First Single ‘Darshana’ From Hridayam Shows College Romance Set To Pleasing Pop Sounds

Songs in Vineeth Sreenivasan's films usually carry great expectations, and the first single of his next film Hridayam is especially interesting. Starring Pranav Mohanlal, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Darshana Rajendran, this is Sreenivasan's first film without Shaan Rahman, his regular, as the composer. Hesham Abdul Wahab, who has previously scored for films like Salt Mango Tree and Varthamanam, is the composer of Hridayam and the first video song of the album 'Darshana' was released today.

The song video begins with a scene in a college bus stand where Pranav's character is being punched by his college mates, only for him to say he doesn't say because 'he has Darshana'. We segway to a song with a familiar melodic line but it's also superbly produced and goes well with the visuals that suggest a simple college love story.

In fact, a good chunk of the video is not about the music: Pranav's character proposing to Darshana's – not an especially novel situation. But along with the music, performances by Pranav and Darshana, and the way various locations in a typical engineering college are captured help the song make up for its genericness through earnestness. 'Darshana' is sung by Hesham Abdul Wahab and Darshana Rajendran, with lyrics by Arun Alat.

In the making video released a couple of days earlier, Hesham Abdul Wahab and Sreenivasan talk about especially roping in musicians from Istanbul who play a zither-like instruments (Oud by Selim Boyaci, Qanun by Onur Cicin, Duduk by Cem Ekmen and Baglama by Adem Tosunoglu). 

A testament to the popularity of songs in Sreenivasan's films, only the tracklist of the film was revealed (without revealing track names) in June with details of singers and lyricists of each track. The list featured 15 songs, many of them with lyrics by Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri and Arun Alat, but also, curiously, had songs written by Sufi poet Bulleh Shah and Carnatic composer Tyagaraja. Only two songs feature lyrics or singing by Vineeth Sreenivasan who has sung popular songs like 'Entammede Jimikki Kammal' from Velipadinte Pusthakam and 'Kudukku' from Love Action Drama.

Hridayam is produced by Visakh Subramaniam and Noble Babu Thomas. It stars Pranav Mohanlal (whose last film was Irupathiyonnaam Noottaandu), Kalyani Priyadarshan (Varane Avashyamund, Marakkar), Darshana Rajendran and Aju Varghese. Cinematography and editing are by Viswajith Odukkathil and Ranjan Abraham respectively. Hridayam is expected to release in theatres in January 2022, now that movie halls have reopened in Kerala.