Despite major rumblings in the Malayalam cinema industry in the
form of Dileep’s actress assault case and incidents of online trolling of women
actresses highlighting the rampant misogyny in our artistic space, I’d like to
believe that it emerged stronger with more and more people debating the
patriarchal nature of our cinema. It was, therefore, appropriate that 2017
closed with Aashiq Abu’s ‘Mayaanadhi’ – a film that spoke for a lot of women by
giving its heroine agency. However, be cautioned - for every Mahesh Narayanan,
Ranjith Shankar and Aashiq Abu creating strong independent woman characters,
you also came across the likes of Nithin Renji Panicker (Kasaba) and Omar Lulu
(Chunkzz) whose disgustingly trashy films belied the idea that the new
generation has a different world view, when it comes to women.
*** Anyway, before I
start, just a regular quick disclaimer – I lend a keen ear to Malayalam songs
but have no knowledge of music in any way, so this is just my personal listing
of the top tracks of films released in 2017. Last year, I had tried to condense
the selection to only one song per film to cover a larger breath of the audio
scene but I think this is unfair to some of the films with multiple good songs.
So, I have expanded my listing to 30 songs, irrespective of the films. I had
left out ‘Poomaram’ last year assuming that it would be a 2017 release but with
no clear signs of when it will hit the market, I have considered one of its
songs this year. Some of the links provided below have the actual film scenes
while others have the audio or making video links because the full track is not
played in the film (eg - Kilivathilin
Chare Nee, Kaatil Ila).
Keeping the normal
practice of benchmarking, I reckon that 2017 has seen more exciting music
compared to last year. Classical music made a small comeback this year with a
few compositions (Pranavakaram, Kasavu
Njoriyumoru Pulari, Engane Padendu Njan) dipping themselves into it more
than we have seen in recent years – while this cannot be compared to the golden
80s-90s, this is definitely a welcome trend. With a plethora of musicians
making their mark, even singers like Vijay Yesudas have become veterans now
while P Jayachandran continues to make his presence felt every year in a couple
of tracks. P Unnikrishnan was heard in Malayalam after ages with the lovely Ekayaai Nee (Kaattu) which seemed like a
more accomplished version of Pichavechu
Naal Muthal (Puthiya Mugham). The soothing philosophical voice of Shahbaz
Aman in ‘Mayaanadhi’ after a long time was also great news. Prithviraj made not
have tasted a lot of success this year but he surprised everyone with a lovely
song Arikil Ini Njaan Varaam (Adam
Joan).
Bijibal was
prolifically consistent with 7 of his scores making their way to the top of the
charts while Shaan Rahman’s foot-tapping ‘Jimmiki Kammal’ turned out to be the ultimate numero uno
song, cutting across language barriers and inspiring innumerable dance videos. Rex
Vijayan made a strong impact this year with ‘Parava’ and ‘Mayaanadhi’ while
Gopi Sundar had a smashing return to Malayalam with the track of the year -
‘Udaharnam Sujatha’. Justin Varghese was the debutant composer of the year with
the quirkily melodious numbers of ‘Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela’. Considering
how crowded the music space has now become, some composers who made a mark last
year were conspicuously missing this year – Sachin Warrier (‘Anandam’), Vishnu
Vijay (‘Guppy’) etc. There were films which had great music but did not carry
far because the films tanked at the box office (Cappuccino, Matchbox).
Solo was the single
largest experimental genre-defining audio track this year traversing multiple genres,
languages and composers. So, you have music ranging from the hard rock version
of Aigiri Nandini, the infectiously
catchy Roshomon to the classical
fusion of Sita Kalyanam and Sajan More Ghar Aaye - the songs are
heavy on music overshadowing the singers and I was confused on how to rate the
track but for the sheer audacity of its music, it has to find itself on the
podium. Probably because I listen to music primarily on a blue tooth speaker, I
normally need more clarity on the vocals and the acoustics were too
overwhelming for me, making it difficult for me to short list songs of Solo in
my list.
