Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | NXg | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

Beat street

Bachna Ae Haseeno

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 is quite a hit at pubs and discos. “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. The lyrics is commendable. 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 fails to impress . Sukhvinder Singh as usual does a good job and Himani Kapoor of SaReGaMa fame is impressive too. Siddharth being a fan of the dhols has got the 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 modern twist here. It starts with Shekhar rapping, followed by Kishore Kumar’s youngest son Sumit rendering a few lines and then comes Kishoreda’s original mukhda of “Bachna Ae Haseeno.” 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

First things first. The first song of this 12-track album is the film’s title song “Singh is Kinng”. It is no doubt catchy and the wordings seem quite timely, for most news channels used it early recently to mark Prime Minister Manm ohan Singh’s trust vote victory. But go beyond the catchy first line and the score falls flat, in terms of lyrics.

But then, good lyrics have long given up the race for popular music to the fast-paced electronic compositions. Now the trick lies in making the music as dance-floor friendly as possible. In 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 also features in “Bas ek kinng”, a track done in two styles – the original and ‘Tiger Style mix.’ This album has quite a few songs in two versions, a not-so-cool idea.“Talli Hua”, again has two styles – one is Jay Dabhi mix and the regular version. Though, the difference between the two can be told only after a few tipples. “Jee karda”, yet another track with two versions is worth giving a miss.

Though the song “Teri ore” with the soothing voice of Shreya Ghosal and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan holds some promise at first, 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. The album is quite a let down with most songs sound like each other.

SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY