Top Indian Songs of the week 16th March 2025

If you are a musician submit your new music here.

Here are the best songs released in India across languages and genres for the week ending 16th March 2025

1. Premalo

Music composer: Vijai Bulganin 

Singers: Anurag Kulkarni & Sameera Bharadwaj 

Lyrics: Purna Chary 

Keyboard programmer: Balu 

Additional strings arrangements: Jishnu Vijay 

Language: Telugu

Genre: Light Music/ Folk Pop

Mood: Romantic

The Telugu movie 'Court' is getting some good reviews, and in the meantime when I realised that the music is by Vijai Bulganin, I got excited and had solid expectations. Vijai meets expectations without a solitary obstacle in this beautiful melody. A blistering start to the song thanks to the one and only Rithu Vyshak who plays the role of the one-man-string-quartet. Rithu arranges the strings with additional string arrangements by Jishnu Vijay. Lali Talluri doesn't wait too long before he enthrals you with that tranquil flute solo.

The live rhythms are so engaging and all of this happens within the first 30 seconds that you surrender yourself to the beauty of Vijai Bulganin's composition and production. Balu handles the keyboard programming and Raju, Lakshmi Kanth Pyare Lal and Adithya Babu handle the lovely rhythms. You can sway, but you have to agree when I say "Vijai Bulganin is one of the best out there". The high-pitched lines of Anurag and the lines by Sameera sung in the lower octave are fantastic. The love and romance are so well expressed in the vocal tones. The amazing words are written by Purna Chary.  

Shallu Varun is a constant presence giving some stylish flavours with his bass guitars. The elaborate strings section in the background is performed by the Budapest Scoring orchestra, with orchestrators Abishek V and Balasubramanian G. Anurag weaves magic with his vibrato as he sings "Aakasham Thaakaali Ani Undha, Naatho raa chupistha aa saradhaa" and ends the line. Sameera makes you fall in love with her shy and suave delivery, pay attention to how she modifies and sings "Unnaayya Badinche Dhaaralu" The recording engineers are Vyshak PK & Alina Dantis at Contrabass Studios, Chennai. Robin Sebastian is the vocal engineer and the tracks are mixed and mastered by Roshan Sebastian. 

@vijai_bulganin @preyadarshe @poet_purna @nameisnani @sameerabharadwaj @anuragkulkarni7 @jishnuvijayanmusical @lalittalluri @shalluvarun02 @rithuvysakh @robinsebastianmusic @roshansebastian @contrabass_music_studios 

2. Silsila

Composed and Produced By Shor Police (Clinton Cerejo & Bianca Gomes) Singers: Arijit Singh & Jonita Gandhi 

Lyrics: Siddhant Kaushal 

Language: Hindi

Genre: Alt-Pop

Mood: Romantic

I heard this album on a bus just before boarding a flight. When the first song "Silsila" played, i felt like my heart had already taken flight into some orbit of happiness, much before boarding the aircraft. This is what Bollywood has been so dearly missing! Good melodies that sound fresh and can lift your spirits. Instead what I have been doing for the last 5 years when I hear a new Bollywood song is immediately start wondering and asking myself " Where Have I heard this song before?". Clinton Cerejo's guitars and The Piano make way for your heart to be left pounding after finishing the song. 

Shor Police have created a beautiful, explosive album, "Dhoom Dhaam," which I recently rated 4/5. There are 3 very good songs on the album, and this is my favourite. The melody is blissful, thanks to the writing by Clinton and Bianca Gomes, and Siddhant Kaushal adds more life to the song with his words. I love the chorus segment with the lead vocals and the accompanying backing vocals that go " taaron takey batton ka, ujli hui raaton ka, hone ko hai chala yeh silisila". Behold for what's about to come, we get a scintillating interlude on guitars and Arijit humming along. This small melody piece is a collection of notes that just soothes the heart. 

Jonita Gandhi takes over in the verse here and how she performs is exemplary for any young artist, combining style and substance in equal proportions. Listen to the delivery when she sings " Nazaron ke sheeson mein chehra hai jo khila" with that pain and vulnerability in the tone, and then the falsettos are pure gold in "ab shaayad roohon mein shuru hone ko hai chala". Shor Police have done a stunning job on arrangements, especially harmonies, guitars and rhythms. The mild interlude on the guitar solo after the verse by Jonita feels like magic. The tracks are mixed and mastered by Aftab Khan at Headroom Studio, Mumbai. 

