Songs and partial credits at the end.
The last couple of years have seen a sort of revival in the Mohanlal-M G Sreekumar partnership (beyond Priyadarshan movies, that is) – while multiple of those recent songs have missed the mark in terms of quality, Stephen Devassy manages to hold his own in Kannaane Kannaalaane. Based on a traditional folk tune, the song is entertainingly packaged with a folk-rich arrangement and delivered well by Sreekumar along with Syam Prasad, helped further by the occasional interjections from Suraaj Venjaramoodu. The romantic Azhake Azhake comes in three forms, and the clear winner among them is Shreya Ghoshal’s solo version – the singer negotiates the gentle melody’s ups and downs in a way few others can. Devassy’s winning arrangement remains the same in all the variants; the other two are a solo by the movie’s main man Mohanlal and a duet involving both. And Lalettan’s patchy rendition brings down the song’s appeal in both; it was nice to see a Nokkethaadoorathu Kannum Nattu reference in the song’s video though (included at the end of the review).
Vijay Yesudas rocks Neeraalippidutham, song that can be labelled the movie’s theme song as it effectively conveys the movie’s suspenseful nature both in its retro whodunnit-style musical setting and the lyrics (written by Rafeeq Ahammed). On the other hand, the neeraalippidutham phrase sits awkwardly in the sprightly Neeraali Reloaded that is delivered by Tojan and Sreeraj Sahajan (the latter was last seen composing for the 2016 film Kolumittaayi that had featured a couple of nice songs). SNP Yesen’s guest composition Kadhanam brings up the rear end of the album. Sung by a competent new singer/lyricist Baburaj Menon, the sinister track is quite an effective one, especially owing to its pulsating arrangement (there is an instrumental refrain here though, that sounds suspiciously close to something from Aayirathil Oruvan’s Un Mela Aasadhaan).
Nieraali (what’s with that spelling?!). Five years since Stephen Devassy‘s last film (KQ) and fifteen years since his debut (Hariharanpilla Happyaanu). The composer’s film output has always been a notch below what he has achieved outside of it, and it continues to be so – good, but nothing exceptional – I do wish the industry employed him more often, though (going by the geometric progression, the next movie should be in another 2.5 years). And a commendable Malayalam debut by SNP Yesen as well, albeit with just one song.
Music Aloud Rating: 3/5
Top Recos: Azhake Azhake (f), Neeralippidutham, Kadhanam
Musician Credits
Kannaane Kannaalaane
Singers: M G Sreekumar, Syam Prasad, Suraaj Venjaramoodu
Music: Stephen Devassy
Lyrics: Santhosh Varma
Neeraalippidutham
Singer: Vijay Yesudas
Music: Stephen Devassy
Lyrics: Rafeeq Ahammed
Azhake Azhake (Duet)
Singers: Mohanlal, Shreya Ghoshal
Music: Stephen Devassy
Lyrics: Binu P T
Azhake Azhake (Female)
Singer: Shreya Ghoshal
Music: Stephen Devassy
Lyrics: Binu P T
Azhake Azhake (Male)
Singer: Mohanlal
Music: Stephen Devassy
Lyrics: Binu P T
Neeraali Reloaded
Singers: Sreeraj Sahajan, Tojan
Music: Stephen Devassy
Lyrics: Binu P T
Kadhanam
Singer: Baburaj Menon
Music: SNP Yesen
Lyrics: Baburaj Menon
