Prathyasha by Anish Abraham, Ashwin Ramachandran, Karthika Prashanth, Manoj Krishnan, Priyada Mohan, Rajesh Nair

Prathyasha arrived from the Prathyasha album and quickly became one of the most replayed tracks of 2020. The arrangement here is the work of Ashwin Ramachandran, and it shows genuine craft in how it builds and releases.

The performance by Anish Abraham, Ashwin Ramachandran, Karthika Prashanth, Manoj Krishnan, Priyada Mohan, Rajesh Nair is the centrepiece here — controlled where it needs to be, open where it counts. a talented ensemble cast are at the heart of Prathyasha, and Prathyasha captures their dynamic at its most compelling.

Released in 2020, it arrived at a time when Malayalam music needed exactly this kind of sincerity. The emotional register of Prathyasha is wide enough to fit celebration and solitude equally well.

At 4:52, the track does not overstay its welcome — it says what it needs to say and leaves the listener wanting more. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.