Rainbow - Audio Review

Sri Siddharth Movies & Bharat Art Pictures
Rainbow (2008)

Producer: Kalavakuri Ankababu, Somaraju Purushottam Rao
Director: V.N. Aditya
Music Director: Nihal (Debut)
Audio Rights: Aditya Music
Lyrics: Jillella Varaprasad (1), Vanamali (2,3,7), Baladitya (4), Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna (partial) (5), Anuradha (6), Sahiti (8)
Playback: Suneetha (1,8); Nihal, Hemachandra & Suneetha (2); Nihal & Suneetha (3,5, 6); Hemachandra (4); Srikanth & Suneetha (7)

Rating: 3.5/5

Summary:
Singer Nihal, who's also popular for his private, devotional albums in Telugu, debuts as a film music director with Rainbow. He does a pretty neat job for a debutant, if you can still call him that given his experience with composing! His classical music background can be felt all through the album, and particularly in the classical composition combo raaraa, swaami, raaraa! Suneetha as the sole female singer for the entire album has shown appreciable variation in her rendition.

1. aaSa, chinni aaSa, nannu choosi maayagaa...
(Duration: 4:20 minutes) (Rating: 3.75/5)

Playback: Suneetha is her usual melodious freshness. Her unhidden smile towards the end of the song is notable.
Lyric: The song seems to be a simple expression of the female lead inspired by the Mother Nature and or life in general. "harivillulO kotta rangunai chEranaa!" is a beautiful expression that also reminds of the album title.
Tune/Interlude/BGM: Orchestration is typically melodious, particularly the piano towards the end of the lines makes it a bit clichéd. The tune is melodious but is not all that catchy at the first go; it has a neat pace in the subsequent stanzas.

2.challu challu challu, rangulanni challu!...
(Duration: 3:52 minutes) (Rating: 3.75/5)

Playback: Nihal and Hemachandra are adequate and enthusiastic. Suneetha joins them along, but also has a classy solo bit that's a mark of her melodious modulation.

Lyric: Yet another lyricist uses the word "vaanavillu" now, after Veturi, Seetarama Sastry, and Bhaskarabhatla. "aa nallani mabbunu pinDi harivillunu baiTiki teeyanaa!" is a beautiful foundation for more such impressive expressions to come! Rhyme is good too, particularly in the female bit of melody.

Tune/Interlude/BGM: The tune is catchy. Some of the BGM reminds of bits and pieces used by Ilayaraja and Rahman in the past.

3. manasaa, chalinchakE!...
(Duration: 4:10 minutes) (Rating: 3.25/5)

Playback: Nihal brings out the needed anguish through his voice. Suneetha adds her bit with a moving rendition with a slightly shaky voice as demanded by the theme.

Lyric: The lyric seems to mark the failure of love or simply separation of lovers. While "mamatE gatinchenaa tanalOna" expresses the pain of the male counterpart, "taDisE vanalaalO tanu lEka kalE kadaa aamani" indicates the vain that the femal counterpart faces.

Tune/Interlude/BGM: The BGM and interludes set the right mood for the song. The choice of orchestration is simple yet effective. The tune is okay. The lead music is beat-oriented and heavy, possibly in an attempt to set the heaviness of the theme.

4.kRshNaa, kRshNaa!...
(Duration: 2:25 minutes) (Rating: 3.5/5)

Playback: Hemachandra modulates his voice efficiently for this naughty song that doesn't miss the devotional element.

Lyric: Baladitya mixes English liberally into the lyric, fusing in a good rhyme thereby. Bits like "Brother-utO Mathura-ki rathamu ekki..." also tells that this hero-cum-lyricist has a good sense of using sounds of each letter effectively and is not simply shaking his pen. All through the song, one can listen to such alliteration using one letter each in nearly every line. However, one can also hear illicitly compounded words (dushTa samaasaalu) like "ishTa moguDu".

