- Sreya Sunil

After Harikrishna, Balakrishna, Jr. NTR, yet another heir of legendary NTR and Nandamuri dynasty, Taraka Rathnaa (son of Mohan Krishna) makes his foray into the Telugu film industry with this movie titled Okato Number Kurraadu. Veterans Aswini Dutt and K Raghavendra Rao, who gave Jr. NTR (he now wishes to be addressed as NTR sans the Jr. tag) his first hit Student No. 1 under Swapna Cinema banner, now launch Taraka Rathnaa under the same banner. [Technically, Rathnaa's first movie is the one being produced by Ramakrishna Horticulture Cine Studio, but this is the one that is releasing first]

MM Keeravani, who always gives his best for Raghavendra Rao, comes up with few soft numbers and many mass masti numbers for this movie. Anandam fame Rekha is paired up with Rathnaa in this movie, which is directed by another veteran A Kodandarami Reddy, whose last comeback movie Tappu Chesi Pappu Koodu instead of teaching some lessons to the audience, hopefully has taught some lessons to him.

1. Thodakotti Chebutunna (Listen)
Balakrishna and Jr. NTR, in their latest films, delivered dialogues about their vamsam, just by thoda kotti. But Rathnaa is all set to leap ahead of them, in stating his 'taraka mantram', sung by SPB and Godwin, by thoda kotti, jabba charichi, rommu virichi, kalu duvvi and balla guddi. Pray, yeh dil maange more? Prayers answered - Uhu! Chandrabose's lyrics that state the greatness of love in an interesting manner are definitely worth a listen. The way he connects two lettered words (when written in Telugu) - maga & aada, tappu & oppu, baadha & haayi, pelli & pichhi with the two lettered word (when written in Telugu) prema is commendable.

2. Nuvvu Choodu Choodakapo (Listen)
Keeravani and Ganga sing this melodious 'You adore or abhor, I shall always admire you! You like or loathe, I shall always love you!!' kind of song pleasantly. Chandrabose again writes beautiful words talking about the undying love of a guy for his girl. One line which goes 'pujinchadam pujari vanthu, varam ivvadam annadi devatha ishtam' talks clearly about the attitude of the hero's character, which I hope, would be brought out equally well in the movie. Keeravani's orchestration, though is in his usual trademark style, adds melody to the song.

3. Orey Nuvvu (Listen)
Love and lovers in the history of Telugu cinema have come a long way. There were days when lovers spoke to each other mainly through their eyes. Then there were days when they addressed each other as 'meeru' albeit with shy. Then there were days when 'meeru' became 'nuvvu'. And now are the days where, forget about talking through eyes and saying 'meeru', just the occasional utterances of 'nuvvu' sound so respectful, especially when lovers are addressing each other as 'entra', 'orey'. Hold on, if you thought uttering those words is taboo, this song has much more in store for you to gape. Chandrabose has given us a one-stop collection of such verbiage, which includes 'gootle, dongre, tumri, lafangi, pudingi' to name a few. There is one line, which goes - 'aadapilla orey andante premalona paddattera'. Is this the new style of 'proposing' that is in vogue among the youth today? If yes, then it's my turn to gape! SP Charan and Chitra, needless to say, sing this funny song very well.

4. Aggipulla (Listen)
A mass masti song with nice foot tapping beats. Tippu sounds very good and different from his routine solo songs. Kalpana sounds a lot better here than what she did in 'Ammadu Appachi' song of Indra. Chandrabose's lyrics, with a good usage of 'ho' at the end of each line, are aimed at the masses.

5. Nemali Kannoda (Listen)
Another mass number but not all that impressive. Lyrics by Suddala Ashok Teja serve just one purpose - satisfying the masses - but even that's doubtful. Chitra and Udit Narayan try hard to save the song. While Chitra succeeds, Udit Narayan not only fails miserably but also ends up killing it with his awful pronunciation.

6. Enni Janmalettinaa (Listen)
This song sung by SPB and Chitra reminds us of a plethora of Keeravani's previous songs. The tune for the words 'aasa aasa' is very similar to the tune of the popular old song 'maava maava'. Chandrabose's lyrics, expressing a desire of doing many naughty things are passable. Enthusiastic listeners (like me) might want to juxtapose this song with song 3 where Chitra sings duets with SPB and his son SP Charan. While SPB's voice wouldn't suit song 3 and SP Charan cannot yet do justice to this song, Chitra is totally at ease displaying her versatility in singing these two songs, which belong to two different genres.

Sreya's Picks: Nuvvu Choodu Choodakapo and Aggipulla

Tailpiece: If you are a fan of MM Keeravani's music then you MUST listen to his soulful tunes and soothing music for his latest Hindi movie Sur - The Melody of Life. Actually, even if you don't like his music, I am sure you would like his work for that movie.

Click here to read the other articles by Sreya Sunil

Other audio reviews by Sreya Sunil
Sontham
Baba
Holi
Avunu Valliddaru Ista Paddaru
Allari Ramudu
Indra
Jayam
Sreeram
Kanulu Moosina Neevaye
Vasu
Santosham

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