Plum,
Agree with you about the usage of Hariharan probably from the BO angle and also about the film being 'manufactured melodrama'. Somehow while I can understand the brain behind the songs, I can't really relate to them much. Not because of the dark tone or anything but more due to Hariharan's voice I think. (I do love 'rodaoram paatu onnu kekudha' which was even darker but Yesudas voice suited it well.) If I am not mistaken, Kasi has an equivalent Kannada version in which Udit Narayan has sung (probably the first time for Raja). The movie name was 'Ramu'.