'Jogi' sets new audio record

Bangalore, Aug 23 (IANS) A lot of big budget films are being released in the festival season and the audio market is brightening up, with the huge success of the "Jogi" audio coming as a boon to the industry.

The top five Kannada albums are:

1. "Jogi": The release of "Jogi" has not created a big push for the audio sales, as the album had already sold nearly 300,000 units over the past two months. In the recent weeks, however, the "Jogi" juggernaut has slowed down a little but only because of heavy rains.

2. "Gauramma": The film will be completing 100 days in a few weeks. The audio sales picked up after the film's release. The film's huge success has provided the impetus for good audio and CD sales in retail shops. Music director S.A. Rajkumar, who made a mark with his melodious music in "Chandra Chakori" two years ago, has once again proved that he is the melody king of the south. "Kolthaalallappo Kolthaalallappo" is one song which has become extremely popular.

3. "Auto Shankar": The Upendra-Shilpa Shetty starrer, produced by Ramu, will be released in the first week of September. However, sales of the audio, which was released on Aug 7, have been quite good mainly because of the Upendra-Guru Kiran combination. The title song and "Kabaddi, Kabaddi" have become very popular.

4. "News": The film has been released but is not showing any signs of becoming a hit. However, since the music is quite good and one song ("Naanu Jeetendra, Neenu Siridevi") has already become a musical hit, the audio sales have been all right.

5. "Aaptha Mitra": The film will be completing a year of its release in a few theatres on Aug 27. But Ashwini Audio Company, which has marketed the film's audio, is of the opinion that the sales have still not reached saturation point.