You can listen to the songs here (thanks much to @tonyjothomas for the tip-off).
Had I not known beforehand that Rahul Raj is the composer for Oh My Friend I might have mistaken the title song for a Harris Jayaraj product, just that this one is heavy on distortion. And like a typical HJ song this too makes for a good listen, ably supported by Karthik on the vocals. Benny Dayal’s short melody Nuvvu Nenu too possesses similar qualities – nice tune with a very HJ feel about it. Vegam Vegam, with a pretty ordinary level of electronic loop-based arrangement, just about passes muster, thanks to a neat effort by Benny Dayal and Kavitha Mohan with Jayaram Ranjith and Desmond F’s rap. The composer nails Aalochana Vasthene though, wrapping an engaging semiclassical melody well in a techno-fusion-esque arrangement. Sangeetha Prabhu and Ranjith carry out the rendition well, Sangeetha especially sounding fab in places. Ranjith’s solo Nenu Thaanani once again turns out to be a middling affair mostly, the only portion of exception being the grandiose second interlude. The composer ends his contribution to the soundtrack on a high note though, with the heady rock song Maa Daddy Pockets, where he gets the hero Siddharth himself to sing, a job the actor pulls off quite impressively. Finally there is Sri Chaithanya by guest composer Anil (Tony tells me that Anil is no more, Rahul produced the song which Anil had composed before his death), again sung by Siddharth with Shruti Hassan. Very flippant song arranged in an equally informal manner, with the singers matching up very well too.
For a man who did a remarkable debut and followed it up with some fabulous music in Malayalam, composer Rahul Raj debuts in Telugu with a rather tame score for Oh My Friend.
Music Aloud Rating – 6.5/10
Top Recos – Aalochana Vasthene, Sri Chaithanya, Maa Daddy Pockets
