Kumari 21F (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2015 romantic drama film of the same name directed by Palnati Surya Pratap, written and produced by Sukumar, starring Raj Tarun and Hebah Patel. The film's musical score is composed by Devi Sri Prasad and featured lyrics written by Prasad, Ramanjaneyulu, Krishna Kanth and Chandrabose, Sri Mani and Anantha Sreeram. The soundtrack was released under the Aditya Music label on 30 October 2015 to positive reviews from critics.
Development.
Sukumar's norm collaborator Devi Sri Prasad signed in as the film's composer during October 2014. After reading the script, Prasad agreed to score the film without charging any renumeration. All the songs were unconventional and fresh to the theme and storyline.
Besides composing, Prasad wrote the lyrics for the song "Bang Bang Bangkok", which he sang with Ranina Reddy and Rita, and also handled choreography. Prasad composed a few signature steps during the composition of the song which Sukumar and cinematographer R. Rathnavelu liked and insisted him to choreograph the entire song. Ramanjaneyulu wrote the lyrics for the song "Love Cheyyala Vadda" which insists the thoughts of love from a boy's point of view and is sung by Narendra. The song "Baby U Gonna Miss Me" featured lyrics written by Krishna Kanth and sung by Prasad's brother Sagar. The song "Break Up Patch Up" featured lyrics written by Chandrabose, who previously did the same for the albums in Sukumar–Prasad combination and is sung by M. M. Manasi.
For "Meghaalu Lekunna", which was sung by Yazin Nizar, Sri Mani wrote the pallavi and Anantha Sreeram wrote the charanams. "Meghaalu Lekunna" was recorded using a live orchestra, which Nizar found "rare these days".
Release.
The soundtrack album was released on 30 October 2015 at Shilpakala Vedika, Hyderabad, with actor Allu Arjun attending the event as the guest of honour. Aditya Music marketed the film's soundtrack album through digital and physical formats.
Reception.
Karthik Srinivasan of "The Hindu" said the song "Meghaalu Lekunna", "sounds at best like the Telugu version of a song by the Hindi pop band Euphoria", that the tune is "similarly lush and folkish", and that Prasad does "some interesting things in the interludes—the use of violins and solo-violin in the first and second interludes, to be specific". In his review for "Milliblog", he further described the album as a "strictly ho-hum material from Devi Sri Prasad".
Madhavi Tata of "Outlook India" called Prasad's music, particularly "Love Cheyyala Vadda" ("To love or not to"), a "winner". "The Times of India" gave the soundtrack 2 stars out of 5 and said the album "falls desperately short" of the standards expected from Prasad. The reviewer called "Meghaalu Lekunna" a "beautiful and melodious track, courtesy the tantalising acoustic guitar, violin and flute sounds", and praised Nisar's rendition of it. A reviewer from "The Hans India" described the film's music and background score to be "impressive".