- Sreya Sunil

Mahesh Babu, after a futile attempt of stealing the hearts of the audience as Takkari Donga early this year, is now back as a charming lover boy, with full of 'attitude' as Bobby. Paired with him for the first time is the current 'lady-luck' of Telugu film industry, Arti Agarwal. Directing them in this eagerly awaited love story is a debutante Sobhan, who is also penning the dialogues for this movie. K Raghavendra Rao, who directed Mahesh's first film Raja Kumarudu, is presenting this film, which is produced by K Krishna Mohan Rao under the RK Associates banner.

Mani Sarma, who has given music for four out of Mahesh's five films till date [Raja Kumarudu, Vamsi, Murari and Takkari Donga excepting Yuvaraju] gives a high five to Mahesh with this one. He packs this album with a mandatory 'Hero: "Arjuna!" Audience: "Partha!" ' kinda preaching song, a soft melodious number, a couple of folk and mass songs and an 'inspired' song too, catering to the tastes of one and all. Overall, Mani Sarma comes with a score that grows on you slowly and which definitely needs support from the director on how well he translates the audio into vivacious visuals. Nevertheless, you cannot stop humming some songs, which linger in your mind not just for their tunes but also for their good lyrics [mainly by debutante Shakti and C Vijaya Kumar] that boast of an 'attitude'.

1. Ee Jenda (Listen)
An item song (in Mahesh's own words) about our tricolor flag and the greatness of India. Shankar Mahadevan who has been singing at least one song in each of Mahesh's films so far, sings this one in his usual panache adding punch to it. Lyrics by Shakti, apart from talking about the prowess of our flag, the enviable history of our country and saluting our soldiers, also send warning signals to our 'nagging neighbor'. Pleasant tune, western and semi classical music, beautiful rendition and powerful lyrics are the assets of this song that portray (or rather tries to portray) the fierce patriotic 'attitude' of the hero.

2. Vaa Vaa (Listen)
This song starts off talking about 'sringaara rasa' through various 'rasaas' like draksha rasam, cheruku rasam, daanimma rasam etc and moves into luring challenges thrown by the hero and heroine to each other. SPB and Sunitha sing this song that is filled with folk beats, excellently. Lyrics by Suddala Ashok Teja are on the lines of a folk song setting the mood for pranks loving 'attitude' of both the lead characters.

3. Lokam (Listen)
This is the coolest (yes, that's the word) song that a Telugu cinema heroine could ever ask for and get. Kudos to C Vijay Kumar for bringing out the frustrated, restless and nihilistic 'attitude' of the heroine towards the world around her and her eagerness to replace the present disturbed world, where even death is undesirable for it is in this bad, bad world that we again take birth helplessly, with a peaceful, pleasant one where possibly life is so cozy that the thought of death never invades our mind. Kalpana bowls us over with a wonderful rendition. Don't miss out the part where she lets out a heavy sigh, when asked to 'take it easy' as all her ambitious desires might not come true, and again picks up slowly but with gusto bringing to life the confused, optimistic 'attitude' of the heroine aptly. Mani Sarma, sets this song to a tune that is heavily inspired by Jennifer Lopez's 'my love don't cost a thing' song.

4. Pullani Pullattu (Listen)
A 'burpy' song about pullattu. If you are tired and bored of the numerous sugary, sweet love songs, then you might enjoy this sour one, just for a change. But, don't let your expectations soar, for this is just a sour song. I mean, a song about a sour attu [pullattu]. Lyrics by Bharti Babu revolve around pullattu and only pullattu. Mano does full justice to his job.

5. Adugadugu (Listen)
This is a soft melodious dulcet about falling in love rendered splendidly by Ranjith and Hariharan. Mani Sarma, who earlier used two singers in the same song for Chiranjeevi in Indra for Bham Bham Bhole, Radhe Govinda and Ghallu Ghallu, uses two singers here again for Mahesh. The voices of Ranjith and Hariharan blend well giving life to this song. Lyrics by Shakti talk about the inescapable and inexplicable intricacies of love and the loving 'attitude' of the hero. A good usage of violin [in the second interlude] and guitar [throughout the song] can be heard in this song.

6. Lal Darwaja (Listen)
A catchy mass song on the lines of a lambada folksong sung by Mallikharjun and Kalpana. Mallikharjun is one budding singer who surely is carving a niche for himself proving his versatility song after song. Lyrics by Shakti, when not wandering in Lal Darwaja and Charminar Chourastha, talk about the carefree 'attitude' of the hero. Check out the line, which goes - 'Okka navve chaalu gelichosta lokalu'. Do I have to elaborate on the 'navvu' [smile] part?
Come on folks, didn't I mention who the hero of the movie is and don't you know how he flaunts his smiles, that send a current into the hearts of millions of girls making them skip a good number of heartbeats in the process? Its time those smiles came with a statutory warning - 'Can be infectious and injurious to the hearts of girls'.

Sreya's Picks: Adugadugu, Ee Jenda

Click here to read the other articles by Sreya Sunil

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Nuvve Nuvve
Gemini
Chenna Kesava Reddy
Okato Number Kurraadu
Sontham
Baba
Holi
Avunu Valliddaru Ista Paddaru
Allari Ramudu
Indra
Jayam
Sreeram
Kanulu Moosina Neevaye
Vasu
Santosham

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