Yerra mirapallo, despite Shankar Mahadevan’s spirited vocals, sounds utterly commonplace. GV Prakash Kumar gets behind the mike in Raa chilaka and his effortless singing does add value to the pleasant tune, with the backgrounds mixing almost world music’ish sounds with native rhythms. Pilla works even better, in Ranjith’s vocals and a catchy melody to go [...]

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 [...]

NW1W. After a thoroughly enjoyable Happy Happyga, that is a shocker. I couldn’t find even one song redeeming!

Yeduraiyeh is standard Manisharma material, but works instantly, thanks to Rahul Nambiar and a catchy tune! Navvalante continues the impressive orchestral streak, as Haricharan and Rita work their charm in this lovely melody. With its qawali’sh outlook Aagleka is a decent listen too, while Hemachandra pours his heart out in the tuneful Madhuranubhavama that features [...]

Tappatloi seems straight out of Keeravani’s repertoire, and its catchy tune does help. Mauname chebutendi sounds like a nice, retro melody, but it is quite bland for comfort, while Yelelo is a strange mishmash, heading nowhere. Manisharma gets back to his forte in Nee navvey; simple, pleasant rhythms, but very unlike K Vishwanath’s style! Bailele [...]

Manisharma’s new soundtrack in Telugu, Kothimuka, is yet another NW1W material. The remix of the evergreen NT Rama rao song, Oohala gudsa gusa lade is pretty sad, and uses the same backgrounds as in Rahman’s Rangeela number, ‘Aiyayo’ – could be a commercial loop. The only song that has recall is the slow melody Nuvvoka [...]

Naan nadanthal works only because of its appealing, stylish rhythms even though the lyrics are beyond mundane. Siragadikkum nilavu is archaic Manisharma material, with rudimentary catchiness, while Thamizhan veera thamizhan is loud, pointless and silly. The composer reuses his Telugu Billa chartbuster, Bommayi ,as Thanjavoor jillaakaari; Hemachandra repeats his role and infuses life into the [...]