Kannoram Chingaram by M. Jayachandran, Shreya Ghoshal

Kannoram Chingaram is the kind of song that earns its place in a playlist and then refuses to leave. Behind the melody is the work of M. Jayachandran, whose composition choices give Kannoram Chingaram its distinctive texture.

There are singers who perform songs and singers who live inside them. On Kannoram Chingaram, M. Jayachandran, Shreya Ghoshal clearly belongs in the second group. The story told by Swetha Menon, Sreejith in Kannoram Chingaram finds its musical expression here — Kannoram Chingaram is where the film's heart beats loudest.

Released in 2011, it arrived at a time when Malayalam music needed exactly this kind of sincerity. Some music is background. Kannoram Chingaram demands attention — not aggressively, but in the way a good conversation does.

The concision of Kannoram Chingaram — just 4:04 — is part of what makes it work. There is nothing here that should not be. It is, simply, one of the better songs to come from Malayalam in recent memory — and the numbers agree.