SPYDER Audio Review

Movie:             Spyder (స్పైడర్ )
Producer(s):   N. V. Prasad,Tagore Madhu,Manjula Swaroop
Cast:               Mahesh Babu,Rakul Preet Singh,S. J. Surya
Direction:       AJ Murugadoss
Music:            Harris Jayraj

Lyrics:            Ramajogayya Sastry

AJ Murugadoss has a tremendous track record from Tagore to Ghazini to Thuppaki. He is teaming with Mahesh and SJ Surya who plays antagonist (a director by himself) in this bi-lingual film called Spyder.( not Spider ) as its a Spy Thriller. This movie is slated to be released on 27th September to cash in Dasara vacation crowd. As per the latest trend the songs are released one by one and finally the jukebox getting released with an event. This probably brings more cash to producers and also the publicity. So far its working well.

Mahesh babu's fans are eagerly waiting for this thriller as they are in need of a success after latest debacle in the form of Brahmotsavam. They are hoping that their hero will bounce back with this film.

Being a bi-lingual film, obviously as Murugadoss has earlier worked with Harris Jayraj before, he was roped in to provide music again for this movie too. Ramajogayya Sastry got a single card for this movie as he wrote all 4 songs. This album as as many as songs and one theme track. Lets see how songs did.  

1) Boom Boom
Nikhita Gandhi

Seems like title song. Everything about the lead character.  Only if one can understand what Ramajogayya Sastry wrote and what Nikita Gandhi sang. Some rhyming words here and there and some repeated words here and there, the lyricist figured out this can make a hit song. This song appears like a break song not in the terms of tuning, but the sentence broken into pieces to make it sound different. Song sounds alien to Telugu, but Spider is not. Harris Jayraj provides electrifying interludes to compensate the issues of the song so far. Hogwarts is an imaginary school of witchcraft ( Singer sounded like Hogwards ) . This contradicts what is said that hero can do so far. Or its hinted that Hero is a witch in this movie or he has some powers like Harry Poter? Movie will tell. Tayyarai (తయ్యారై), The singer sounded it like తయ్య రాయ్.  No need to wonder, these kinds of issues are to be ignored in this album. Lately when few movies are made multi lingual the issues in songs is clearly visible like this one. Bottom line, they sound alien to Telugu. But that shouldnt deter the listeners mainly fans. They could just go for the tune Harris provided, which will appeal to them. 

2) Ciciliya Ciciliya
Hari Charan & Sakthi Shree

This song sounds different right from the start. Goru Vecha is not two different words. Not sure when singers will understand Telugu songs. Each word have its own meaning. Lyricists like RJS claim that they take utmost care to see words are said right, but we dont see the effort at all. Harris infuses the tap dance style in between. Then get backs to the original style. Sakthi Sree when singing the first charanam after Haricharan lines, sounds odd. " naa deha desam nee sparsa kosam, nee chilipi mosam its OK mousam" BTW what RJS did to write these lines, defined the words kosam, mousam and added desam?? Crazy.. The interludes are done differently by Harris. The word cicilia and the instruments attached to this word are good to listen. Pandora poolu, This song has mix of many styles of music, rightly mixed and it sounds good. And the ciciliya is catchy and gets hooked instantly to listeners. However Ramajoggayya sastry known for bringing in the catchy phrases that youth can get hooked up uses many such phrases, but overall what they mean to the song is really what people look for and its hard to find something in these lyrics other than filling up with some catchy phrases. Like Pandora Puvvulu, gunde window, pedavanchu samaram, chekumuki muddulu,  Individually these are technically right, but how they make upto a complete sentence into a meaningful lyric is a question. Having said that, this song is catchy and will catch-up instantly. 

