- Sreya Sunil

Victory Venkatesh's Vasu is inarguably one of the eagerly awaited movies of this year. Riding high on the stupendous success of Nuvvu Naaku Nachhav, Venky is attempting a musical love story in Vasu with Karunakaran wielding the megaphone. After sending enough sparks with a scintillating score for Cheli, this is Harris Jayaraj's first direct Telugu movie. That he comes out as a winner or not will be discussed later but he surely has found a secure place in the hearts of Telugu song lovers.

1. Sporty boys, spicy girls (Listen)
Sung by KK, Clinton, Tippu and Chorus this is Venky's introduction song in the movie. First things first, it is such a relief to hear somebody other than Shankar Mahadevan croon the hero introduction song. With some funky beats and cool lyrics (like sporty boys, spicy girls, by Sahiti) tugged in, this song calls for a decent hearing. Don't be astonished by the wild desires of the hero and co. like 'rainbow ekkesi volley ball aadudaam, suryidine o striker chesi carroms adeddam' because they also say 'mana kandalo balam vunadi burralo yama telivi vunadi ee rendu okataithe eduru inka emundi'.

2. Vaale Vaale (Listen)
This song starts off with drumbeats akin to those in 'Telu kuttina tenali lo' song of Super Police and continues with that hangover. Sung by SPB, Chitra and Karthik, this one is aimed at the masses and lyrics by Pothula Ravi Kiran do full justice in that regard. Very ordinary song with maximum usage of drums.

3. O Prema (Listen)
This is a breezy song with a nice rhythm. Though Devan goes overboard at times, he does a decent job. But his forced pronunciation of 'O' while singing the words 'O Prema' makes u wish he were not so 'o'verexcited. Again the lyrics are by Pothula Ravi Kiran and he does a good job writing about the feelings of a guy in love for the first time.

4. Navvave Ammayi (Listen)
Raghavendra starts off sounding like Udit Narayan making you check back the inlay card of the cassette, wondering if the strong criticism for Udit Narayan these days has forced to replace his name with somebody else's. Nevertheless, Raghavendra and Chitra infuse life into this above average song. Sirivennela brings out the feelings of the guy about the 'cheti sparsa' of his girlfriend wonderfully.

5. Paataku Praanam (Listen)
A fast-paced, high voltage song with full of life where Pothula Ravi Kiran attempts to give new definition to love but leaves a lot to be desired. KK, who usually sings sad songs for hindi movies screams oops sings this song along with Swarnalatha. Though drum beats in this song remind us of 'ayyayo, ilavo….mangta hain kya bolo' song in Rangeela, Harris does a very good job in this song.

6. Paadana Teeyaga (Listen)
Ah! What a climax. This one song is worth the money you shell out for this album. Soaked in pure melody, this song transports you to a different world altogether. No matter how many new singers come into field, SPB still rules the roost. He is the soul of this song. Harris almost rises to the levels of melody mellifluously created by maestro Ilayaraja in 'Priyatama' song of Prema. This song surely is the pick of the album. Pothula Ravi Kiran dishes out very good lyrics.

So was Vasu's musical score worth the wait? Yes, of course! In the very first hearing all the songs might sound very average but they just grow on you gradually. With Harris Jayaraj's wonderful score, the battle for Vasu is half won. Hope Venky's sincere performance, Bhoomika's oomph and Karunakaran's novel concept of a musical saga make Vasu end with a good note as its music.