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CHORDS AND NOTES

KING KONG

Universal, Rs.699

At the Oscar's night the spotlight might have been on Crash, Walk the Line, Brokeback Mountain and Capote but King Kong was a quiet winner in three categories. It won the Oscars for sound editing, mixing and visual effects. But the film had conquered the biggest frontier a little before that: It was a runaway hit in every language, English or the dubbed versions, at the box office. Now, in this summer of soaring temperatures when driving down to a multiplex near you with kids in the car seems an arduous exercise, grab twin DVD pack of King Kong and watch the fun unfold in this Peter Jackson film with Naomi Watts in a performance that is worthy of a rewind.

The gorilla film which starts off with a film crew setting off for shooting along with a girl and finding itself on an island where gorillas, many times the size of human reside, has little in terms of surprises. Where it scores is the treatment and narration. Even if you already know what is going to happen next, you still wait for it to unfold. Particularly delectable are the sequences hinting at an emotional bond between the girl and the gorilla as the dame dances on his palm. And beast saves the beauty.

Yes, even though you might have enjoyed Madagascar this vacation at home, or gone ahead to watch Ice Age-2 at a cinema, make room for King Kong at home. It is dazzling.

Time Traveler Rahul Sharma

Sa Re Ga Ma, Rs.295

Some credit must be attributed to Rahul for not calling it `fusion', although it is a merging of sorts. Smooth rhythmic vibrations of Electronica mellow out the listeners and engage them with some contemporary santoor melodies. There a few doses of nostalgic New Orleans in `1960-Travelling to New Orleans', once and still a capital for beautiful music, a fitting tribute. From experience, this album is capable of converting you into a santoor fan even if you don't start out as one.

This album explores various dimensions of music made obvious by the tracks `The Temptress' which is an obvious stab at Club or just incorporates what is almost a hip-hop element and `Manzille' which all through the album remains a signature melody. On an interesting note, in an ongoing `remix' fad it was nice to see a second draft of `Manzille' wasn't called one, another credit. The song also features the only vocal performance by Rahul. All in all, a good album.

AISE NA DEKHO MUJHE

T Series

It's a case of survival through singing, anyhow. Kumar Sanu, who made a world record by recoding greatest number of songs in a day a few years ago, seems to have no films offering him to sing. Hence, the man with a voice that once reminded us of Kishore Kumar, has come out with this album. It has some 10 songs, and most qualify to be forgettable. Yet the title song is hummable. It creates a tempo with serene notes, but as we reach the song "Na main", our hopes of some euphonic numbers dash to the ground. The song "Dheere Se" makes use of tabla and sitar quite judiciously. It still instils in us some hope that Sanu can still sing. "Chala Do" begins with some foottapping note but ends up with disappointment, indicating the music director's confusion in certain beats.

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