3) Haali Haali

Brijesh Tripati Sandilya, Harini & Jogi Sunitha

Putchakaya, putchakaya, what a start of the song. This song reminds few other songs. Not sure this is intentional. Atleast in first charanam, it appears like rehash. The surprise element of this song is that both singers couldn't say "Chunni" they said Chuni. There has to be same lyric provided to both songs or the origin of the issue might be same. Ramajogayya Sastry garu, when criticized by MM Keeravani, justified that people are not making them write good lyrics so they are not able write to inspite of having abundant talent. This song needs one more justification from the lyricist. This song not only sounds alien to Telugu, the words used are too funny. There is a saying that the choice of words defines the standard of the lyricist. He has a fetish on "Dindu". Earlier in Kabali as talagada and now as dindu.. :) :) Coming to singers, they made this song sound as much as non-native as they can. Purely the lyrics have to be ignored if one has to like this song. Which is not possible while listening Telugu song, so better to listen to Tamil version if one likes the tune. Not to bring in any new controversy, but this is unfortunate fact, as the way singers sang, its better that way instead of feeling different after listening to song in Telugu.

4) Achcham Telugandam
Pravin Saivi, Christopher Stanley & Sathya Prakash

Acham Telugandam the way it is said, people loose interest on Telugu. A lyric that has other than this word, doesn't have anything beyond that as this is typical Tenglish words. One can learn different measuring instruments from this song. This goes with that formula of explaining these instruments to measure different things. Not sure why to write the song as Acham Telugu beauty when nothing  sounds Telugu in this song. Probably song is little Telugu when Satya Prakash sings this song. Confucius, mysterious, gorgeous, Obscurus. Sounds like an English person's reaction watching a Telugu lady. Seems like Lyricist has referred to lot of Harry porter literature before writing these songs. Forced accent and details of instruments will not make this song appeal. But not sure these days anything on repeated hearing is working. This might too.

5)  Spyder On Mission
Harris Jayaraj

Theme music nothing much to say. Something related to title music and short bit. 

Pick(s) of the album: Ciciliya Ciciliya

This album is for sure not an instant hit. Might grow on repeated listening as with all latest movies. Harris tried to provide different music. People might get it as a different album. However this song miserably fails on lyrical department and also singing department. These two being critical departments probably let down Harris Jayraj, not sure whether he had choice to choose different persons in these departments. This movie has enough craze in fans and non-fans not sure how they embrace these songs. Probably movie will change the fate of these songs. Since its bi-lingual, people can try different route too. However Harris Jayraj has very limited success rate in Telugu as a whole, sometimes even though music worked, the movie failed miserably, sometimes even though movie worked, his music didn't work. Hope this movie will be the later scenario.

Arjun Reddy Audio Review

Movie:             Arjun Reddy (అర్జున్ రెడ్డి )

Producer(s):   Pranay Reddy Vanga

Cast:               Vijay Devarakonda,  Kanchana, Shalini Pandey

Direction:        Sandeep Reddy Vanga

Music:             Shakthikanth Karthick

Slated as intense action love drama, Arjun Reddy movie created a lot of buzz and sensation the way the title is created, the posters, teasers are released. Vijay Devarakonda is obviously on high note after pelli choopulu movie which was followed by critically acclaimed Yevade Subrahmanyam. This movie seems to have broken many Telugu film barriers and created intense anxiety among the movie goers. Debutant Sandeep Vanga has directed the movie. Obviously everyone is looking forward to this movie. Probably its first time in recent times, that a hero is depicted doing many things that werent meant to be done by a hero. This movie started in June 2017 and slated to be released August 25th. 

Radhan had 3 tamil movies, 3 Telugu movies so far. This will be his fourth Telugu film. After making debut with Andaala Rakshashi, he got noticed with Evade Subrahmanyam. Not sure he got noticed again with Raadha, but this movie had got some recognition due to good promotions of the movie and the buzz it created with the first teaser. 

Lets see how Radhan offered the songs. There are 4 songs released on youtube by Aditya music and hope there will an official release function for this movie. 