@shorpolice @sidkaushal22 @iambinkybee @jonitamusic @kedarpallavi @mixedbyaftab @dharpok @clintoncerejo @arijitsingh 

3. Varshinche Meghamey 

Lyricist: G Anand Raju 

Singers: Karthik, Harini 

Music Director : Pranay Kaleru

Language: Telugu

Genre: Light Music/Pop

Mood: Romantic

The mandolin and strings section is rousing as we listen to the second song by Pranay Kaleru in as many months making it to my weekly reviews. I will now listen to the music album "Guard" as we already have two exciting songs from the album. Two fantastic performers come on board for this one viz. Karthik and Harini just like Pradeep Kumar in the ealrier song. The acoustic guitars act like rhythm guitars and accompany right behind Karthik and Harini's lines. The flute solo is mild but renders everything peaceful.

The interlude gets the flute in the forefront and the introduction of the rhythms and keys, along with nicely arranged harmonies is just too soothing to hear. I love the clarinet in the interlude that plays these very Western-styled riffs and Pranay's melody is beautifully written, and maybe there are influences of Raag Yamunakalyani and Hamsadhwani. The solo violin by Sandilya Pisapati, the flute by Pramod all interject at the right moments in the second interlude and Pranay is a man who understands the value of arrangements and music production perfectly.

The violin solo towards the outro comes out of nowhere when I least expect it and leaves me wanting so much more. G Anand Raju penned the lyrics. Anuj Paul mixed and mastered the tracks. 

@sandilya_pisapati @pranaykaleru @vistarnvolume @karthikmusicexp @singerharini_official 

4. Mellali Mellali

Music Director: Barath Veeraraghavan 

Singers: Pradeep Kumar, Aishwerya Radhakrishnan 

Lyricist: Karthik Netha  

Programmed, Arranged and Produced by Barath Veeraraghavan 

Language: Tamil

Genre: Light Music

Mood: Romantic

Barath Veeraraghavan does an outstanding job writing this melody and backing it up with some fine programming, arrangements, and production. The moment we hear Pradeep Kumkar's heavenly voice, we are sold. Keba Jeremiah plays the acoustic and nylon guitars that provide the lush romanticism the song intends and achieves. The arrival of the anupallavi section is a throwback to the 1980s and 1990s, when the Tamil audience used to listen to musical gems. 

The keys by Barath, Asish Venkateswaran's flute and Naveen Napier's bass cohesively create a beautiful layer in the background to reflect those good times. Aishwerya Radhakrishnan joins with her tenderness on display in the line " Sellamal Sendrene, sollamal sonnene" teasing the protagonist and audience, with Pradeep singing "Vaa" and the two make us fall in love all over again. Karthik Netha pens the tantalising words. Keba's magic with his fingers owns the interlude. When the stanza begins and Pradeep sings "Oonjal polave aaduthe aaduthe" the flute and acoustic guitar riffs in the background give that swaying effect.

The strings section in the background is performed by Budapest Scoring Orchestra, with arrangements by Dan Kristen and the Orchestra being co-ordinated by Balasubramanian G. Sebastian Sathish works on all the additional keyboard programming. The outro with the aalaps and humming by Pradeep and Aishwerya is a fabulous finish to the end line. The tracks are mixed and mastered by Rupendar Venkatesh at Mix Magic Studios, and the recording engineer is Avinash Sathish at 20db Studios. 

@barath_veeraraghavan @karthknetha_official @pradeep_kumar1123 @aishweryaradhakrishnan @kebajer @napier_naveen @bala_musician @sebastiansathishmusic @dan_kristen @rupendar_venkatesh @flute_ashish @budapestscoring

5. Manase

Music composed and produced by Mark K Robin 

Lyrics - Krishna Kanth 

Singer - Kapil Kapilan & Ramya Behera 

Language: Telugu

Genre: Light Music/Pop

Mood: Mild Pathos

It has been a while since I featured Mark K Robin and now he delivers a fine song with the mercurial vocalist Kapil Kapilan in the male lead vocals. Just the Piano keeps flowing in the intro and the opening verse, but then we get a steady influx of the strings section and that is when the song climbs up a few levels. The orchestration is by Anthony Karuna and the ones playing the marvellous strings are Violinists Sarah Brandwood-Spencer and Alex Stemp, Pete Whitfield on the Viola, and Simon Turner on the Cello. 

