Parayan by Shafi Kollam

The Parayan album has several strong tracks, but Parayan is the one most listeners come back to first. Shafi Kollam, Kamal Cherumukku sets the tone from the very first bar — it is clear from the opening notes that this song means business.

There are singers who perform songs and singers who live inside them. On Parayan, Shafi Kollam clearly belongs in the second group. The connection between a talented ensemble cast and this song is part of what makes it resonate beyond the film itself.

Released in 2026, it arrived at a time when Malayalam music needed exactly this kind of sincerity. There is no right time to listen to Parayan. There is only the moment you press play and realise it was the right choice.

The 4:25 runtime feels perfectly judged — long enough to develop its ideas, short enough to compel a second play. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.