Reviews : Audio Reviews : SDZ

Gemini Film Circuit
Shankar Dada Zindabad (2007)
Producers: P. Kiran
Director: Prabhudeva
Music Director: DeviSri Prasad
Audio Rights: Aditya Music
Lyrics: DeviSri Prasad (1, 7); Bhaskarabhatla Ravikumar (2); Chandrabose (3); Sahiti (4, 5); Suddala Ashok Teja (6)
Playback: Shankar Mahadevan, Divya & Rap Darshan (1); Venu & Chitra (2); Mano, Chiranjeevi, Srikanth & DeviSri Prasad (3); Adnan Sami & Gopika Purnima (4); Naveen & Mamatha Mohandass (5); DeviSri Prasad, Sagar &Chorus (6); DeviSri Prasad, Chorus (7)

Rating: 3.75/5

Summary:
DeviSri Prasad does a pretty decent job with this prestigious project, delivering decent to good numbers. No song is too bad, though none of them are like "Grrrrreattt!" in the first hearing. Some of the songs catch up as you start hearing them more than a couple of times and you'd soon start humming some of the lines and/or tunes. However, the orchestra lacks freshness and so does the rhythm. Rest is all well; the movie's run might keep the songs on people's minds longer.

*Good morning, Hyderabad!* (Duration: 5:17 minutes) (Rating: 3.5/5)
Playback: Shankar Mahadevan is his usual. Divya is okay. Mispronunciations: ch appindi (only sometimes)	Lyric: Look at these lines: "ayyabObO, Emi choosinaa vinta vintagaa unTundE, Taj Mahal-ki picchipicchigaa rangulEsinaTTu! Ori naayanO, Edi vinnaa kottagaa anipistundE Ghantasala-E gontu maarchi rock paaDinaTTu!" – DeviSri does an appreciable job here as the lyricist too, one can observe! The lyric is also teasing, with lines such as "vanTa chEsE panitanamundO, vanDipeDitE tinipeDutundO...?" and regular, informal expressions like "danDanaka" (beat). Of course, there is also somewhat illogical usage such as this: "andamaina veeNa teega pai tEne jaarinaTTu!" The expression does convey some sweetness though unintended in the context, and ...viscous honey sliding over a metal string, hmm! And, is there the hero's mother in the movie, except in this song?
Tune/Interlude/BGM: The beat is quite okay, but it could possibly be better. The interludes are impressive. The tune is quite catchy.

*chandamaama kOsamE vEchi unna rEyilaa...* (Duration: 3:44 minutes) (Rating: 4.25/5)
Playback: Chitra... this goddess of melody probably should not even be reviewed! She's just the best, particularly when she says "veLLu" with such a cute expression of stubbornness. Venu is just adequate, but let's wait to see if his voice suits Chiranjeevi on the screen. Mispronunciations: The word venakaki breaks up into venna-kakki, partly because of the tune, but the singer could have covered it up.	Lyric: The song comes as the lead pair wakes through all night and as the hero plans to confess the truth to the heroine through a letter. Bhaskarabhatla proves his mettle in this one song that he pens for the movie. Do not flip through the song just like that without caring to listen catchy and cute expressions like "kaalamaa, veLLavE, naa mEnu laaga inta nemmadaa?!", "aDigitE cheppavu, aliginaa cheppavu!"... and this – "neetO unTUnTE, ninnE choostUnTE, reppE veyyakunDaa chEpapillalaa ...kaLLem veyyalEni aapE veellEni kaalam veLutOndi jinka pillalaa!" – What a rhyming, and what a meaning therein!
Tune/Interlude/BGM: This is a neat melody that goes possibly unnoticed in the first hearing, but hear it repeatedly and you'd start liking this song the best in the album, if you like melodies, that is!

jagadEkaveeruniki atilOkasundariki fix ayyindi *...* (Duration: 5:56 minutes) (Rating: 3.25/5)
Playback: DeviSri starts off the song and sings a bit here and there, like he sometimes does for his compositions, without taking credits. Mano sounds his usual, and fitting. The care with which he pronounced "raam(m)a-chilakamma" is appreciable - sounding like Udit who sang the song originally, and making it more meaningful (this time round) by sounding it like "raamachilkamma" instead of "raammaa chilakammaa!" (without dragging the "(m)ma" sound. Chiranjeevi and Srikanth are also credited for their voices one can hear in the midst of the song.	Lyric: Chandrabose makes his presence felt right in the first couple of lines, with usages like "chacchrE!" and usage of 'Chiranjeevi-ic' references such as jagadEkaveeruDu-atilOkasundari, Gangleader, raammaa (raama)chilkamma. Is it the lyricist Chandrabose or the actor Srikanth (or someone else?) that made the mistake in inconsistencies for Srikanth's dialect (yaasa) in his dialogues?
Tune/Interlude/BGM: The tune catches on repeated hearing, but this is a song that should catch up with the way it's visualized on the screen. The new title "Shankar Dada Zindabad!" fits the previous callout "Shankar Dada MBBS", seemingly perfectly, and let's hope it becomes as popular as the original callout too!