1. Madhurame
Lyrics: Shresta
Singer: Sameera Bharadwaj

The song starts on a classical note followed by techno tune. However from 1:32 to 1:52, and thereon shows the huge difference between the original instrument and the techno instrument. Radhan, Shresta, Sameera did their job well, to make this song to get stuck with listeners. Sameera worked with Radhan earlier in movie Radha. There are few minor issues, but this song having many positives will cover it up. The techno, classic mix with classic part dominating most of the song makes this even more pleasant. Radhan took care on how the lyrics are said, "Bharaale" was said well which is missing these days. However not sure why Radhan had to use auto tuner at few places, I am not sure whether Sameera was not comfortable at those notes. Shresta used some good phrases in the songs to bring in the mood of the situation probably in the movie, as the visuals show most of it is between lead pair. Radhan has done good in most of the places in the song. Even though most of the song goes on classical mood, he takes immediately to the modern music by adding pace to the song. Overall a good song to listen, singing is good, they lyrics are good and song made in evergreen classical mode. Song should work with listeners. 

2. Emitemitemito

Singer : Alphonse

Lyrics :  Anantha Sriram

Radhan after giving a good first song immediately switches the gear to modern era of music complete contrast to what he offered in first song. This song has all sorts of differences. Alphonse had done probably the way he was asked. He breaks the words, singing style is different, probably to suit the pattern of the song. However if one hears this song first and Madhurame later, the impact of later on this song will be clearly visible. Alphonso could have done at few places in the song, he looked at few places clueless and pale. However Radhan attempted a different song, should fit well in the movie. Listeners should get attached to the song as it will grow on repeated hearings. Initially one might not connect to the song. For sure Radhan did offer a different song. 

3. The Breakup Song

Singer : Revanth

Lyrics :Rambabu Gosala

Radhan offered this song to Revanth and it seems this is not of comfort zone of Revanth. He did try his best but it doesn't sound Revanth. The discomfort is audible clearly at many places. Aa ninnale Nanu choosi, Here Nanu in the tune got modified. Radhan should have taken care of this song a little bit more, as again he offered this song in different genre. Probably the experience will help Radhan to fix the minor issues like these and others to take the song to a different level. Probably he should take a clue here and there from ARR, who works on the song to give the quality which is clearly visible when we hear his songs. Once again a different song could have been better.

4. Mangaluru - Mussoorie

Singer : Nikhitha Gandhi

Lyrics :Anantha Sriram

Songs were made in this style before. But somehow this song appears fragile probably due to the singing. Something didn't work well to make this song pleasant. Probably the tone set by singer is not pleasant. Singer is at a different tone and chorus is different. Both didn't get in sync along with the music. They all were in their own little area. Song too appeared to end abruptly with a brief silence. Probably this song also will grow after repeated hearings. Singer for sure should have done better. Once again in-spite of something to offer, it was not made workable. 

Pick(s) of the album:  Madhurame, Breakup Song.  ( Emitemito will work on repeated hearings?? probably )

Radhan has offered something different from the crowd and has been successful in atleast couple of songs. A little bit care could have made this album perfect set 4 out of 4. However since the movie has to offer something different, so is music, Radhan had succeeded in that. Radha and Vijay had a good combination earlier so hope this one worked too. Wish to see people who have something to offer differently get more chances, instead of hearing same sounds, this will be a bit better. Wish the team a good success. 

Paisa Vasool Audio Review

Movie:             Paisa Vasool ( పైసా వసూల్ )
Producer(s):   V. Anand Prasad
Cast:               Balakrishna Nandamuri, Shriya Saran  
Direction:       Puri Jagannadh
Music:            Anup Rubens

After Gautami putra saatakarni, Balakrishna is on a super pace signing up films and even completing them. When he confirmed the movie with Puri Jagannadh fans were surprised at the choice. When Chiranjeevi himself didn't approve Puri for his 150, why would Balakrishna accept his story and offer the movie was the question. However there were mixed reactions when the teasers were released. And then with the controversies around the director and Charmee who was said to be involved in the movie as production of the movie, the movie took a different turn even though they have nothing to do with the movie itself. 

This movie is said to be an action-comedy movie donning Balakrishna in a different look. There was a complete makeover which indeed caused a surprise. The movie had the muhurtham shot in March and the movie is ready to be released in August. Thats the pace both Puri and Balakrishna are making movies these days.  Anup Rubens was roped in to music department with Bhaskarabhatla getting most of the songs. Balakrishna got good music for his earlier movie and given that most of songs in movies of Puri Jagannadh had become hit after movie has released. There are total 4 songs and a theme song. Lets see how these songs did. 

