Songs at the end of the review.
Mele Mele is beautiful; a sweet melody that is given an ambient, highland-ish sort of feel by composer Anil Johnson with his arrangement that is highlighted by the elaborate, at times Rahman-esque use of strings. The singing is flawless, handled as it is by Shreya Ghoshal in the solo version, joined by Najeem Arshad in the duet version. In Kettoo Njaan also the composer follows a similar format of setting a pleasant melody in an orchestral melange, only this time the tune is of a heard before kind. Nevertheless the singing is top class once again, this time by Sangeeta Prabhu in the solo version and joined again by Najeem Arshad in the duet version. While the trailer of Life of Josutty says that there are no “twists” or “suspense” in the movie (smart dig at the director’s own past couple of movies Drishyam and Memories), the final song Kaalame would seem to disagree with that statement. It is dark, almost suspenseful and highly dramatic in its arrangement. There are times when that attempt at creating the dramatic effect (the violins playing a major role here too) is very in-your-face, but it is all very effective all the same, especially with the contrast on vocals where Vijay Yesudas sounds relatively quiet.
Life of Josutty. Anil Johnson-Jeethu Joseph team is turning out into another consistently good musical combo for Malayalam.
Music Aloud Rating: 7.5/10
