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Bachna Ae Haseeno

YRF Music

Post-“Om Shanti Om”, it is natural to have high expectations from the composer duo Vishal-Shekhar. Having listened to their music in “Bluffmaster”, “Dus” and “Jhankaar Beats”, one knows their calibre, b ut the latest offering “Bachna Ae Haseeno” of Yashraj films sadly disappoints. There is no song in the film which has the potential of becoming a huge hit. There surely are flashes of brilliance but the album doesn’t reach there. The first song “Khuda Jaane” is a soft romantic number. KK and Shilpa Rao are brilliant in this song but Shilpa’s voice doesn’t suit Deepika Padukone on whom the song has been picturised. The slow number takes time to get you hooked. It is hummable and it feels as if two people are having a conversation. Whenever KK comes back to “Khuda Jaane” singing with his heart and soul, it uplifts the spirit. Lyrics are okay but the impressive hook “Khuda Jaane” came from the director of the film Siddharth Anand who had forayed into direction with “Salaam Namaste” which boasted of chartbusters.

“Lucky Boy” starts off with the not-so-heard, but nice Punjabi verse “Nain preeto de, bai ja bai ja” which means “beautiful girl with mesmerising eyes”. These lines have been sung by Raja Hassan, one of the favourite contestants in SaReGaMa and Hard Kaur. The folk lines lend a rustic feel to the song. Overall, the song rendered by Sunidhi Chauhan is catchy and groovy and I can see youngsters rocking out with the song at pubs and discos. It falls into the category of “Lazy lamhe” of “Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic” and “Chalia” of “Tashan”.

“Aahista Aahista” has a fresh feel. Hearing Lucky Ali after a long time is refreshing and Shreya Ghoshal as always is good. The song begins on a nice note with solo rendition of the flamenco guitar. It has a club disco type feel. Nice lyrics! Whenever it has Ali and Shreya singing together, it sounds awesome. “Jogi Mahi” is an energetic Punjabi number.

A major part has been sung by Shekhar of the Vishal-Shekhar duo, and he does sound good. Sukhvinder Singh is after all Sukhvinder Singh. Himani Kapoor of SaReGaMa is good too. Siddharth loves the sound of dhols and gets music directors to use the instrument wherever possible. The song “Small town girl” doesn’t work at all. It’s below average. Wonder why a superb singer like Shankar Mahadevan even agreed to sing it? “Khuda Jaane Revisited” is the one and only remix track and without second thoughts, I will opt for the original. “Bachna Ae Haseeno”, the classic song has been given a little modern twist. It starts with Shekhar rapping and then goes to have Kishore Kumar’s youngest son Sumit singing a few lines and then comes the original mukhda with Kishoreda singing “Bachna Ae Haseeno”. The good thing is that the duo haven’t tampered with the classic. In totality, it stands at just being mere average. Wonder what’s wrong with Yashraj films who dished out such classics in the past.

SHAILAJA TRIPATHI TANEJA

Singh is Kinng

Times Music, Rs. 150

First things first. The first song of the album is the film’s title track “Singh is Kinng”. It is no doubt catchy and the wordings seem quite timely. For most news channels used it early this week to mark Prime Minister Manmohan Sin gh’s trust vote victory at Parliament. But go beyond the catchy first line and the score falls flat, in terms of wordings.

But then, good lyrics have long given up the race of popular music to fast-paced electronic compositions. Now the trick lies in making the music as much dance-floor friendly as possible. On that regard, this one has brighter days ahead. Actor Akshay Kumar has lent his voice to the number along with international hip-hop singer Snoop Dogg. But sad, it doesn’t serve any purpose for Akshay. You can barely hear him.

Parts of this song features in two other avatars in this 12 song album, in between the score “Bas ek kinng”, done in two styles – one ‘Tiger Style mix’ and the other without any mix, but does it make any difference?

While the song, “Talli Hua”, again in two styles – one Jay Dabhi mix and the other without any mix – might be identified with only after a few pegs down, “Jee karda”, yet again in two styles (how boring can this trend be!), is better missed.

Though the song “Teri ore” holds some promise at first with the soothing voice of Shreya Ghosal and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan coming your way, it soon fizzles out.

The saving grace of this album is the good-old sardar, Daler Mehndi singing “Bhootni Ke”. Supposedly a wedding song, it has real Punjabi zest on the lines of khao, piyo, mast raho. Sad, most songs in this album sound like each other.

SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY

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