Nothing new about Kutty's music

Director Mithran R Jawahar proved himself competent at remaking the hugely successful Adavari Matalaku Arthale Verule into Tamil's Yaaradi Nee Mohini and this time, he's returned to remake-land with Gemini Film Circuit's Kutti (originally Arya, in Telugu) with Dhanush in the lead and Shriya Saran providing the romantic angle.

Music is tuned by Devisri Prasad, while Vivega and Thamarai share credit for the lyrics. Here's a look at how the Tamil album has shaped up.

A brisk beat is the precursor to the lines, "If you keep smiling, you'll be happy, if you don't smile, you'll get BP" of Life-E Jollythaan rendered by DSP and Raina. There's a strong whiff of DSP's other Telugu compositions, especially songs like Adada Adada from Santhosh Subramaniam. Interspersed with 80s club music, the song's tone is peppy and youthful and while not exactly original, does get you jiving after a minute.

Feel My Love begins with a congenial mixture of harmonica and violins and you're eagerly awaiting a heart-wrenching romantic song  but what you get is a mostly English rehash of the previous number.

K K's voice is melodious, but you get a bit tired of the Santhosh Subramaniam refrain shot with whistles and flutes, after a while. The lyrics are mostly humdrum, touching the travails of young love in a superfluous fashion.

It takes a minute for you to get adjusted to the convoluted grammatical structure of the next song. But in a DSP number, who even cares?

With tunes liberally borrowed from Oh Oh Ethanai Azhagu from Adhe Kangal, Mukesh sings Nee Kadhalikkum Ponnu, which is all about the trials faced by a young man who follows his beloved with unrequited love in his heart.

It's part kuthu, part synthesized music, casual beat with male vocals touching high notes occasionally -- but not exactly new.

With a slow, almost folksy beat begins the longest track in the album, Yaaro En Nenjai interspersed with a nightingale's song, rendered by Saagar in a nasal voice.

Mildly melodious, this is once again a mish-mash of previous numbers with a Telugu twang, mostly reminding you of the Nee Varumbothu number from Mazhai.

The second version of Feel My Love, with a guitar strumming pleasantly in the background, sounds much better than the previous, synthesized version.

The vocals have been given more importance, and you get the feeling DSP has let himself walk away from the beaten path here. The rhythm is casual, the sax works well and there's no effort to bombard your ear-drums. An appealing number but you only wish there had been more like it.

And there it is! The pseudo-rural folksy song, Kannu Rendum sung by Priya Hamesh and Mukesh, sounding remarkably close to Kulicha Kutralam from Duet.

Nothing much to say, except that it follows the usual pattern of such numbers, heavy on the percussion, ethnic instruments and colloquialisms.

Kutty follows DSP's pattern to the hilt, with many rehashes from his previous numbers. Except for one or two moments, everything has a you've-heard-it-before feel.

Rediff Rating: