Music review: Love in Mandya

Choosing lyricist Arasu Anthare, who is also the director of the film, for the music album of a film like Love in Mandya — where the story has its roots in Mandya — was probably one of the best decisions taken by the film team, especially music director Anoop Seelin.
The four songs that make up the album are rustic in treatment and language, yet manage to strike a chord with Kannada music listeners today.The coolest song among the four is Opkondbutlu Kanla, rendered by Anoop Seelin. While the number is way too simple as far as the composition is concerned, that happens to also be it’s best feature. Add to that the picturization — the montage video, which has gone viral over the last month. It is one of those romantic numbers that is easy to hum along and is therefore bound to stay on in the mind of the listener. Bollywood’s own Bappi Lahiri makes his debut as a playback singer in Sandalwood with his song Currentu Hoda Timealli, a duet for which he’s teamed up with Sinchana Dixit. Listening to the whacky number makes one wonder why Sandalwood’s music directors haven’t got Bappida to sing Kannada songs before.
Lo Maava, sung by L N Shastri and Master Rajkumar, is again very folksy even as the lyrics and tunes border on being trippy. The song Ondu Aproopada Gaana, sung by Rajesh Krishnan and Chitra KS, on the other hand goes on to be quite a blast from the past — where the lead actors relive onscreen eras that have gone by.