Rewind 2024: How the Malayalam music scene fared

Malayalam cinema touched new highs in 2024 with out-of-the box narratives, incredible direction and outstanding performances. The music scene turned out to be equally vibrant and happening with viral tracks and experimental soundscapes. Here is how the industry fared in 2024.

Sushin rocks

Sushin Shyam made all the right noices, starting with the survival thriller Manjummel Boys, the highest-grosser in the history of Malayalam cinema. ‘Kuthanthram’, his collaboration with rapper Vedan, created an unmatched vibe, while ‘Nebulakal’, in the voice of Pradeep Kumar, had lyrical finesse and a fresh soundscape.

The massy Aavesham exploded with a bunch of hit songs. ‘Illuminati’, the boisterous fan anthem for Fahadh Faasil’s character, Ranga, delivered by Dabzee, became one of the most viewed songs on YouTube, in spite of not being even picturised in the movie! The ‘Illuminati’ hook was too good to resist.

‘Jaada’, in the addictive voice of Sreenath Bhasi, was another winner. The tracks ‘Mathapithakkale’ (MC Couper, Malayali Monkeys), ‘Adholokam’ (Vipin Raveendran), ‘Thurupu cheettu’ (Munz, Sushin), ‘Galatta’ (Paal Dabba, Sushin), ‘The Last Dance’ (Hanumankind), ‘Odimaga’ (Nazriya Nazim, Sushin) and ‘Armadham’ (Pranavam Sasi) completed the celebratations.

‘Stuthi’ from Bougainvillea, sung by Sushin and Mary Ann Alexander, was another masterstroke from the young composer, especially with Kunchacko Boban and Jyothirmayi killing it with their dance moves in the music video.

Sushin’s mastery over his craft was also heard in the background score of the intense drama, Ullozhukku.

Rappers rule

The year saw a Kerala-born rapper, Sooraj Cherukat a.k.a Hanumankind, become a global sensation with his music video ‘Big Dawgs’, a high-energy track with the video featuring death-defying stunts shot in a well of death at Ponnani in Malappuram.

Hanumankind
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

In fact, it was the year when Malayalam film music embraced rappers like never before. Besides rap numbers, they sang tracks in other genres as well. Aavesham featured hip-hop artistes Dabzee, MC Couper, Malayali Monkeys, Hanumankind and Paal Dabba. Of the lot only Hanumankind sang a pure rap number.

Baby Jean became a sensation with his unique voice in Nadikar (‘Komban’) and was recently heard in Marco (‘Marpappa’). Vaazha – Biopic of a Billion Boys featured hip-hop artistes Nomadic Voice, Jay Stellar, Rakz Radiant and Arcado; Mura’s promo soundtrack featured Rhyko. Tamil rapper Asal Kolaar was heard in Malayalee from India and Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil. Veterans Thirumali and Fejo also had releases.

Old is gold

Popular numbers from old movies were reused in many films this year. The classic example being Manjummel Boys. The brilliant placement of evergreen Ilaiyaraaja number ‘Kanmani anbodu’ from Guna in one of the emotional and crucial moments of the film was on point. The song was trending in no time.

A scene from Manjummel Boys
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Syam’s ‘Raavin poonthen’ from Naaduvazhikal was used in Vaazha, Keeravani number ‘Ya ya yaadava’ from Devaragam in Premalu, and ‘Azhagiya Laila’ from Ullathe Allitha in Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil.

While the original tracks were used in these cases, new versions of two of Syam’s compositions ‘Poomaname’ from Nirakkoottu and ‘Devadaru poothu’ from Engane nee marakkum were used in Abraham Ozler and Katha Innuvare respectively.

Master strokes

AR Rahman’s mastery was heard once again in Malayalam cinema in Prithviraj’s Aadujeevitham, a real-life survival drama, that has been in the making for over a dozen years.

Although the songs did not get the mileage in spite of the pre-release hype, there were gems in the album such as ‘Periyone’ and ‘Omane’. Vidyasagar tuned in with songs in Marivillan Gopurangal. It was great to see Rex Vijayan, one of the pioneers of alternative music scene in Malayalam, back in the picture, with the exhilarating tracks in Rifle Club.

