From Parmanu To Bucket List – A Weekly Roundup Of Film Music

We recap the best film songs of the past week from across languages

Parmanu (Hindi)

It may seem odd and insensitive if I say the soundtrack of Parmanu dropped last week, given its theme. It may be equally bad if I note that the soundtrack isn't explosive. To be fair, Sachin-Jigar's soundtrack is a nice, folksy listen. Shubh Din's ebullient Gujarati flavour comes out best in Jyotica Tangri's 'Aayo re shubh din aayo re' line, with excellent lead vocals by Keerthi Sagathia. Thaare Vaaste and Kasumbi are equally enthusiastic and folksy, but seem content being background-ish. Sapna has Arijit trying to breathe life into its sedentary melody, while it is De De Jagah, the soundtrack's best, that perhaps needed Arijit in place of Yasser Desai (who is competent, however), for the fervent prayer-like melody. Jeet Gannguli's lone track Jitni Dafa rehashes Francis Lai's iconic Love Story theme yet again (after Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam's Chaand Chupa).

Bucket List (Marathi)

Composers Rohan Pradhan and Rohan Gokhale have a winner in Tu Pari, in Madhuri Dixit's Marathi film, Bucket List. The song, reminiscent of early A R Rahman music, is an easily likeable duet featuring the voices of Rohan Pradhan and Shreya Ghoshal, set to some beautiful backgrounds.

Thadam (Tamil)

Inayae, the new Tamil song from the film Thadam, works thrice as hard given that the composer Arun Raj's tune is a breezy ballad, and has Sid Sriram handling the singing duties so well. The third part that adds so much to the song is Adithya's flute that almost acts as a parallel layer all through the song!

Sammohanam (Telugu)

From the Telugu film world, two new songs deserve your attention this week. Composer Vivek Sagar, who debuted with Pelli Choopulu and then hit a fantastic high with Yuddham Sharanam (despite the film's tepid performance), has a fantastic new single in Oohalu Oorege Gaalanthaa, from the film Sammohanam. The song dips into Vivek's favourite and oft-used soft jazz style considering how well he has used the flavour in songs like Chitramaaga (Sheesh Mahal) and Adedo Maayalley (Yuddham Sharanam).

The other song is by composer M.M.Keeravani's vastly under-rated and name-changing brother, Kalyana Ramana aka Kalyani Malik aka Kalyan Malik aka Kalyan Koduri! He sings Chala Chala, himself, along with Geetha Madhuri, and the song's lively lilt is addictive.

Vaasu Naan Pakka Commercial (Kannada)

Rounding off this week's update is the Kannada song by composer Ajaneesh Loknath, from the film Vaasu Naan Pakka Commercial. Puneet Rajkumar, who usually is more adept singing kuthu songs, brilliantly handles the Latino-infused melody in Rangeride. While Ajaneesh's music is excellent as usual, another highlight of the song is Sumesh Parameshwar's guitar work.

Madhuri Dixit