- Sreya Sunil

1. Nuvvante Naakistamani (Listen)
A soft love duet written by Sirivennela and sung by Rajesh and Usha. It has all the ingredients of a song that could be canned in the picturesque locales of New Zealand. An above average number in terms of music, singing and even lyrics.

2. Dhim Dinaktari (Listen)
It was once refreshing to listen to Shankar Mahadevan's voice but alas, no more. The only variety that this song offers is that it has a very good usage of musical instruments used in a marriage. A wonderful choreography by Prabhu Deva will hopefully complement the lack of real 'santosham' that's amiss in this song. Though Kulasekhar does a good job of describing the fun and happenings in a marriage, with all due respects to his work, I would prefer Sirivennela's 'Aakasam digivochhi' in Nuvvu Naaku Nachhav to this.

3. So much to say (Listen)
There's really 'so much to say' about this bit song but I would like you to savor it by listening to it yourself. In one line, it's like a hot cake baked with freshness, served with an icing of haunting melody giving out the aroma of consummate euphony. Sung by Rajesh with simple yet subtle lyrics by Chandra Siddhardha, it occupies one of the top places in the list of my most hummed tunes.

4. Devudu Digi Vachhina (Listen)
Though this is just an average number it is composed with pumping beats providing ample scope for a wonderful choreography. KK, who has now become a regular singer for such beat based songs, sings this one with Usha while Kulasekhar provides the lyrics.

5. Ne Tolisariga (Listen)
This is the only 'lyric-rich' song in this album. The first charanam elucidates the feelings of a girl yearning for the love of her lover while the second charanam talks about her realization that love is not all that mushy and plushy but also painful and deceiving. Usha brings out the exact pathos in this song with a near perfect rendition. Sirivennela gives new definition to love. Watch out for the lyrics like - pedavulapai chirunavvula daga, kanapadaneeyavu nippula sega and perulo pranayama teerulo pralayama.

6. Mehbooba (Listen)
Viswa who not only writes this song also attempts at singing it accompanied by Mano and Bhargavi. You might have got a 'break' with this song but puh-leez give us a break, Viswa. Words like mehbooba, dil kabza are no rooh-afza in this hot summer. This one's conveniently avoidable.

7. Emayyindo Emo (Listen)
This is the Telugu version of Song 3 - 'So much to say'. A quintessential RP Patnaik crooning number with lyrics by Kulasekhar. This one's as good as the English version. Hmm, no wonder they say all good things come in small packages.

8. Diri Diri Diridi (Listen)
Another fast number rendered by KK and Usha, which fails to rise above the average level. Though the lyrics are nothing to rave about, I am not ranting when I mention that Kulasekhar has rotten err written them. RP attempts to infuse enthusiasm into this number by bringing in a flavor of bhangra through the loud screams of 'aha', 'hoyi hoyi', 'wah re wah' but what he successfully induces in us is an instant liking towards a just about mediocre Bhangra number by Daler Mehndi.

Entangled in a series of flops, of late, Santosham is an acid test for Nagarjuna to prove that he still is the charmer. Breaking the image of a village belle in Oscar nominated Lagaan, Gracy Singh is all set to carve a niche for herself in Telugu films with this debut. Prabhu Deva is back on screen after a long time with a direct telugu movie. Istam cutie Sreya (or Shria?) gets to woo a big-hero here, which incidentally is her second movie. Another new director Dasarath who is not only directing this flick but also providing story, screenplay and dialogues hopes to leave his mark with this movie. He should have extracted a better score from RP.

RP Patnaik, who has been scoring wonderful tunes for rising stars, has not exactly lived up to the expectations of providing music for a big-star movie. Barring two compositions, counting songs 3 and 7 as the same composition, all the other songs are average, sans musical 'santosham', which was otherwise expected from the Nag-RP combination. But lets hope that the success of the movie shall wipe out all the disappointment and bring in desired 'santosham' to us.

Pick(s) of the album: Ne Tolisariga (for its rich lyrics) and So much to say (for a haunting melody).

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