1. Paisa Vasool

Singer(s): Daler Mehendi, Uma Neha, Anurag Kulkarni

Lyrics: Bhaskarabhatla Ravi Kumar

Will Daler Mehendi's voice fit Balakrishna? His voice was feeble, strained at many places. It lacked the power when saying Paisa Vasool even when chorus was added. Since the song was made in Bhangra style, Daler Mehendi was chosen, but he is not right fit for the song. He couldnt bring in any value to the song. Gundeelu teesi collar egareste paisa vasool.. vasool vasool paisa vasool.. The title song says it all. Bhaskarabhatla has written formula based lyrics to say something about the hero. Anup did something to in the middle which looked very odd, when Daler was saying Kal aaja soniya, then ahh.. This whole thing didnt work. Anup might have lost the thought of what to do here. This song for sure will receive mixed reactions, mass/fans might like it, but hard to impress music lovers.

2. Kannu Kannu Kalisai..

Singer(s): Anup Rubens, Jithin, Sree Kavya Chandana 

Lyrics: Bhaskarabhatla Ravi Kumar

The nasal voice of Anup(Jithin??), and careless singing probably took away the good feeling of the song. He took liberty to kill the otherwise good song he made. Hate when music directors do that to the song by singing themselves and kill the song. The tune in the interlude is heard in an old song and the tune that follows the singers later in the song is for sure rehash. 

It is tough to tell, what any one tried to contribute to make song be heard different. The place at which Kannu kannu kalisayi, is said by Anup and the change in rhythm appeared to be done as a mistake, as it didn't work very well. Female singer also was not up-to mark. She misses to make her mark. Overall a good song messed up by singers by purely careless singing. Bhaskarabhatla did his job fine. He got a chance to deviate himself from mass/catchy numbers.

3. Mama Ek Peg La...

Singer(s): Balakrishna Nandamuri, Divya Divakar

Lyrics: Bhaskarabhatla Ravi Kumar

Balakrishna sings this song by himself or rather we can say he said the lyrics with tune. There was a video that came out while recording this song. Balakrishna seemed to have enjoyed singing this song. The question is whether audience will enjoy the same way Balakrishna enjoyed singing this song. Nagini Dance, is what chorus keep saying in pattern of gangham dance. 

Mama ek peg laa is for sure catchy. His fans will embrace song saying "picha pichaga nachinde". Pakka mass song, with energy coming in from the beats. Bhaskarabhatla has created a drinks sitting environment with this song, probably a scenario rightly to fit the song in the movie. The reference of nagini, is related to the tune in the interlude. Overall a mass song that is for mass and fans. Balayya was his usual self one has to sync with him to enjoy the song. Probably this will be song for his fans when they have a drink sittings.

4. Padamari

Singer(s): Mano, Geetha Madhuri

Lyrics: Pulagam Chinnarayana

Mano sings this song, where he reminds an old Kishore Kumar song. With auto tuner, both voices are messed up, badly for Mano and helping Geetha Madhuri. I feel these kind of songs are not for Geeta Madhuri, but when one has a good hit song that got award, these type of songs keep coming to the same singer. The way she struggles to sing the lines after making an entry to song is pathetic for such a singer who has been singing so many songs. 

However this song has absolutely nothing new to offer. Anup again doesn't have to offer anything new. He just rehashes something for us. Another mass song, with right beats, patterns, added with Mano's energy and vigor. Song will be in different dimension till Geeta Madhuri enters the song. Then she takes down the song to a different level. Pulagam Chinnarayana has nothing to offer in this song, given the situation he was given. Probably he would have been a given a song to write for a different scenario. As long as Mano is singing this song appears good. 

5. Theda Singh (Theme Song)

As per movie grapevine, seems like originally this was the title chosen for the movie, but changed to Paisa vasool as fans didn't like it. Probably this was already filmed, by the time movie title was changed. Then it might have become the theme song, else could have been the title song. Teaser, Trailer show Balakrishna in a different make over and this song shows the same. Music wise and song content wise nothing special to mention.

