’s melodic charm too.

Paarvai Thani – Ace (Sam CS) – Tamil: I expected a lot more from this soundtrack after the lovely Urugudhu by Justin, but it turned out to be very ordinary. The only other song that stands our is Paarvai Thani, composed by Sam CS (who also handles the film’s background score). Kapil Kapilan’s voice is perfect for the guitar-soaked melody.

Sunflower – Paranthu Po (Santhosh Dhayanidhi) – Tamil: Whoa!! This is a huge surprise! Director Ram has always worked with Yuvan Shankar Raja right from his first film, Katradhu Tamil (and Thanga Meengal, Taramani, Peranbu, and the unreleased Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai). So, to see him work with another composer, and that too, a relatively lesser known Santhosh Dhayanidhi was a big surprise to me. To be fair, though, the song is utterly cute 🙂 The reason is because of the waltz’y tune that holds Madhan Karky’s really sweet English-Tamil lyrics!

Kochu Moosa – Pinvaathil (ETHNIQ) – Malayalam: Composer ETHNIQ blends a captivating folk tune in a modern wrapping to impressive effect. The tune’s call-and-response structure helps the singers Govind Prasad and Tanvi Nair shine really well.

Holiday Vibes – Udumbanchola Vision (Gopi Sundar) – Malayalam: A dreamy melody by Gopi that harks back to an earlier form that I used to totally love.

Naadaaya Naadaake – Samshayam (Hesham Abdul Wahab) – Malayalam: Samshayam is a relatively less impressive soundtrack from the in-form Hesham, much like Maaman in Tamil. This one song works easily, though, with its sweeping Raja’ish melody (particularly in the anupallavi).

Rangoli – Sarala Subbarao (B Ajaneesh Loknath) – Kannada: This is Ajaneesh trademark song all the way! The twist in the line ‘Jeevadhalli Ittu Ninnanna, Maaduvenu Thumba Jopana’ screams Ajaneesh! Sanjith Hegde is the singer and he is dependably good, as always. Ajaneesh’s consistency with such melodies is really something!

Vaanaai Naam, Sunset Prayers, Inbam Thedu, Uyir Peralaiye, Yen Ithanai, and Homecoming – Life Until 23 (The Indoencers/Nishad G.) – Tamil/Indipop: Vaanaai Naam has a pleasant, hopeful melody that is accentuated well by both Adithya RK and Anjana Rajagopalan (who is forced to sing at the lower notes, but still manages very well), backed by impressive work by Chris Jason’s guitar and Patrick Bartley’s sax. That ‘Vaanaai’ soaring line took me back to ‘Vaanam Muthukkal Sindhi…’ from Punnagai Mannan’s ‘Vaan Megham’! 🙂 The song’s instrumental interpretation, Sunset Prayers, is equally impressive, as an incredibly inventive conversation between Mohini Dey’s bass guitar, Emanuele Filippi’s piano, and Patrick Bartley’s sax.

Inbam Thedu sounded like something Suresh Peters would have composed in his heydays! Sathyaprakash starts it off really well, but the magic happens when Priya Jerson opens her part, and again, when Nishad tantalizes a different pace and rhythm for the song towards the end!

Uyir Peralaiye is Chinmayi and Sreekanth Hariharan’s show all the way; both singers interpret a gorgeous melody by Nishad in their own beautiful way. But Nishad has enough nuances added to the song. Consider the off note he layers after ‘Adai Mazhai Kanna Kuzhiyil Modha’, with ‘ThuLiyena Vandhadhu Needhaano’! The song completely changes tracks with the second interlude by The Indian Choral Ensemble and the anupallavi, with Nishad showcasing tremendous, cohesive range in a single song.

Yen Ithanai is a massive surprise! A searing pathos song that fully embraces the sadness all the way in what seems like based on Sivaranjani raaga. Vijaynarain handles the classical carnatic soundscape very well, and this comes out particularly beautifully in the latter half. Homecoming’s orchestral flourish makes it a great listen, with the singer JS Anaees joining The Indian Choral Ensemble in perfect sync. The X factor of the song is Abhay Nayampally’s splendid guitar work that kickstarts the latter half of the song’s orchestral high.

Life Until 23 is a really impressive album by Nishad! The sheer range of songs in the album and the nuance presented within them is a huge surprise considering this is his debut album. If anything, the range was also something that seemed odd – there did not seem to be any unifying thought or theme for the album, and it flitted rapidly between genres and moods almost like a film soundtrack that works on the whims of the script and situations!

Chikkama – Vengayo, Music Produced by Foxn (Tamil/Indipop): A song that throbs with manic energy, matched by an outrageously violent and blood-soaked music video directed by Paal Dabba! The ‘Chikkama’ hook is incredibly catchy, as is the brief change of rhythm in the end.

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