Kuruthakedu Ennil by Kannur Shereef

The Kuruthakedu Ennil album has several strong tracks, but Kuruthakedu Ennil is the one most listeners come back to first. The music, composed by Bappu Velliparamba, carries the song forward with a confidence that matches the performance.

Every line Kannur Shereef sings feels considered, as though the performance was thought through long before recording began. The song is tied to a talented ensemble cast, whose presence gives Kuruthakedu Ennil a visual dimension that fans of the film will always associate with it.

The 2020 release gave fans something to hold onto — a track built for repeated listening rather than a single play. Kuruthakedu Ennil is the song for the end of a long day when you want music that understands something without being asked to explain it.

Running to 6:33, the song is exactly as long as it needs to be, which is the hardest length for a songwriter to find. It is, simply, one of the better songs to come from Malayalam in recent memory — and the numbers agree.