The Rangasthalam jukebox is definitely Devi Sri Prasad’s (DSP) most offbeat album. The music composer came up with a pretty non commercial playlist for this village based drama, directed by Sukumar and starring Ram Charan and Samantha Akkineni. Every song captures rural essence at its best.
‘Aa Gattuntaava’ is for the ones who like pure folk, all the way East Godavari style. This track is the purest form of Janapada Geethalu with loads of drum beats. Shiva Naagulu was rightly chosen to croon this diverse song. Mass audience and folk music lovers enjoyed this song. But everyone was surprised after hearing this song after the release of the movie Rangasthalam when they heard the voice of Devi Sri Prasad for this folk song. Mega fans expressed their displeasure for changing the singer. They are asking why did they replace the singer when the song was already hit.
Finally Sukumar came forward and said, “Sivanagulu is a highly talented artiste. We initially recorded the song ‘Aa Gattuntaava’ with Devi Sri Prasad. Then, we zeroed in Shiva Nagula to sing the folk number. Later we felt that, his voice was not fit to Ram Charan. So, we used DSP’s version for Rangasthalam.”
Sukumar’s clarification dissatisfy many music lovers and Mega fans who loved Shiva Nagula’s voice.