Vibrant batch

The coming-of-age drama, Vaazha – Biopic of a Billion Boys, had a bunch of musicians working on the tracks — Rajat Prakash, Electronic Kili, Parvatish Pradeep and the rap composers Nomadic Voice, Jay Stellar, Rakz Radiant, and Arcado, with Ankit Menon supervising the tracks.

The earworm was the groovy ‘Eyy banana’, sung and composed by Electronic Kili, besides ‘Athimanoharam’, written, composed and sung by Rajat Prakash.

Ankit Menon scored for Extra Decent, Oru Kattil Oru Muri, Nadanna Sambhavam, and Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil.

Vineeth Sreenivasan’s Varshangalkku Sesham was underwhelming, but the music was a class apart, with compositions by Amrit Ramnath, who is carrying forward the legacy of his mother, Bombay Jayashri. There was a seamless fusion of styles and genres as he experimented with voices, orchestration, and soundscape.

Another notable debut has been of child prodigy, Lydian Nadhaswaram, who made his debut in Malayalam in the fantasy film, Barroz, actor Mohanlal’s directorial debut.

Seasoned players such as Prashant Pillai and Vishnu Vijay also left their mark, in Malaikottai Vaaliban and Premalu respectively.

Christo Xavier’s haunting compositions and background score blended with the narrative of the horror drama Bramayugam. The composer also did music for Turbo and Sookshamadarshini.

Dhibu Ninan Thomas, who has been busy in Tamil industry, was back in Malayalam for only his second project after his debut seven years ago — Ajayante Randaam Moshanam. The chart topper was ‘Angu vaana kolinu’.

Composer Anand Madhusoodanan, who debuted as a protagonist in Vishesham, wrote and composed gem of a track, ‘Neeyum njaanum.’

The wordsmith

Vinayak Sasikumar
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Vinayak Sasikumar flaunted his mastery as a lyricist yet again. He charmed the listeners by introducing quite a few catchy words, phrases and even a new lingo including ‘Illuminati’ and ‘Jaada’, ‘Sthuthi’, and ‘K for Kalyanam.’

Voices of the year

Dabzee became an overnight sensation with ‘Illuminati’, while Sreenath Bhasi was perfect choice for ‘Jaada’, both in Aavesham.

Dabzee
| Photo Credit:
Aswin Prakash

Amrit Ramnath endeared himself to music lovers with his voice in ‘Nyabagam’ (Varshangalkku Shesham), a duet with Sindoora Jishnu. Jithin Raj got his share of fame with ‘Periyone’ (Aadujeevitham).

The best takeaway from ARM was Vaikom Vijayalakshmi’s singing in ‘Angu vaana’.

Among others who got noticed were Baby Jean, Pranavam Sasi, Rajat Prakash, Mithun Jayaraj-Annie Amie combo (‘Neeyum njaanum’), Electronic Kili (‘Eyy banane’), Madhuvanthi Narayanan (‘Maravikale’ in Bougainvillea) etc. Some actors too turned singers — Mohanlal (Malaikottai Vaaliban, Barroz), Aju Varghese (Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil) and Arjun Ashokan (Turbo).

Indie music scene

There has been a windfall in the independent music scene, especially with Malayali hip-hop artistes holding sway. There was the peppy ‘Ballatha jaathi’ featuring the trio Neeraj Madhav, Dabzee and Baby Jean.

They had several other releases as well – Dabzee alone had 15, including collaborations with other artistes. Jean won fans for his singles ‘Thalakkanam’ and ‘Kaayi’.

‘Panthalchaant’, which celebrated Malappuram’s passion for football, featured Dabzee, Baby Jean, JOKER, M.H.R, and Wraith V. The project is part of a series planned by The Writing Company, headed by writer-director Mu.Ri, aka Muhsin Parari.

Seasoned artistes ThirumaLi and Fejo were not left behind, with the latter alone having eight releases. Rish NK, Lil PAYYAN, SAMI, MUBAS OK were among other artistes who had releases. The musical trio, Malayali Monkeys, who hide behind their ‘monkey’ masks, released ‘Ookku’.

Haniya Nafisa brought out four originals – ‘Mulchedi’ with Govind Vasantha, ‘U Good’, ‘When life gives you lemons’ and ‘Poovu’. ‘Bhagavathi’ was an impressive project from Sithara Krishnakumar and team at Project Malabaricus. Sithara also worked with Mu.Ri in ‘Jilebi’.