Aaha Kalyanam is an upcoming romantic comedy film starring Nani and Vani Kapoor in the lead roles. It is the official remake of Bollywood hit film Band Baaja Baarat and the music for the film is composed by Dharan. The film is originally made in Tamil and is dubbed into Telugu. Here is an exclusive music review of the album:
The album begins with a wedding party track Mike Testing 1,2,3 with vivacious orchestration. Despite the pace, the track sounds pleasant thanks to Chinmayi’s soothing voice and brilliant singing. The bass work layers are decently done and the local percussions follow the lead with ease. However, the track has an irresistible Punjabi flavor in terms of the music.
A breezy track Honeyae Honeyae (Male version) comes next with lilting piano and brilliant singing by Naresh Iyer adds more value to it. Though it is essentially based on C Major Scale from Western Classical Music, the track carries a beautiful local touch with Carnatic styled singing and the thavil percussions which follow it. The nadaswaram which arrives in the interlude amidst symphony is another highlight of the track. However, the lyrics are too odd for the common listener to catch up with.
No One Dancing Here isa groovy track which arrives next with power packed electric guitar and funky orchestration. The biggest asset of the track is undoubtedly the blend of Classic Rock with Indian Percussions and the instant catchiness in the way of its presentation. However, this song has the Punjabi Influence yet again [perhaps due to the production house being Yash Raj Films!]
Savari Savari- A track with irresistible influence of 80s Classic Rock Genre has an interesting orchestration with convincing blend of Electric Guitar, Sitar, and Tabla. The vocalists Usha Uthup and Guna take the front seat with a mediocre tune and deliver their beyond best for it. The rhythm is quite experimental and works quite well for this track.
Nuvvo Sagam Neno Sagam (Female) takes back to the breezy world with pleasant trance percussions and earthly voice of Shaktisree Gopalan. The orchestration is laid back and relaxed with some brilliant string section and lilting guitar. Shaktisree sounds totally different from her previous renditions, with lot of lower octave singing in Carnatic Style.
Urumu Mundho is a wonderful track set in different rhythm than the usual four beat cycle with classy singing and fantastic orchestration woven with breezy interludes. However, the use of metallic tinge in vocals should have been avoided when the track progresses to the charanam.
Aaha Kalyanam Instrumental is an uplifting instrumental track gracing the album, with a blend of electric guitar, folk music, choir singing and great rhythm support. The track wins over the listener’s respect to the convincing blend of a plethora of genres.
The Punch Song begins with popular Telugu Hero Punch Dialogues featuring Sr.NTR, ANR, Chirnjeevi, Nagarjuna, Rajinikanth and Mahesh Babu leading to power packed rhythm section and funky electric guitar. The lyrics have entertaining punch dialogues from Telugu Blockbuster films as well.Woven with hard rock interludes and massy kutthu styled percussions, the track is an enjoyable listen.
The pleasant track Nuvvo Sagam Neno Sagam (Male) gives a wonderful feel again in the voice of Abhay Jodhpurkar. While the earlier version is rendered in lower octaves, this version has increased vigor with the vocalist performing in higher octaves giving it a new dimension in terms of the mood.
The breezy melody Honeyae Honeyae (Female)arrives again as the album comes to an end in the voice of Supriya Ramalingam. Her jazzy style of singing is interesting to watch out for. The additional string section makes it a fun hearing.
Verdict:
Aha Kalyanam is a decently good album from Dharan with some good use of orchestration, singers and melodious tracks. But the problem arrives with most of the tracks creating a similar mood without much variation in the style. As a result, the listener would be left wanting more from the album. Moreover, the irresistible Punjabi influence might not gel well with our style of reception and can be hard for listeners to get into.
Rating: 2.75/5
