From Race 3’s Allah Duhai Hai To Sarasaku Ra – A Weekly Roundup Of Film Music

We recap the best film songs of the past week from across languages
From Race 3’s Allah Duhai Hai To Sarasaku Ra – A Weekly Roundup Of Film Music

Allah Duhai Hai from Race 3 (Hindi)

It wasn't even called 'Allah Duhai Hai' in Race (or, Race 1), a decade ago in 2008. It was 'Race Saanson Ki'. And it had 4 versions back then – Race Is On My Mind, and a remix for both these songs. It was sung by just two people – Neeraj Shridhar and Sunidhi Chauhan. Things became bigger in Race 2, half a decade ago, in 2013 – the song was titled 'Allah Duhai Hai' and Pritam recreated his own song using only that hook, along with the Bond-style theme music. It had 6 singers and 2 variants. The song is back in Race 3, again titled Allah Duhai Hai, this time Pritam's A&R JAM8 protege, Tushar Joshi is given composing credit for recreating the same song with a different base but retaining the hook (credited to Pritam) and theme music. The number of singers? Just 4 – Amit Mishra, Jonita Gandhi, Sreerama Chandra and Raja Kumari. For a background'ish song that is not even particularly good (in Race 1 and 2, this song was easily overshadowed by other better and popular songs) the song sure has tremendous staying power for 10 years! So, a redux for Race 4 in 2023?

Yaaradhu from Kalari (Tamil)

Moving to Tamil films, composer VV Prassanna had already impressed with the song Kedaya from the film Kalari and he follows up with another song, Yaaradhu that is equally good! The melody is pleasant in a very, very Vidyasagar'ish way (that's a good thing!) and his choice of Hariharan as lead singer (along with M.M. Monisha) works wonders!

Aparaada Panka from Maradona (Malayalam)

From God's own country, we have a song from a film named after an Argentine footballer, Maradona! For the song Aparaada Panka, composer Sushin Shyam composes a racy hip-hop number featuring Fejo's compelling rap, along with an anthemic hook that plays to great effect!

Sarasaku Ra and Rendu Kallaninda from Rajugadu (Telugu)

From the Telugu film industry, the song to listen to this week is Sarasaku Ra and Rendu Kallaninda, from Rajugadu. The Malayalam composer who has had a stellar run in Telugu, hasn't been that effective in Rajugadu yet, but gets at least these two songs right. Sarasaku Ra rides on Mohana Bhogaraju's seductively slow and serene vocals.
Rendu Kallaninda, despite being way too familiar to Gopi's overall repertoire and signature style, has a lilt that is easily engaging.

A blast from the past

To close this relatively lean musical week with limited new releases, here's an interesting blast from the past from Telugu film music that is as phenomenal watching as it is super fun listening to! The song, "Life is shabby without you baby" (yes, it is a Telugu song!) composed and sung by veteran S.P. Balasubramanyam for the 1987 film Padamati Sandhya Ragam is an outrageously funny and funky affair that you have to listen, to believe it! S.P. Balasubramanyam raps,
"When I beat the tom-tom in bad mood… it sounds as if its made of wood
When I think of you baby and beat it again… oh brother it's a bam-bam"
On-screen, the guy you see going berserk at the sight of actress Vijayashanti is actually drummer Sivamani! 
Here's the absolutely incredulous song!
Even more interesting is the fact that the film's other male lead is American actor Thomas Jane who appeared in films like Boogie Nights, Punisher and the TV series The Expanse! Watch Thomas Jane dance uncomfortably next to Bharatnatyam-performing Vijayashanti!

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