Gundello

Song : Gundello
Movie Name : Ek Niranjan
Singer : Hemachandra, Geeta Madhuri
Music Director : Mani Sharma

Mani Sharma explores familiar territory again and scores well. This song follows the same formula that was used in "Yamuna Nagari" in Choodaalani Vundi. This time it is the Pancharatna Krithi "Endaro Mahanubhavaulu" in Sree Raagam and Mani does delightfully well. My complaint with Mani Sharma is that he always leaves room for improvement. Case in point, the end of the pallavi which I think is very lazily done. That being said, I love the fact that he continues to encourage new singers. Hemachandra has a nice voice and must be groomed for bigger songs!

Interestingly, this is the third song that starts with "Gundello" that I liked.

Top recent listens

1. Song : Muddugaru Yashoda, Aha Naa Pellanta
Movie: Village lo Vinayakudu
Singer : Sooraj, Baba Sehgal
Music Director : Manikanth Kadri

Although both of them are remixes, I have enjoyed them thoroughly. While Muddugar Yashoda reminds you of how much you used to like the version from Padamati Sandhyaragam, Aha Na Pellanta makes you realize what made Baba Sehgal famous. Now, if you want to remix an old song, this is how you should do it.

2. Song : Happening
Movie : Main aur Mrs Khanna
Singer : Sunidhi Chauhan, Farhad, Raja Mushtaq
Music Director : Sajid-Wajid

Thanks to the high publicity this song is having, this song has crept up to my top listens. I am glad that Sunidhi Chauhan is among good songs again. This Qawwali styled number has been compared to Kajra Re but I think it deserves lot more than that. A quite peppy song.


3. Song : Tak Dhina Dhin
Movie : Aladin
Singer : Shaan, Shankar Mahadevan
Music Director : Vishal Shekar

Shankar Mahdevan breathes life into this peppy number with his energetic performance. It would be really awesome to catch a live version of this song some time.

4. Song : Chak de Phattey, Intezaar Aitbaar
Movie : Khosla ka Ghosla
Singer : Kailash Kher, Qadar Niazi Qawwal, Soumya Rao
Music Director : Bapi, Dhruv, Tutul

How can you not love Kailash Kher's unique voice ? While Chak de Phattey does not necessarily need his voice, he gives it a unique twist by singing it in his inimitable style. Soumya Rao makes Intezaar Aitbaar an instantly likeable song. It is one of those soft melodies that you would want to last for a while. I am not sure I like Qadar Niazi Qawwal's interruption in between. Although this is not a recent movie, I just recently heard its songs and liked quite a few of them.

5. Song: Kuru Kuru
Movie: Couples Retreat
Singer: A R Rehman
Music Director: A R Rehman

I dont care whom this CD credits for this song, but it sounds like Rehman. And I love this song. Unfortunately it will probably be reduced to a barely audible background song for an insignificant 10 secs in the movie. I applaud Rehman for gaining so much respect among the international community that he can insert a Tamil song in a English comedy movie!