Shivas Productions Presents
MoonWater Pictures
Kudirithe Cup-pu Coffee (2011)

Producers: Mahi, Shiva
Director: Ramana Salva (debut)
Music Director: Yogeshwara Sharma
Audio Rights: Aditya Music
Lyrics: sirivennela Seetharama Shastry
Playback: S.P.B., Nihal & Chorus (); Chitra (); Hansika Iyer (); Ranjith & Balaji (); M.M. Keeravani & Chorus ()

Rating: 4.25/5

Summary:
Yogeshwara Sharma, son of the lyricist sirivennela Seetharama Shastry, debuts as a music director with this film after getting formally trained in music at London. For a first-timer, this is definitely a worth-noting entrace into the filmdom, and it has surely turned several heads not because of his familial relation with the veteran lyricist but because of the quality of his own work. With only one song that's a little over four minutes, all songs in the album are shorter than usual film songs and leaves one wanting for more. The debutant music director keeps it simple with his orchestra for most part; the interludes could have been richer. Seetharama Shastry's pen is at its best in nearly all songs, making it tough to write a short review, by skipping mention of several goodies in each lyric.

1. Sreekaaram chuDutunnaTTu kammani kalanaahwaanistU... (Duration: 3:42 minutes) (Rating: 4.5/5)
Playback: Nihal joins S.P.B. in this racy melody. Veteran singer Balu knows how exactly to render such songs, of course, and the experience shows very impressively. Nihal croons at the lead and at end of stanzas and keeps up the mood of the song.
Lyric: Based on rhyme and alliteration for most part, this song has some good expressions too. Certain references to dreams do suggest that this is a situational song. The lyric (sung by the protagonist, apparently) seems to hint that the dreamy heroine lives her life in dreams so much that she does not notice the real world around her so much. The way Seetharama Shastry links that to heroine's inattentiveness to the world to her own personality is interesting, saying laasyam puTTina ooru, laavaNyam peTTani pEru - lalanaa, telusO lEdO neekainaa nee tee~ru! Also can be seen is the contrast between the characterizations of the hero and heroine, particularly in the second charaNam (third stanza) when he sings there's no fun in simply counting the stars if you don't fly out to reach them and so on. vEkuvanE laakkocchETTu vennelatO daaram kaTTu is poetic and beautiful. The theme seems to make the comparison of the heroine to a day-blooming lotus ( naLini) and an ever-active doe ( hariNi) more apt than usual.
Tune/Interlude/BGM: The rhythm reminds of DeviSri Prasad's evarainaa epuDainaa... ( Aanandam) and the likes, but the resemblance helps this tune catch up with the audience at the first hearing. The minimal orchestration in the BGM and interludes is still impressive.

2. EdO EdO EdO EdO... ( ee lOkam Em choostOndO...) (Duration: 3:47 minutes) (Rating: 3.5/5)
Playback: Ranjith and Balaji are adequate, with both of them modulating their voices to suit the mood of the song.
Lyric: The pain in love is depicted in the song. Some expressions are very good. Lines like gaalivaaTamE gamanamani pa~rigeDitE, kaalakooTamE amRtamani porabaDitE... and praaNaalE pandem vEstU praayaannE aaTaaDinchE prEmanTE artham telisindO lEdO! sum it up considerably.
Tune/Interlude/BGM: The tune is okay, catchy only in parts; it's more gripping than emotional in its sounding though. This number has heavily-westernized orchestra, particularly for the BGM (compared to the rest of the songs in the album), proving the mettle of the music director in using western orchestra effectively too.

3. ataDilO EdO matalabu undE... (Duration: 3:57 minutes) (Rating: 4.0/5)
Playback: Hansika Iyer has the right modulation for the song. The way she drags certain letters (as per the tune) brings in nice effect.
Lyric: This song speaks about the hero's characterization in heroine's voice, as to how he's so inaccessible through feelings of love. Words like pailaapacchees, Etaavaataa, maDi which are rarely used in film songs find their place in this lyric appropriately. This song, like song #1, points at the contrasting characters of the lead pair.
Tune/Interlude/BGM: The whole tune catches up within a couple of times of listening but the first lines of every stanza are already catchy! The music bit that repeats at the end of each stanza is impressive.

4. anagaa anagaa anagaa... (Duration: 4:00 minutes) (Rating: 3.75/5)
Playback: Keeravani is an interesting choice for such a song. He's good in parts, but one cannot but wonder how a different singer might sound.
Lyric: A lyric about love stories in general, this song starts off drawing a parallel to a love story and the sky, saying undanTE unnaTTu, lEdanTE lEnaTTu aakaaSam laanTide prEmakatha - deeniki aadii antU unTE kadaa! (The emptiness of sky gives it the name Soonyam or luptam but it's also infinitely spread with no start or end... much like love that plays hide and seek.) The subsequent stanzas ( charaNaalu) have many more notable expressions, also pointing that love is a cycle that passes through the world over constantly. Rhymes like majnu- ghajani and expressions like chalimullu (for a raindrop) are typical of the veteran, but the reference to Ghajini in the context of a love story does not seem very apt (too many attempts?).
Tune/Interlude/BGM: The tune is catchy, and the orchestration and BGM are offbeat in this thematic composition. It may take a few hearings before it makes a marked impression though. (From the way the song sounds and from the content of it, one may be reminded of katha chebutaa, katha chebutaa... that's sung and enacted by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao during the titles of Singeetam-Kamal combo film Michael Madana Kamaraju.)

5 . andarlaagaa nEnU antE anukOvaalaa!... (Duration: 4:20 minutes) (Rating: 4.5/5)
Playback: Chitra's mellifluous voice is fresh as ever. Her modulation is very impressive too, particularly when she pronounces the word kaasini in the line veelaitE kaasini kaburulu, kudiritE cup-pu coffee... and in the way she ends the song. Also notable is her care in ensuring that words don't sound awkward when the tune breaks some words in the middle.
Lyric: gooDantaa khaaLii chEstU veLipOyina guvvallaa... is an innovative analogy for the female lead's dreams captured by the male lead's eyes/looks.
Tune/Interlude/BGM: The beat forms a sufficient basis for the melody, also forming the platform for the westernized vocals and instruments in the interlude. The tune is an instant winner. The interludes connect the stanzas appreciably, while the BGM is impressive in parts. The lead music, and the wind instruments and the humming in the interludes are particularly notable.

By NaChaKi