A R Murugadoss – the man behind notable movies like Tagore (story), Ghazini (story, screenplay, direction).

Mani Sharma – the numero uno music director of Telugu cinema.

Trisha – the reigning queen of Telugu, Tamil cinema.

And last but never the least...

Padmabhusan Chiranjeevi – the Megastar (one word that says it all)

When this exhilarating combination comes together for a movie, what does one expect? Or a better question would be – what CAN one expect?

Adapting Memento [starring Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss; directed by Christopher Nolan] to suit the tastes of Indian audience and making it a huge success is no mean task and Murugadoss has done it with élan in Ghazini. No wonder that Aamir Khan has decided to remake it in Hindi under Murugadoss’s direction. So, will a director, this talented, entertain all of us yet again? Before that, what has he extracted from Mani Sharma.

You think music directors’ job is writing music notes, getting lyrics written, bringing in singers, recording songs and boom delivering the album? Atleast, it’s not JUST that. They need to know who the hero of the movie is, what the hero’s fans expect from his songs, if the hero can dance then how best to help him dance better to his tunes, if the heroine can dance then how best to help her because in 99.99% of Telugu movies, songs is the only major screen presence a heroine has. Working under so many constraints, plus meeting the demands of the song’s situation, producer, director and poor souls like us, is tough. So, sometimes they succeed and some other times they don’t; atleast not as much as they did earlier. Now, why did I pick on your brains like this? Good question! But if you’ve heard the songs of Stalin you perhaps have underwent the same gamut of thoughts as I did. Our thoughts aside, let’s progress.

1. Go Go Gova
Anantha Sriram’s lyrics comprising of a liberal usage of English, Hindi and Telugu words make this song catchy. Both Ranjith and Mahalakshmi Iyer, who are regulars with Mani Sharma, lend a youthful zing to this song that boasts of a good chorus.

2. Siggutho Chi Chi
This duet, composed as a melody, sounds better in the stanzas than the opening lines. While Hariharan sounds his usual good self, Sadhana Sargam’s rendition, though good, may not appeal to all mainly because of her high pitched voice. Another female singer like Chitra or somebody else could have been a better option. Peddada Murthy words this one. For a discerning listener, ‘aapadE teerchana muddulichhi’ line is sung by Mallikarjun, just like the way he sang ‘mriduvadana pati nai’ bit in Radhe Govinda [Indra].

3. I Wanna Spiderman
With all due respect to the lyricist Kandikonda, the song should have started off as ‘I want a Spiderman’ than ‘I wanna Spiderman’. Wanna, in normal usage of English, means ‘want to’ and not ‘want a’. That aside, this song barely passes a muster. Naveen and Rita sing this song. Must say that Naveen’s singing is impressive.

4. Taubare Tauba
This is another okay number in this album. Written by Anantha Sriram, SPB and Sunitha sing this one that is centered on marriage.

5. Suryudei Selavani
After Nenu Saitham [Tagore], Kanabadaleda [Bunny], Suddala Ashok Teja comes up with yet another powerful song. There is no singer today other than SPB who could have done full justice to this song. Though such songs have a greater effect on screen than when heard, Mani Sharma garnishes this song with an arousing orchestration and the mrityunjaya mantra.

6. Parare Parare
Mani has loaded this one with a variety of beats that it has ample scope for Chiru to literally play it to the galleries. Added to that, Shankar Mahadevan’s gusto filled rendition suits this song to the T. If Anantha Sriram continues to write such good lyrics, incorporating the virtues of donating eyes and blood, then he is bound to give Chandrabose a run for his money because thus far, Chandrabose has been ruling the roost in penning lyrics to such songs.

To cut a long story short, this album, though selling like hot cakes, offers songs that, at best, are just about okay. They may have a better appeal once the movie is out and is successful, like Pokiri. But one aspect where Mani Sharma really shines in this album, overall, is the way he packages each song with nice orchestration. He throws out his usual beats and brings in new beats and musical arrangement. Wish he had delivered better tunes as well.

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