Pick(s) of the album: Mama Ek Peg le, Padhamari. ( Kannu Kannu would have been in the list if singers were different )

I guess the need of hour for Puri Jagannadh is that he will need the movie to talk for itself, given the other things going on with him that were getting talked more than anticipated. A part from that is not getting real good success at the box office with his films lately ( Temper being an exception ).  Balakrishna seemed to be enjoying his late prime time signing films at a pace that seems to be not possible for most of the actors given his age. Music for this movie has not been a criteria for the success and it didn't help either. Balakrishna should go back to either Kalyani Malik or Manisharma or a different director as modern music makers have no clue about real mass song sound like. They can only add techno flavor to the songs, but can never bring the real mass feeling in the songs. Having said that this album lacks many things that Balakrishna fans would want from his movies. Anup not sure whether he played it safe by choosing beaten tunes or he was not asked to provide something different. Anyways songs of Puri movies doesn't make much impact for him, so fans have to wait for the movie.

Fidaa Audio Review

Movie:             Fidaa ( ఫిదా )

Producer(s):   Dil Raju

Cast:               Varun Tej, Sai Pallavi  

Direction:        Shekar Kammula

Music:             Shakthikanth Karthick

Fidaa is the latest offering by Shekar kammula and Varun Tej from Dil Raju's banner. This movie is heard for quite some time, and the teaser brought everything together. After Duvvada Jagannadham and before that Shatamanam Bhavati, Dil Raju is flying high, contrast to Varun and Shekar. Both of them are struggling and wanting a huge hit. Time will resolve whether both will get success or not. Shekar's earlier movies Anamika and Life is Beautiful didnt work at box office. Even though Leader was critically acclaimed, I guess it too didnt work at box office. Similarly Varun Tej is looking for decent hit as his earlier film loafer sunk without a trace at box office. In this context getting to work with Golden Hand producer Dil Raju is for sure a blessing in disguise for them to hope they will get some too from him.

Shekar's movies always had good music be it Godavari, or Anand or happy days. He had a great luck to be working with Radhakrishna, Veturi garu for offering really good songs. Now he has to work with different lyricists and a debutant Shakthikanth Karthick.  Shekar's movies music offered good mesmerizing lyrics like "Raama chakkani seetaki" and good songs like Godavari, where SPB gave some good songs. Even in Leader he used "Maa Telugu Talliki" very effectively. However without those technicians, can he offer what he offered before is a question that this album will answer. Lets see how he did.

This album has 6 songs, 2 written by Vanamali, One by Sirivennela, One by Suddala Ashok Teja, and the rest by Chaitanya Pingali. One song wonder Madhupriya sings a song. Hemachandra gets to sing 2 songs. Rest are relatively new voices. Lets start the album

1. Vachinde

Lyrics: Suddala Ashok Teja

Singer(s): Madhu Priya, Ramky

Suddala Ashok Teja wears a different cap writing this song. This song is noisy and loud, doesn't sound pleasant at many places. A simple song would have clicked. On top MadhruPriya was not singing in her comfortable zone so she doesn't sound right. Singing wise she has to mature a lot. At few places she was good, but there are many places like Venna poosa, magavallu, dinner annade, date annade, needs lot of improvement in singing. Did Lead artists selection was based on this song or Teja garu wrote the lyrics looking at the lead pair wrote "Tana mundu nichena esi ekkite andade". This song is good intermittently and gets lost in between lacking consistency. Chorus was not clear at all in saying words., contrast to Shekar Kammula's songs where he gives important to words how they are heard. Overall this song leaves listeners confused to like or not. People can get connect probably in the movie. Singing could have been definitely better. 

2. Edo Jaruguthondi

Lyrics: Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry

Singer(s): Aravind Srinivas, Renuka

Elevated pitch songs always doesn't work. This song reminds earlier songs of Shekar Kammula. Not sure whether he asked for it or the scene in the movie inspired? The lyrics are contrast to the tune. Some dis-connectivity between the mood of the lyrics and tune of the song. I guess too much add-ons have complicated the song and will confuse the listener. Aravind Srinivas doesn't do proper justice to the song as he falls flat on many gamakas and extensions. eda not Edha, edara, not edhara types of mistakes are common these days. Sirivennela garu typical phrases like vintunnaava naa mounaanni,, will enthrall as usual. Tempo should have been slower for this song so that the right mood might have been carried. The song is unnecessarily loud and the lyrics are lost too. Some how couldnt enjoy this song. This song for sure defies to be part of Shekar Kammula's album.

