Undaunted by the dismal failure of Naaga at the box-office, NTR [Jr.] returns as Simhadri under the direction of SS Raja Mouli, who gave NTR [Jr.] his first hit in the form of Student No.1. Vijay Kumar Varma, son of V Dora Swamy Raju, produces this film under the famous VMC Productions banner, which earlier gave us hits like Seetharamayya Gari Manavaralu, Annamayya etc. Bhoomika Chawla and Ankita are paired up with NTR [Jr.] for the first time here

For those of you who have not been following our gossip and news sections regularly, VMC Productions started shooting a film with NTR [Jr.] under the direction of a debutante Pawans Sreedhar. But due to some undisclosed reasons, Pawans Sreedhar was replaced with Uday Shankar [of Kalisundam Raa!, Prematho Raa! fame]. As they say, when things are meant to go wrong, they definitely will, no matter what. So, to straighten up things, Uday was showed the door, the story was trashed and the already filmed scenes were dumped into the bin. Now, that wasn't straightening up things totally, is it? So, a brand new story was brought in and Raja Mouli was asked to direct it [probably in a bid to give NTR [Jr.] another resounding hit after an average Allari Ramudu and a box-office no-no Naaga].

Keeravani, after giving many melodious and few mass songs for Student No.1 composes many mass songs and very few melodies here. But that doesn't come as a total surprise especially now that NTR [Jr.] is branded as the Mass Star of Telugu Cinema.

1. Cheema Cheema (Listen)
A racy mass song sung well by SP Charan and Ganga. The opening words are by Brahmanandam. Keeravani's tune and music in the interludes are in sync with each other. Veturi's lyrics are now typical of him for such songs. This one's picturized on NTR [Jr.] and Ankita and is supposed to be a good dance number.

2. Ammaina Nannaina (Listen)
The lyrics in this song clearly explain why Sirivennela was asked to pen this song. This is the only song in this album that doesn't make you squirm listening to the lyrics in it. In the first stanza, the hero illustrates the advantages of not having amma and nanna to bind us from carrying out our pranks. In the second stanza, he tries to cheer up the girl (Bhoomika) by inviting her smile singing edi edi raani raani, nannerukoni muthyalanni!. Keeravani recycles one of his own compositions from Kishkinda KaanDa movie into this song and his brother Kalyani Malik sings this one well.

3. Chiraku Anuko (Listen)
This number, inspired by the famous 'Cotton-eye Joe' song, is an instant winner for obvious reasons. Again, it's sung very well by SP Charan and Chitra and is picturized on NTR [Jr.] and Ankita. Lyrics by Chandrabose are words written as mere fillers to suit the tune, not making much of a sense. But hey, sway to the breezy song not pondering too much on the words.

4. Nuvvu Whistlesthe (Listen)
This trio song picturized on NTR [Jr.], Ankita and Bhoomika has a racy catchy tune and is bound to make people go wild in the theaters. But lyrics by Chandrabose are atrocious. Agreed, I asked you not to ponder too much on the lyrics in the previous song but I could not help complaining here. Apart from the shocking opening line talking about middy, dodge this one - nee gurram kosam pencha nene vechhanaina gaddi :-O. Keeravani fills this song with total mass beats though the opening base beats in the interludes, remind us of the beats from Rahman's Muqala Muqabala song. While Chitra is her usual good self, showing how versatile she is, Tippu gives her good company.

5. Chinnadamme Cheekulu (Listen)
Yet another mass number which is just about okay. Whatever extra spice that was missing here, is supposed to be added by Ramya Krishna (Vamsi) who is roped in to shake a leg with NTR [Jr.] for this song. Lyrics are by Vennelakanti and nah, I wouldn't like to comment on them lest I might sound too complaining. Keeravani plays 'aaresukoboyi paaresukunnanu' tune in the second interlude. Mano sings this one accentuating the bass in his voice while Shreya Ghosal gives him company not sounding too comfortable mainly because of the language barrier.

6. Nannedo Seyyamaku (Listen)
A slow romantic duet picturized on NTR [Jr.] and Bhoomika. Lyrics by Chandrabose are not so discordant when compared to his other two songs. Sunitha sings this one well. Though Keeravani sounds okay, SPB or Mano would have sounded even better.

7. Singamalai (Listen)
This thematic song about Andhrula Simhadri (Kerala Singamalai) has very heavy orchestration serving as a powerful background song. Veturi's words, talking about Singamalai, the savior, are most of the times buried in the heavy orchestration. Kalyani Malik sings this one with enough punch and emotions.

Overall, the album has mass songs aplenty and melodies just a few. Though most of the songs are catchy they are marred by incoherent lyrics thereby reducing the life of the songs and restricting their liking to listeners, who don't care too much for the lyrics. Keeravani's score is sure a treat for the fans of NTR [Jr.] giving ample scope for the Mass Star to display his dreamy dancing skills for the racy beats in most of the songs. But while trying to satisfy NTR [Jr.]'s fans, Keeravani has not tried to impress his own fans. As is the case with many albums these days, the success/failure of Simhadri movie will have direct impact on its audio.

Sreya's Picks: ammaina nannaina

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