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Audio Reviews
Classmates - Audio Review
By NaChaKi
Apr 19, 2007 - 7:25:00 AM

Sri Sravanthi Movies
Classmates

Producers: 'Sravanthi' Ravikishore
Director: K. Vijayabhaskar
Music Director: Koti
Audio Rights: Aditya Music
Lyrics: sirivennela Seetarama Sastry
Playback: Hemachandra (1); Tippu, S.M.K. Sai, Chorus (2); Mallikharjun, Anjana Sowmya, Chorus (3); Hemachandra, Sandeep, Kausalya, Chaitra (4); Chaitra (5)

Rating: 4.25/5

Summary:
Melody lovers, and people who like Seetarama Sastry's lyrics (a large group, I'd believe, if not all the Telugu film song audience!), will be impressed with the album. Some songs require repeated hearing, but most of them make you feel like listening repeatedly. There are no apparent mispronunciations in the renditions, which is a good thing.

gunDe chaaTugaa inni naaLLugaa unna oohalannee... (Duration: 4:28 minutes) (Rating: 3.75/5)

Playback: Hemachandra sings the song neatly, except that his modulation at the start of some lines is flat. He is less faulty with pronunciation, except that he pronounces both the types of "cha" the same way. He also needs to concentrate on pronouncing each letter with the necessary emphasis. The ending of the song is particularly impressive.
Mispronunciations: choopanaa Lyric: The depiction of beautiful nature and desire to befriend the same is notable in the first charaNam (second stanza) of the song. The call "nannu chEragaa daari choopanaa renDu chEtulaaraa!" to the stars is impressive.

Tune/Interlude/BGM: The tune is catchy, but is used as is from the original Malayalam movie.

naranaraallO utsaaham urakalEsE yuvataram... (Duration: 4:37 minutes) (Rating: 3.75/5)

Playback: Tippu and Sai fill life into the song, backed by the chorus. Tippu is quite at ease in his Telugu rendition now. Lyric: This is a campaign song sung by confident, optimistic youth contesting in the college election. Thus, the content is as prosaic as it needs to be, yet being in the poetic style of the veteran writer. The theme condemns separatist/dividing ideas and hollow promises of political minds, while hinting that the college politics will shape future politicians. Wordplay is notable. Lines like "teliyadaa maa guNam, viluvalE maa balam" depicts the confidence of the characters.

Tune/Interlude/BGM: The theme of the song requires the pace of the song, but the orchestration seems to be of the '80s. It's possibly because the theme of the movie sets the college life ten years ago. The tune sometimes reminds of Sandeep Chowta's composition "saahasamE cheyyaraa Dhimbakaa" (Chandra Lekha).

mounamenduku, maaTaaDavenduku... (Duration: 5:27 minutes) (Rating: 4.25/5)

Playback: The female singer's rendition suited the mood of the song perfectly well. Mallikharjun modulates to the melody suitably too. Lyric: The "silent expression of love" shapes freshly yet another time in Seetarama Sastry's composition. It's interesting to see so many differently written songs for the same theme by the same writer. Who else can write tender lines such as "enta kuTTinaa kevvumanadE, puvvu pommanTundaa tEneTeegani?"!

Tune/Interlude/BGM: The semi-classical tune reminds of several songs of the past, in different parts, some of them with a similar theme as this song. The interludes are impressive, thanks to the orchestration. All said, this melody can keep haunting the audience for a while, and the catchy tune extends the life of the song too.

bhugOLamtO bantaaTa aaDaalandi mana paadam... (Duration: 4:08 minutes) (Rating: 3.75/5)

Playback: The quartet sings the song with all the enthusiasm required by the theme. Everyone is rightly chosen, one feels. Lyric: The theme, and the first line, seem to remind one of the popular number "jagaDa jagaDa jagaDam..." (Geethanjali). However, the flavor of this lyric is different. The forceful and recklessly confident attitude in that number is replaced by a tender, innocent, yet confident attitude in this song. In fact, the song's pallavi give an immediate idea that this lyric depicts the youthful enthusiasm - "paDi lEstU mana venakaalE taDabaDipOtunTE kaalam aanandObrahma andi mana vEgam!" sing the youth that happily moves faster than time itself! The feelings and ways of youth are perfectly represented in the song, particularly notable are lines such as "kalala lOgiLLa adbhutam edurayE daakaa vetukudaam padamandi navayavvanamlO pasitanam... 'dorukutundaa?' ani aDagadE mana nammakam!"

Tune/Interlude/BGM: The interlude is a classical bit that attracts melody lovers in the first hearing itself. The tune might need some repeated hearing to catch up. The BGM matches the pace needed.

gunDe chaaTugaa inni naaLLugaa unna oohalannee... (Duration: 4:26 minutes) (Rating: 3.5/5)

Playback: Young singer Chaitra sounds sweet. At places, the voice shows off her age, and sometimes her voice is high-pitched still, but on the whole, it's all quite appreciable a rendition. Lyric: The same lyric as the male version is used for this version too.

Tune/Interlude/BGM: The same tune used for the male version is reused. Only the ending of the song differs, and is nearly as impressive too.

By NaChaKi