3. Hey Pillagaada

Lyrics: Vanamali

Singer(s): Sindhuri & Sinov Raj

Song starts with yesteryear song tune and the interludes continue with the same song. But there after this song goes in a different route. This might be driven by Shekar. Probably this will be better made song so far in the album and reason obviously is the yesteryear touch. Vanamali who have been having issues with Dubbing movies, have done decent in the song. Sinov Raj could have done better compared to Sindhuri who was ok.  The expressions by Sindhuri for Pillagaada, , gunde kaada, Monagaada are nice. Her voice is different and gels with the song well. Sinov Raj helps Sindhuri, so looks fine. A mix of folk and yesteryear song with classical touch, makes this song stand different from other songs. 

4. Oosupodu

Lyrics: Chaithanya Pingali

Singer(s): Hemachandra

Reminds of Hindi Song here and there but thats just probably an inspiration. Again not all songs should have to be at higher notes. Only few songs will work at that level. This song should have been pleasant but doesn't sound like that. Did I forget Hemachandra's voice? He sounds all different in this song. He adopts to the modern singing very well, where its all high pitch, extending words, stressing at wrong places.. But this effected the sounding in the song, where he looks stressful. Thus lot of things are taken away from this song. Lately many lyricists are coming with different phrases usage. Some are good, some are falling flat basically proving the imagination of these young generations cannot go beyond a certain limit. Shakthikanth Karthick should have left Hemachandra sing in his own way. This is the key thing for composers that they should get the best of good singers not less. 

5. Hey Mister

Lyrics: Vanamali

Rap lyrics: MC Chetan

Singer(s): Deepak

Once again Vanamali, Deepak probably is a wrong choice for this song. He has many basic issues with singing. The backdrop for the song is USA, so the address rhymes to USAee.. A routine song with rap obvious for a song in USA backdrop. Ye, Aha, Uh,Uh, are not really required for every rap. Thats some misunderstanding obviously. Why these singers struggle at higher notes is a big question. Nothing specific to the song that stands out. One situational song nothing to have fun hearing it. 

6. Fidaa

Lyrics: Chaithanya Pingali

Singer(s): Hemachandra, Malavika

What happened to Hemachandra?? Why his singing changed? Is he asked to sing like that or the song demanded to make him sing like that or his singing style changed due to lack of opportunities/touch? Enta dooramo ilaa, Enni Daarulo, Pade Pade oka maate, Many places like that were not at his best. Hemachandra is good singer, and he doesn't sound like that in this song. He sounds like a fresher. Its a total disappointment from him and the composer. Again this song would have been better if enough care was taken by makers. Malavika also was not comfortable to be heard in this song. 

Pick(s) of the album: Hey Pillagaada, Oosupodu, 

Shekar Kammula disappoints with this album given the standards he set in his earlier movies. This movie is no where close to any of those albums. His movies like Anand, Godavari were rich in musical content,lyrical  content and singing. Here we miss all of them. Singing is weak, music is not up-to the standards he set before. Lyrics were not that good compared to earlier albums. This is very unfortunate. Here is where we miss Veturi garu. Its clearly visible on lyrical front. Probably singers like SPB garu too for a song or two. Once again, we understand what we were missing on Songs front.

Probably this album would remain as the lowest of Shekar's albums so far. If this is just to music its fine, but if this is same as movie making, then tough days ahead for Shekar. Hope thats not right and he continues to make sensible movies. 

On a side note, Shekar along with many others film makers these days, took the appeasement route to add in a region based content which he earlier limited to dialogs now extended to lyrics. When any Mandalikam/words that are used in particular area/region comes natural it is always good and it clicks, but forcefully injecting and faking in saying of it always back-fires. Hope movie makers take a note of it.