Tune/Interlude/BGM: The nature of the song requires the tune to be peppy and mischievous, and Nihal brings that spice in through the beat.

5. raaraa, swaami, raaraa!...
(Duration: 2:33 minutes) (Rating: 4.25/5)

Playback: Nihal should be appreciated both as a music director and the singer for choosing these both compositions, one of them a popular Sabdam and the other a lesser known tillaanaa, and blending them into one, thus introducing them both to today's film audiences. One cannot think that this tillaanaa was sung for a film, or that it is sung by a film singer/music director! Suneetha renders the classical compositions with appreciable ease too, including notable sangatulu (musically varying renditions of the same line) in the Sabdam.

Lyric: A part of the lyric is the popular kRshNa Sabdam of the bharatanaaTyam or Kuchipudi sampradaayam. (The inlay card calls its a kRshNa "padam", but it's a Sabdam by nature, which is subtly different from a padam.) The rest of the lyric is a tillaanaa composed by the renowned carnatic vocalist Dr. Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna. (The "lyrics" for the tillaanaa, which go "asamaana maana tillaanaa muraLii naadavinOda maana tillaanaa...", are not actually used because the purpose is essentially dance-oriented.) Apparently, this combination is being used to indicate the progress in the bharatanaaTyam dancing talents of the girl, starting from the elemental Sabdam to the more complex - and generally the concluding item - tillaanaa.

Tune/Interlude/BGM: The tunes are originally set for carnatic classical dance and music performances. While the kRshNa Sabdam part is set to raaga mOhana, the tillaanaa is composed in the less-known kuntalavaraaLi raaga. The use of morsing (starting in the interlude between the Sabdam and tillaanaa) after considerably long time in Telugu films is appreciable. The percussion that morsing brings in is surely impressive, particularly to those that cannot recognize the instrument but notice its presence. The rest of the orchestra is typical of classical dance performances.

6. naa kaLLalO nee kala ilaa kannaanulE...
(Duration: 4:39 minutes) (Rating: 3.75/5)

Playback: Suneetha and Nihal join voices for another melodious duet. Suneetha should however take care in pronouncing "Sa" better, and distinctly than "sa". Nihal seems to falter too, maybe to go along with her.

Lyric: Female lyricist Anuradha pens a typical love duet in chaste Telugu and notable rhyme.

Tune/Interlude/BGM: The tune has an air of familiarity to it and adds catchiness. The orchestra and interludes create a feel of fusion to the classy tune.

7. O lalanaa, mati pOyenaa, nee valana!...
(Duration: 3:52 minutes) (Rating: 3.25/5)

Playback: Srikanth's voice has good ease and has a naturally pleading tone needed for the song. Towards the end of the song, his dialogues are rendered with full of feel to them. Suneetha's voice modulation suits the mischievous teasing that she resorts to.

Lyric: This is a song where the male lead reveals how he fell for his girl, and proposes to her sweetly. "Mona Lisa mOmulOni navvukE nuvu model-aa?" sings the male, while the girl teases her Romeo until the end of the song. Vanamali brings an easy flow of words with a blend of English and Hindi words amidst chaste Telugu words.

Tune/Interlude/BGM: Beat and orchestra is typically western, dominated by guitars. The tune catches up within a few times of listening to it.

8. salasala salasala salasala kaagE oLLu...
(Duration: 4:27 minutes) (Rating: 2.75/5)

Playback: Suneetha sings this song very different than all other songs in this album, where she's the only female singer! Even in this song, impressively, she portrays the same ease!

Lyric: A typical wooing number, possibly such as an "item song" by Sahiti, catering to the expectations from such a song. The lyricist, and moviemakers in general, should be appreciated for refraining to making it an out and out sleazy number of some kind!

Tune/Interlude/BGM: The orchestra and beat are different, with a certain Middle East influence on them, but the tune lacks freshness in parts, essentially because there have been several songs with a similar musical influence on the tune.