Just two good tracks in 'Vasoolraja MBBS'

Film: Vasoolraja M.B.B.S."; Composer: Bharadwaj; Singers: Kamal Haasan, KK, Shreya Ghosal, Hariharan and Sadhana Sargam.

The film is a remake of the stupendously successful Sanjay Dutt-starrer "Munnabhai M.B.B.S.", and Kamal Haasan stars as Vasoolraja in the Tamil remake.

"Munnabhai's" music wasn't nearly as successful as the movie itself. It remains to be seen whether "Vasoolraja's" music can fare any better.

Bharadwaj, who composed the music for this year's surprise hit "Autograph", is the music director of "Vasoolraja..."

The album starts off with an uninspiring track, which reminds one of the dull, flat songs that dominated the industry in the 1980s. However, Kamal Haasan's voice lends a vigour and vitality to this otherwise rather insipid offering.

The next song is a romantic track, "Pathukulle number", belted out by KK and Shreya Ghosal. This is another number that is hardly worth mentioning and is one of those tracks that slips out of one's memory as soon as it's over.

"Alwarpetai aaluda" is another insipid number that doesn't get one's feet tapping in the least. It evokes unpleasant memories of impositions in school.

"Shakalaka doctor" is one track that is worth a mention as it begins, rather uniquely, with the siren of an ambulance. This track is immensely enjoyable and has an urgent ring to it - akin to an emergency room in an operation theatre.

The use of English lyrics - and a slight hip-hop influence - clearly points to a very A.R. Rahman-like influence. This track is, without doubt, the highlight of "Vasoolraja..."

The next song, "Kaadu thirande kidakinrathu", sung by Hariharan and Sadhana Sargam, is extremely melodious and soft and is evocative of sweet memories of Illayaraja's tunes.

The last track, "Cheena theena", is hardly out of the ordinary and sounds like many other folk songs that one may have heard in the last few months.

On the whole, "Vasoolraja..." cannot by any means be called one of 2004's best albums as except for two songs, the rest is ordinary, insipid and flat tracks.

The songs "Shakalaka doctor" and "Kaadu thirande kidakinrathu" are good enough to make the album worth buying.

Click the Movie button below for more info:
Vasool Raja MBBS