Arare pasi manasa concocts a Nayagan-style Nila Adhu with accordion and guitar, while Sye andre naanu seems too techno for the kind of street-smart feel it attempts, though Shreya’s vocals are flawless. SPB’s epic title song is an expansive, musical story-telling by Mani Sharma! Spicy spicy girl‘s passable bounce is vintage Mani, as much as [...]

The Darbaari Kaanada’ish Extra Ordinary is funny and funky… and superbly sung by Hemachandra. Melikalu sees Mani at his standard commercial self – mixes multiple genres and every line sounds like the hook! Joramochindi too is template all the way – catchy, retro-style tune served remix-style with faux folk sound. Pillai choosthey is the kind [...]

Mani Sharma skilfully tones down the Bappi’ness of Gang Leader’s Vaana vaana in its remix, and maintains a nice blend of Bollywood and Telugu sound. Dillaku dillaku and Oka paadam are shockingly similar to Harris Jayaraj’s material – the former owes it to Anniyan’s Randakka, while the latter, despite the harmonica similarity, holds a lot [...]

Almost atom bomb (!) present an interesting dilemma – should we cringe on the lyrics or the overtly familiar tune and musical pieces? Marumallelle la is predictable too, but has a lovely lilt that’s unique to Mani Sharma! Haricharan’s Na prema kathaku has intriguingly catchy pathos, while Singapore (!) is pathetic item material. Puduthune solo [...]

Mani Sharma appropriates the already delightful Chor bazari from the original to create an equally likeable Aale bale! Karunya’s Vayyarala has an intentionally packaged, nice old-worldly charm to it. Chiguru boniya and Barbi bommaki are standard Mani fare; booming, lively orchestration with the tunes going nowhere. Sri Ganga is interesting – mixes the devotional, and [...]

Thaliya thaliya offers the perfect platform for NTR Jr to showcase yet another song with moving-the-shirt-collar-up-and-down dance movement, while Prema desam is just functional regurgitated Mani Sharma melody. Mathileka pichiga fares slightly better – assembly-line Andhra-style ‘cowboy’ music. Between the 2 chants, Mahishasura Mardhini‘s ambient remix works superbly, compared to the filmy and rasping Maha [...]

Hello Everybody opens with music strangely similar to Band Baaja Baaraat’s Tarkeebein, but goes on to become a standard, catchy hero-intro song. Padha padha goes massy, and even its hook is stale; much like the pointlessly recycled Sadaymiya. Olla has minimal, interesting techno arrangements, but the tune is awful. Nathone nuvvu forced pathos sounds more [...]

Figaru rehashes Okkadu’s Hare rama and it continues to work well, barring cringe-worthy lyrics. Post that, having lost track of all of Mani Sharma’s rehashes, the ones that stand out are Kangalal – a spiffy melody handled in true Mani style and Poove poove, a Rahul Nambiar solo that, again, is perfectly in sync with [...]

Jai jai ram is almost like a cut and paste job from numerous other Mani Sharma songs and results in a dated song; Vijay Yesudas is the only saving grace. Yemi debbaro is similar and in a sense, even worse; with a familiar hook like that, what else do you expect? Naatu kodi koora is [...]

Sada siva starts the soundtrack nicely – a simple, hummable tune backed by ambient, world music’ish backgrounds. Ranjith aces Taxi, an underground’ish track with groovy sounds, while Sunday Monday‘s highlight is the retro touch added occasionally; the tune is definitely not. That applies to Makathika and Bhoom shakana too – work solely for their orchestration [...]