Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu’s film ‘Guntur Kaaram’ has released its latest song ‘Dum Masala’, and much like its name it brings home pure attitude, edge, swag, with musical ingenuity.
The track is done in pure gangster style mixing in hints of Western neo-noir music with a lot of film music, some rap, classical, rock, electronic, folk, and more.
Very peppy, catchy and groovy, despite its somewhat gentle sonic texture and even amusing lyricism, ‘Dum Masala’ has pure hardcore edge and swag as desi and Western come together and create a very unique blend of their own in this track.
The song uses a lot of synthesisers combined with what sounds like a veena, some electric guitar, percussive instruments which mix in drums and a mrindangam (a type of dholak used in Telugu speaking states), and open spaces with only vocals without instruments.
The singing of Sanjith Hegde and Thaman S with the additional vocals of Jyoti Nooran and rapping of Hemachandra are just a joy to listen to, as each compliments the other’s vocal contrast very well thus giving both a hard bunch and a gentle soothing sound.
The composition of Thaman S however may just be the highlight here. This doesn’t discredit the others, but his music composition is state-of-the-art and top notch example of some very ingenious musical experimentation.
The production is also very balanced, neither booming nor too restrained. There is enough heavy and open space to let everything shine in while not making it overly too loud.
The video features some sequence of the film where Mahesh is a total chad and someone you ought not to mess with. Needless to say, the superstar really does look amazing in the video.
Then there are certain behind-the-scenes moments which show him and the crew members laughing at times while later shooting for certain scenes. A great gangster, ‘Dum Masala’ has everything one could want.
It has the energy to make you dance, catchiness to make you sing, and the edge and attitude to make you want to exercise, run, lift weights thus making it an all-rounder song.
Written and directed by Trivikram Srinivas, ‘Guntur Kaaram’, which is pure masala stars Mahesh, Jagapathi Babu, Sreelala, Meenakshi Chaudhary, Jayaram, Prakash Raj, Ramyakrishnan, Sunil, and Brahmanadam.
It will hit theatres on January 12, 2024.