bhoogOLamanta sanchilOna naa prEmantaa nimpukunTaa! *...* (Duration: 4:22 minutes) (Rating: 4.5/5)
Playback: Adnan takes care to bring in as much nativity as he can. He does succeed much, in fact. Gopika Purnima, of course, balances with her melodious voice.	Lyric: Sahiti succeeds in giving this mass-oriented song a decent enough lyric, yet something that can catch up with audiences easily. The line 'School-keLLi chadavalEdu 1-2-3, ninnu choosi nErchukunnaa 1-4-3' catches up instantly, both because the lyric is simple yet quite impressive and the tune is catchy. (As an answer to where one learnt this lesson of love, what else can suit than saying that one learnt the lesson only from the dear one who asked the question!) The rhyme is spontaneous and natural. "nee paalaraati buggaki merugu diddaTaaniki merupu nEnu paTTi testaa!", "...SivuDi villu aDiginaa iragakunDaa teesukostaa!" are quite poetic. There are other such poetic expressions in here - don't just miss them easily!
Tune/Interlude/BGM: The lead line sounds very similar to certain lines in the stanzas from Chiranjeevi's song of the past - hE rukku rukku ma'am... from Iddaru Mithrulu (Mani Sarma). The first word is stretched than it should be, due to the way it is composed, making it sound like "bhoogOLamantaa" (meaning "all of the globe") instead of "bhoogOLamanta (meaning "the size of the globe"). Such issues should be taken care of, particularly when the singer is non-Telugu. The rhythm is very typical of DeviSri Prasad.

*aakalEstE annam peDataa...* (Duration: 4:22 minutes) (Rating: 4.5/5)
Playback: Mamatha Mohandass is here to stay, surely as a singer (aside of her acting career, that is). The way she breaks "aakalEstE..." into "a-aa...kalEstE" proves her mettle as a singer. Naveen is suitable too.	Lyric: The lead stanza is written innovatively and aptly for the context - an item number, particularly the lines "vayasanna maaTa maa vamSamlO lEdu... are, maava annadi tappa yE varasaa paDadu!" - hinting all the way that the girl is ready to cater anything as needed. The coining of the word "arakOkamma" is creative.
Tune/Interlude/BGM: The lead music is impressive, and so are the interludes. The beat suits the mass-oriented song perfectly. There's a faint resemblance in the tune, and tempo/rhythm, to one of DeviSri's all-time mass hits - aa anTE Amalapuram... (Arya) and some other songs of DeviSri, but maybe we could call it "DeviSri's mark" instead, euphemistically too!

O Bapu, nuvvE raavaali *...* (Duration: 3:17 minutes) (Rating: 3.75/5)
Playback: Sagar is adequate, but has unclear pronunciation. Sometimes, it's not even clear if there's actually a mispronunciation - in words like "aanglEyula" (sounds like "aangleeyula"), "ukku (?) naraalu", etc. Mispronunciations: choopaali	Lyric: This song comes as the hero calls out that Gandhiji should come back. The phrase "swaatantrya rakta gangaajalam" is interesting, and the line "ataDanTE gaDagaDa vaNikindi aanglEyula simhaasanam" is good. The rhyme in the first stanza is good. The lyric seems like it's a great one when you hear it the first time; it's good in parts, in fact.
Tune/Interlude/BGM: The composition sets this number in the right mood and gives the necessary soothing effect to the theme. Everything else goes in the mood.

Good morning, Hyderabad! (Devi Mix) (Duration: 4:26 minutes) (Rating: 3.25/5)
Playback: DeviSri Prasad carries the remix all on his shoulders ...almost, save the chorus. (He also provided the lyric, of course!)	Lyric: "This is DSP, and you're listening to Shankar Dada Zindabad!" starts out the singer-composer, and the rest of the lyric is repeated from the track #1 obviously – of course, this is a remix! (There're some stray lines in the interludes, alright!)
Tune/Interlude/BGM: DeviSri Prasad goes again for his own remix for his song, like in Jagadam, and does it well too. Except that the remix more prominently shows its resemblance to DeviSri's own laalUdarwaaja kaaDa... (Bommarillu) in the beat and orchestration too. The beat is faster-paced in the remix, and is quite racy and impressive.

By NaChaKi

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