This post is really for moviemavengal, since she is the one who knows more about Mahesh.  As usual with the regional industries, I am kind of in the dark and only know the little bit I have seen in the past few months.  But, it’s his birthday today, and I feel like I should do SOMETHING!  So here are a few songs from the few films I have seen, but I love the songs.  Feel free to celebrate in the comments if you have something to add!

1. My first Mahesh Babu film was Srimanthudu, which was okay, but didn’t really send me.  Nice story, pretty songs, I still don’t like Shruti Hassan (I will never forgive her for her performances in Gabbar is Back and Welcome Back).  But I did like how Mahesh had this sweet young innocent look to him, and then would turn around and beat up a dozen guys!  And he can dance much much better than Prabhas.

2. I already knew he was a huge star, thanks to moviemavengal, but even if I hadn’t, this opening song would have clued me in!

3. And I appreciate that even though it was mostly a village set film, they still inserted an almost item song kind of fantasy, in super modern clothes and with cool jazzy movies.

4.  And then I watched Pokiri, which I LOVED!  I’ll try to put a post on it up later today, in honor of Mahesh’s birthday, but if not today, it will go up soon.  The songs weren’t even my favorite part, I liked the plot and the romance.  But the songs are pretty good!  Moviemavengal argues that the characters have to keep their emotions hidden and they only come out in song, which makes sense to me!

5.  And then there’s Businessman.  I just watched it last night, mostly because it had the same director as Pokiri and Bujjigadu, which is another of my favorites.  And, I don’t know, it just didn’t send me in the same way.  The editing and camera stuff wasn’t quite as inventive, and the romance was a little sleazy.  Especially when the heroine is drugged at one point and delivered to the hero’s bedroom.  Although, on the other hand, I am ashamed to admit that I kind of liked the song that was the result of the drugging.