Take Note: The Virtuosity of Illaiyaraaja and Bhai Bhai Love

If you’ve travelled via public transport or even the private buses that ply across the hills in North India, you might be familiar with a genre, which, for the sake of ease, I will refer to as “space jam”. It has no striking form, sonic identity, lyrical pattern and is ubiquitous in nature. Himesh Reshammiya’s latest offering “Naiyo Lagda” goes straight into the space jam category. There’s certainly a strong connection. You’ll feel like you’ve heard this song before on some bus journey and you’ll find yourself unable to decide which is worse — the inability to unhear it or motion sickness. “Naiyo Lagda” from the soon-to-be-released Salman Khan-starrer Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan also has a standout video with Salman doing lunges. It belongs in a parallel musical universe of Bollywood where composers like Nadeem-Shravan and Jatin-Lalit once reigned supreme. If that’s your jam, you’re lucky. The rest of us remain extremely grateful that Reshammiya refrained from adding his nasal opera to this mix. 

It has been the season of refashioning old hits a la Tanishk Bagchi, who has made a career of ‘recreating’ tracks such as “Dilbar” from the 1999 Sushmita Sen-starrer Sirf Tum; “Aankh Maare” from the Arshad Warsi-Simran film Tere Mere Sapne (1996); and more recently, “Tip Tip Barsa Paani” from Mohra (1994), made famous by Raveena Tandon and Akshay Kumar on screen. Composer Pritam, who remixed his own song “Character Dheela” for the Salman Khan film Ready (2011), has created yet another version for Shehzada (2023), which is a remake of the 2020 Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. The Telugu original bagged a National Award for composer SS Thaman and the viral hit “Butta Bomma”, sung by Armaan Malik, found pan-Indian appeal. There is a lot of expectation riding on this soundtrack. 

Ever so rarely, a soundtrack surprises you. Mumbai-based vocalist and composer Nayantara Bhatkal has a collaborative indie project titled Still Ocean with composer Aditya N. The duo has co-composed the soundtrack of the web series Class (Season 1), which works brilliantly as a standalone album. Not only does it not need visual support to draw listeners in, it has, in fact, inspired me to watch the series. “Jangal” and “Girta Sambhalta” with their folk-meets-synth pop vibe and “Patang” and “Khidki,” which focus on vocals driven by an acoustic guitar, are tracks that can go into a ‘Mellow Sundowner’ playlist. Bhatkal is also on repeat for her rendition of “Dil Dariya” from the soundtrack of the upcoming film, Shiv Shastri Balboa. Music director Alokananda Dasgupta, who has been credited for the title track of Sacred Games and the score of Trapped, has composed the track, which seems like a nod to the indi-pop of the Nineties but also manages to sound completely contemporary because of Bhatkal’s understated vocals. 

Restraint also seems to have been on composer Vishal Bhardwaj’s mind when he composed the score for the short film Fursat. Heavy hitters including vocalists Sukhwinder Singh and Kailash Kher feature on it, but there is none of the dramatic vocal work (accompanied by a powerhouse rhythm section) that is usually associated with them on this album. The tracks “Lalkaar” (featuring Kher) and “Kudiye” (featuring Singh and Hargun Kaur) impress despite this (or perhaps because of this). “Waqt Waqt,” with an arrangement that sounds like a tribute to Pink Floyd’s “Time”, is another standout song and only Bhardwaj can pull off something like this. 

In the South, there’s a single release to wipe out everything else that came out this month. The soundtrack of filmmaker Vetrimaaran’s highly anticipated next release, Viduthalai, a crime thriller starring Vijay Sethupathi, sees Illaiyaraaja back in form. The moody track “Onnoda Nadandhaa” has everything that you expect in the maestro’s track and more — drenched in romance and yet evoking a sense of pathos, unpredictable melodic shifts that draw from folk music and most significantly, a cinematic build-up that sets the tone for the thriller. Film director Suka, who has written the lyrics for the track, came up with striking lines that pay homage to the glorious Eighties when Illaiyaraaja reigned supreme. The lyrics “Raasavey unnaley aagasam vidiyum/ Lesaaga en nenjam pookkinrathey/sollaatha maayangal unnaal nadakuthey” (Oh King, the sky seems to open up because of you,/ My heart flowers gently,/ All sorts of unspoken sorcery unfolds because of you) will ring familiar to fans of the composer.

Actor Dhanush has been credited for vocals, but is unrecognisable and in fact, sounds like Illaiyaraaja from the Eighties. Dhanush, who has confessed in a heartbeat that he would pick music if he ever had to choose between music and cinema, has delivered his finest rendition until date with “Onnoda Nadandhaa”. Singer Ananya Bhat also handles the climactic switch in the vocal arrangements effortlessly. (You’ve heard her on the Kannada version of “Saami Saami” from Pushpa - The Rise (2021) and on “Singara Siriye” from Kantara.) Her vocals are especially stirring in the passage where the track turns into a lullaby. At the heart of Illaiyaraaja’s virtuosity is his ability to make you feel a range of emotions with just one song, and “Onnoda Nadandhaa” is a wonderful reminder of this.