Dhammu (M.M. Keeravani)

Dhammu is the consummate Keeravani masala soundtrack – hyper catchy with traditional moorings. Ruler, in both its versions, is a force of nature. Keeravani constructs a cracker of a track right from the innocuous build up to the explosive, grandiose chorus. Outstanding! Oh Lilli is catchy gibberish. Raja Vasireddy’s pulsating bassline is great to listen to even though the lyrics on lineage can get tricky to follow. It also channels Simhadri’s Nuvvu Whistle Esthe nicely. Vaasthu Bagunde slows down the tempo a little but loses none of the percussive steam of the earlier songs. The title track rounds off this frenetic soundtrack on a high. The lyrics might be more than suggestive but Keeravani’s break of phrases conveys the meaning of Dhammu fascinatingly.

Keeravani goes dappan kuthu with a vengeance and doesn’t let up till the last note comes down with a resounding crash. It is nevertheless a convincing, if not masterful, exercise at working within the genre and exploiting it to the hilt with minor variations. Hardly memorable but the propulsive, driving percussion will give you a mind boggling high.