The arrangements are outstanding thanks to Mark Robin's breathtaking work on production. After the shower of strings, we get a very different interlude that is gentle pop in the form of guitars played by Mark and the aalap by Akashravuru. The stanza that follows has Ramya Behara indulge with her sweet vocals, as she also brings melancholy into the mix with her delivery. I love the line "Naake kopam Na Paina" in terms of the melody and the impact it has on the listener. The lyrics are penned by Krishna Kanth.

The Harmonies, strings, and guitars all work beautifully in tandem towards the outro. The tracks are mixed and mastered by the legendary PA Deepak. 

@kk_writer1 @iammarkkrobin @kapilkapilanmusic @ramyabehara @sriharsha.cineasta @anthonykaruna 

6. One of A Kind 

Song Composed, Arranged and Produced by Justin Varghese 

Co-produced by Neeraj Remesh 

Singers - Anish Krishnan, Niranj Suresh 

Language: Malayalam

Genre: Rock

Mood: Energetic

I did find this album, " Daveed," interesting, thanks to the work of Justin Varghese, a solid composer. This track is my favourite from the album, and it has that generic rock flavour, but it works brilliantly because Justin decides to give it to us, raw, pure, and untainted. Justin composed and arranged the song, with Justin and Neeraj Remesh co-producing it. I featured this fabulous artist Anish Krishnan (vocalist for Thaikkudam Bridge) last year in a Govind Vasantha album in Telugu called "Love Mouli", and he maintains his high standards here too. His tone is perfectly suited for the rock genre, so kudos to Justin for making him perform this. Niranj Suresh accompanies Anish on vocals. 

Neeraj plays the guitars, and Suhail Koya pens the lyrics which build up the hype. The drums and guitars are mild and this lets Anish dominate the proceedings like a lion's roar singing "He's one of a kind". The amplification happens slowly with the heavy electric guitars and drums and there is no looking back. Anish does create a stir a mild scare like I am looking into the eyes of Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali when he sings "Tell me what do you see, when you're looking at me". The pure rock flavours ooze out when we hear the humming in the interlude and this feels like a song from the works of great bands like "Nickelback". 

Niranj Suresh brings the same energy but his Malayalam lines are blistering and equally inspiring. The arrangements on live drums and guitars are scintillating. Aniket Mohanty and Lal Krishna are the recording engineers and mixing, mastering is done by Amithbal. The Music Production Manager is Parvathy Menon. 

@anishkrishnan89 @niranjsuresh @just_in_varghese @neeraj_remesh @lal_music @awwwwwwwwwniket

7. Zinda Hu

Artist & Performer: Krishna Pandey 

Composed & Produced by: Shivam Bihari 

Lyrics: Shivam Bihari & Pratyaksh Rajbhatt 

Language: Hindi

Genre: Alt-Pop

Mood: Romantic

A breeze that just kept hitting my face with no respite whatsoever. That is what this song felt like when I headed out for my morning run, and believe me, the song motivated me to do a few more laps after I already was weary and sweating. Many elements worked brilliantly in this song, like the flowy acoustic guitars that sound spotless, played by Kunal Rajbhatt, the drums that constantly kept the energy at the perfect level thanks to Amit Singh and of course the suave delivery and tone of Krishna Pandey. 

The song is composed and produced with such elegance by Shivam Bihari and the words are penned by Pratyaksh Rajbhatt and Shivam. I loved the line "sansein chalti thi, Dhadkan bhi behti madham madham" from a chord progression perspective. The chorus line breathes new life with "Zinda hu, jaise lauta aya bachpan mein", with some outstanding work on keys and synths by Hemant Tiwari accompanying here. Things like the strings section, the sound of the Piano and the finger-flicks in the background are perfectly executed and only make me wonder how far this guy Shivam could go with this talent. 

The enticing rhythm production, which keeps altering with the Organ Piano too is all quite exciting. 

