Pranayikkaruthe Aarum by Shafi Kollam

Pranayikkaruthe Aarum works because it does not try to do too much — it finds one feeling and holds it perfectly. Credit goes to Shafi Kollam for a score that understands exactly what the song needs and nothing more.

The performance by Shafi Kollam is the centrepiece here — controlled where it needs to be, open where it counts. a talented ensemble cast gave the film its soul, and Pranayikkaruthe Aarum is the song that most directly channels that feeling into music.

Released in 2020, it arrived at a time when Malayalam music needed exactly this kind of sincerity. Pranayikkaruthe Aarum is the song for the end of a long day when you want music that understands something without being asked to explain it.

The concision of Pranayikkaruthe Aarum — just 5:10 — is part of what makes it work. There is nothing here that should not be. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.