Tuneega Tuneega (Music review), Telugu – Karthik Raja

Hats off Brahma is an exotic concoction; Tippu is fabulous with his singing and Karthik Raja’s music is layered and thoroughly engrossing even beyond that generic sound that occasionally hints at Gupt’s Bechainiyaan! Mike testing‘s pulsating stadium rock style music is a great listen too, with Ranjith thoroughly enjoying his singing. The catchy title song is easily singer Balaji’s show, even as Karthik Raja’s clever percussion work stands out as the song progresses. Ahistha ahistha‘s techno sound evokes mild interest, but as a tune, it works intermittently. Dhigu dhigu jabilee is Ilayaraja playing peekaboo in his son’s music – enchanting music for a beautiful tune; Karthik has a ball singing this one! Dhoodi pinja lanti pilla and Pedavanchullo prema both hold Yanni-style music that works wonders in Karthik Raja’s imagination! The former, a Latino-infused pathos track sounds fantastic, while the latter, a short variant of Dhigu dhigu jabilee is hauntingly beautiful. Merise ninge is short, folksy and superbly sung by the ladies chorus. For a composer forced into a sabbatical by lack of commercial success, Tuneega Tuneega is a superb comeback. KarthikRaja’s music is fresh and vastly different from his usual sound – looks like he has used his break well!

Keywords: Tuneega Tuneega, Tooneega Tooneega, Karthik Raja, Karthikraja, #200, 200

Note: As Jerome Vinod points out in the comments, the title song owes a LOT to Lemon Tree’s ‘Fool’s Garden’. This IS massively disappointing.