‘Thumba Poove Sundari’
Kunjiramayanam(Malayalam)
Music: Justin Prabhakaran
Vineeth Sreenivasan usually associates with composer Shaan Rahman for most of his films. But Kunjiramayanam sees Tamil composer Justin Prabhakaran make his Malayalam debut (after just two Tamil films — Pannaiyarum Padminiyum and Orange Mittai ). ‘Thumba Poove Sundari’ is a high-energy song that Justin aptly hands over to Shankar Mahadevan. The sound is spoofy and Justin layers it perfectly with an assortment of sounds that are mighty diverse that blends , harmoniously, together.
‘Parapara’
Yatchan(Tamil)
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Yuvan's last release — Masss — was a disappointing piece of work, but his tuning and track record with director Vishnuvardhan is far better... and it shows in Yatchan 's soundtrack. That the song is sung by two male singers indicate that this is the double-hero intro song. The vocal interplay between Vijay Yesudas and Ranjith is fantastic, but the real star is Yuvan's funky tune that is a cornucopia of interesting sounds including a quirky shehnai (or nadhaswaram) layer.
‘Kya Pataa’
Drishyam(Hindi)
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj
This is the kind of song that Vishal used to rope in Suresh Wadkar to sing. Then, he started singing these whispery tunes himself, to middling results. Now, in Drishyam , he offers such a tune to the ruling favourite Arijit Singh and the results are pretty impressive. There is haunting jazz and there's also an Ilaiyaraaja ish quality to the sound Vishal conjures. Gulzar’s lyrics, as always, continue to engage and intrigue.
‘Ninnale’
Rudrasimhasanam(Malayalam)
Music: Viswajith
Viswajith is one of those composers in Malayalam who seems to be enormously talented but always ends up with films that are poorly promoted, never released or completely ignored. It last happened with a wonderful song like ‘Ee Mazhayithalilente’ from a film called Teens . And now, his two lovely songs from Rudrasimhasanam are heading for the same fate. ‘Ninnale’, in particular, deserves a listen given how beautifully K.S. Chithra has sung the Mohanam raaga layered song with Viswajith's ghatam, flute and strings backgrounds in perfect sync.
‘Marudakkaari’
Paayum Puli(Tamil)
Music: D. Imman
In ‘Marudakkaari’, Imman employs a very Shankar Mahadevan ish Diwakar, of Super Singer fame. Diwakar sings with the right swagger, for a really captivating tune that most probably straddles raagas like Valaji and Malayamarudham (both are related, in any case, rather closely). Imman, in his quintessential style, has many surprises up his sleeves for the orchestration that goes from pulsating electric guitar to ektara like strings, all set to a foot-tapping rhythm. This is Imman at his best, channeling his inner Ilaiyaraaja.