Top audio tracks in
2017 (with links to their jukebox):
1 – Udaharanam Sujatha
(Gopi Sundar)
2 – Solo
(Multi-composer)
3 – Mayaanadhi (Rex
Vijayan)
My 2017 Top-30 Malayalam Film
Songs Listing
[Format
- Song (Film): Music Director - Playback Singer - Lyricist]1. Kannile Poika (Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum): Bijibal - Ganesh Sundaram/Soumya Ramakrishnan- Rafeeq Ahammed
2. Kasavu Njoriyumoru Pulari (Udaharanam Sujatha): Gopi Sundar - Gayathri Varma - D Santhosh
3. Kadavathoru Thoni (Poomaram): Leela L Girikuttan- Karthik - Ajeesh Dasan
4. Nanavere (Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela): Justin Varghese - Tessa Chavara/Vipin Lal - Santhosh Varma
5. Kilivathilin Chare Nee (Pullikkaran Staraa): M Jayachandran - Anne Amie - M R Jayageetha
6. Ozhukiyozhuki (Oru Cinemakkaran): Bijibal - Haricharan /Shweta Mohan - Rafeeq Ahammed
7. Mizhiyil Ninnum (Maayanadhi): Rex Vijayan - Shahabaz Aman - Anwar Ali
8. Pranavaakaram (E): Rahul Raj - Saritha Ram - Vinayak Sasikumar
9. Oru Puzhayarikil (Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol): Bijibal - Shweta Mohan - Rafeeq Ahammed
10. Janah Meri Janah (Cappuccino): Hesham Abdul Wahab - Vineeth Sreenivasan - Haseena S Kanam
11. Kattu Vannuvo (Lakshyam): M Jayachandran - Vijay Yesudas - Santhosh Varma
12. Kannil Kannil (CIA: Comrade in America): Gopi Sundar - Haricharan Seshadri/Sayanora P - Rafeeq Ahammed
13. Ekayaai Nee (Kaattu): Deepak Dev - P Unnikrishnan - Rafeeq Ahammed
14. Aaro Nenjil (Godha): Shaan Rahman - Gowry Lekshmi/Shaan Rahman - Manu Manjith
15. Aaradyam (Matchbox): Bijibal - Vishnu Kurup/Shilpa Rajiv - Rafeeq Ahammed
16. Mazha Paadum (Sunday Holiday): Deepak Dev - Aravind Venugopal /Aparna Balamurali - Jis Joy
17. Kaatil Ila (Udaharanam Sujatha): Gopi Sundar - Vijay Yesudas - Rafeeq Ahammed
18. Lailakame (Ezra): Rahul Raj - Haricharan - Harinarayanan B.K.
19. Entammede Jimikki Kammal (Velipadinte Pusthakam): Shaan Rahman - Vineeth Sreenivasan/Renjith Unni - Anil Panachooran
20. Njanee Onjalil (Rakshadhikari Baiju Oppu): Bijibal - Jayachandran/Chithra Arun - Harinarayanan
21. Roshomon (Solo): Prashant Pillai - Ashwin Gopakumar/Arun Kamath/Niraj Suresh/Sachin Raj/Rakesh Kishore/Alfred Eby Issac/Mithun Jayraj - Harinarayanan
22. Arikil Ini Njaan Varaam (Adam Joan): Deepak Dev - Prithviraj Sukumaran - Santosh Verma
23. Unarukayaano (Udaharanam Sujatha): Gopi Sundar - Sayanora Philip - Rafeeq Ahammed
24. Ivalaro (Oru Mexican Aparatha): Manikandan Ayyappa - Vijay Yesudas - Rafeeq Ahammed
25. Theeyame (Angamaly Diaries): Prashant Pillai - Angamaly Pranchi/Shreekumar Vakkiyil - Traditional
26. Engane Padendu Njan (Cappuccino): Hesham Abdul Wahab - P Jayachandran/Manjari - Venu V Desom
27. Ethetho Swapnamo (Avarude Ravukal): Shankar Sharma -Vaisakh C Madhav - Siby Padiyara
28. Enthavo (Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela): Justin Varghese - Sooraj Santosh /Justin Varghese - Santhosh Varma
29. Vaa
Kuruvi (Vilakkumaram): Sanjeev Thomas - Ammu Indira/Sanjeev Thomas - Arun
G.S
30. Kaiveeshi Neengunna (The Great Father): Gopi Sundar - Vijay
Yesudas - Harinarayanan B.K.
Honorary Mentions
31. Uyirin
Nadhiye (Mayaanadhi): Rex Vijayan - Rex Vijayan – Anwar Ali
32. Akale
Oru Kaadinte (Ramante Edanthottam): Bijibal - Shreya Ghoshal - Santhosh
Varma
34. Kayalirambilu
(Paipin Chuvattile Pranayam): Bijibal - Bijibal/Ann Amie
- Santhosh Varma
35. Njanum
Neeyum (Theeram): Afzal Yusuff - Shreya Ghoshal /Quincy Chettupally - Harinarayanan
BK
Below is a playlist for the entire set of songs:
Originally published in MadAboutMoviez: Top 30 Malayalam Film Songs of 2017: A Compilation