Madhumasa Mounaragam by M. Jayachandran, Shreya Ghoshal

Few songs from 2011 have held their ground as well as Madhumasa Mounaragam, a track that keeps finding new audiences. M. Jayachandran sets the tone from the very first bar — it is clear from the opening notes that this song means business.

The vocal on Madhumasa Mounaragam is among the better performances M. Jayachandran, Shreya Ghoshal has committed to record. The song is tied to Swetha Menon, Sreejith, whose presence gives Madhumasa Mounaragam a visual dimension that fans of the film will always associate with it.

In 2011, Malayalam produced many songs, but Madhumasa Mounaragam was one of the handful that genuinely cut through. The emotional register of Madhumasa Mounaragam is wide enough to fit celebration and solitude equally well.

Running to 4:42, the song is exactly as long as it needs to be, which is the hardest length for a songwriter to find. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.