@kunalrajbhatt @biharithepianist @amit_on_drums @deeksha_bangera @raavana_live @hemajadhav1111 @hk.production_ @krishnapandeylive 

8. Sulunthee 

Vocals: Resmi Sateesh 

Lyrics: Yugabharathi 

Composed by Govind Vasantha

Language: Tamil

Genre: Rock

Mood: Energetic

The highlight of this haunting song is the lead vocals. We know what Govind Vasantha is capable of when it comes to songs and BGM scores, and that is why a low-budget movie like this, called "Gentlewoman" deserves the support and tectonic shift the movie gets from a musician like Govind. Resmi Sateesh just got featured by me for a fabulous performance in Justin Varghese's album 'Ponman' for "Kollam Song". She now takes things up a few notches in this folkish melody. 

Other than a mild guitar riff in the background, and some gentle percussions, it is all Resmi's vocals that dominate. Govind brings on his big guns as we get into the rock/metal genre, thanks to the heavy drums, blazing electric guitars and punchy harmonies. Yughabharathi riles up emotions and sentiments, and rightly so, with his powerful words. The interlude just allows you to bang your head a few times before a calmer stanza arrives. "kaal pogum paadhai maranthaaley", is the line she sings and it feels like we are now in the Blues-soft rock territory. 

I love the use of harmonies to perform the lines "odum neeril kolam pottal, yaarum kaanu mudiyathe" 

@resmisateesh @yughabharathi 

9. Hawa Hawa

Music Composer: Jose Jimmy

Lyrics and Vocals: Jose Jimmy

Language: Telugu

Genre: Pop

Mood: Dance

Last year I featured a beautiful song from this movie called 'Patang' called "Hey Hello Namasthe" which was a beautiful tribute to the city of Hyderabad. Jose Jimmy strikes again with a fine track now in the album and I am impressed with this composer. It is all about Keba Jeremiah as he sizzles with his acoustic, bass and electric guitar solos. Elfe Choir is a fine ensemble of singers and their work in the harmonies is a crucial 

element that keeps the song going strong and enticing. 

Jose Jimmy handles all the lead vocal duties and it works well in this track which is catchy, and peppy. The guitar support becomes a constant presence and the introduction of the Nadaswaram in this pop single is creative. It is played with a Jazzy style by D Balasubramani. The arrangements on all the harmonies is very effective and the melody becomes captivating when we get to the line "girra girra". The recording engineers are Amal Mithu and Hariharan, with Balu Thankachan on mixing and mastering. 

@jozjimmy @kebajer @elfechoir @amal_mithu

10. Nira Niraye 

Music Arranged Composed & Produced - Rahul Raj 

Lyrics - Dhanya Suresh Menon 

Vocals - Rahul Raj 

Synth, Strings & Rythm Programmed - Rahul Raj 

Language: Malayalam

Genre: Electronic Pop

Mood: Trippy

I am a fan of this amazing composer Rahul Raj, and if you listen to his music, rather than just read my reviews, you too might be turned into a fan. I have yet to listen to the full album "Narayaneente Moonamakkal", but this already the second song I am featuring in my weeklies from this album. Rahul composes, arranges, programs and produces this splendid single along with performing the lead vocals. Things hit you straight away like a haunting set of harmonies to begin with.

The moment we hear Rahul's vocals and then the keys and rhythms build up we get an eclectic pop track that takes us over. Dhanya Suresh Menon pens the lyrics. There is a calmness when we have the combination of the strings section in the background along with the energising rhythms and Rahul's raw delivery. Kudos to the brilliant Arioso Quintet for the excellent strings played. We have Subin Kumar on the Violin solo, on all the Violas it is Subin Kumar, Sravan Krishnakumar, Nibu Mathew, Anil Antony and Albin Jose. Albin Jose is the Cellist. 

The recording engineers are Arjun B Nair at Sonic Island and Nikhil Kakkochan at Freddys AVG. Vivek Thomas, with mix assistant Sibin Wilson, mixed and mastered the tracks at VTP studios. 

@rahulrajmusic @dhansuremenon @sharanvenugopal @sravan.krishnakumar @subin_vln @_nibumathew @albinjose.in @anilantonyalukkal @vivekthomasproductions @nair_b_arjun