Dec
18

Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola: Music Review (Vishal Bhardwaj)

Harshit on December 18, 2012

Vishal. Means Big. So he is, and this time, so is the soundtrack. Literally and figuratively.

The man who brought us rock way back in 2003 and Kalinka in 2011 (as Darling) is this time here with a soundtrack of no less than twelve songs, ranging from Prem Dehati’s renderings to Zulu.

Of course, you get the taste of Gulzar’s pen in the album.

The album begins with the heard-by-everyone title track, that does nothing but makes you dance. There is a madness in the tune, and Gulzar’s lyrics maintain that madness. My guess is that you would have danced to it already. If not, do that, cuz you need not be a dancer to dance to this tune.

The second song of the album, Khamakha Nahi has a foreign element (I dunno which country really) in the beginning chorus, and then it gives you a taste of something like Bekaraan. The romantic track has some simple lyrics by Gulzar, which one can almost identify as his. Loved it.

Oye Boy Charlie, sung by Rekha with Shankar Mahadevan and Mohit is one lovely piece from the album. The song has an English title, desi Gulzar’ed lyrics, desi music and earthy voices. To top it all, the visuals are quite interesting with a comic element. Listen to it. Watch it.

The next track, Hatt Lootnewale, has some lyrics against oppression, and the music isn’t too attractive. But the song has got the best of the singers, as Sukhwinder Singh and Master Saleem, something that may change the listeners’ perception in due time. The popularity of the song will depend a lot on the story/picturization and publicity.

Next comes Shara-ra-ra. A small, one n a half minute track, sung by Prem Dehati. The song is a earthy track with the music, lyrics, and even the brass-band based arrangements being village type. However, this doesn’t sound like Piyush Mishra earthy. So, good, but not exceptionally so.

Badal Uthya ri Sakhi. That’s what the best song of the album is called. The track, sung by Rekha (and later by Prem Dehati in Reprise) is ma’am singing in a full classic-folk mood, with minimal music, and a Sitar ruling the background. The song is actually an old folk song from Haryana and quite popular there. So you know what it is. Do listen. And listen. And let it grow on you.

The joke was, after his debut in Mausam, this guy gets two songs in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola. His name is Pankaj Kapur.

Pankaj sings the next two tracks of the album, which are fun, but would be enjoyed actually when the movie comes out, or at least the video comes out. Pankaj’s singing shows you one side of theatre artist that has hardly been touched by cinema. Try the tracks, or wait for the videos.

The next track is a first in India. It’s called Nomvula, and it’s Zulu music, sung by Umoja [Umoja means Unity in Swahili]. Even the lyrics of the song have been imported, without any Hindi/English being added to them. The music is nice, but I guess an adaptation, maybe something like Kalinka, would be better.

The end of the album comes with a reprise version of Badal Uthiya by Prem Dehati, and a small one for Lootnewale, sung by Sukhwinder. Badal Uthya is ‘almost’ as good as by Rekha, and Sukhwinder’s Lootnewale sounds a little more less noisy than the original version.

Overall, the album has a lot in terms of variety, and some tracks are wonderful; Khamakha, Oye Boy, and Badal Uthya to name the best. But then a few elements were missing too. Both the songs by Rekha are good, but Sukhwinder this time doesn’t seem to have got his fair share despite the number of tracks. When the album was over, I even missed Suresh Wadkar who’s been there for most of Vishal’s albums, including 7KM.

So yes, the album is good. Vishal has done some good work. And it’s worth listening to. But the thirst that came with the big size, isn’t quenched.

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Nov
18

Dabangg 2: Music Review [Sajid-Wajid]

Harshit on November 18, 2012

Dabangg 2 seems to be beginning where Dabangg ended. Don’t know how much of Abhinav Kashyap’s magic is going to be there with Arbaaz, but at least music seems to tell you very clearly that it’s nothing other than Dabangg 2.

Dagabaaz re, the first song of the album is almost an extension of Tere mast mast do nain, though doesn’t go that high on notes. However, the combination of Salman, Sajid-Wajid and Rahat, and even Shreya, keeps things a lot in Dabangg mood. Lyrics are simple, nice, and in the mood with the music. It’s not mast-mast do nain, but the song is an okay sequel to the superhit track.

Bajave Haye Pandey ji Seeti. It was interesting from the name, and the result is not disappointing. No, I’m not looking for something very original here, but I did expect something fun, and that is what the song is. The song has extensive use of Pinjre wali muniya, and it does succeed. Expect this song everywhere soon, and if you’re a Pandey ji, begin ignoring the song.

And yeah, I loved the words Aadat badi naaspeeti.

The one thing I didn’t like in the album was Fevicol se. The item song, reportedly being performed by Kareena Kapoor, is a very much wannabe. The music is barely okay and lyrics haven’t become interesting. Zandu Balm got much better publicity despite not being the title.

Saanson ne Baandhi hai Dor Piya. A very predictable, very ’90s song, that I loved from the first line. But Tulsi Kumar is an unwelcome voice in the song. The quality of the song demands Shreya Ghoshal, or some other equally great voice. The song even has mast-mast-do-nain playing on sax in the interlude, easily merging into the song. But for Tulsi, who is kinda bearable, this one makes a fine sequel of Chori Kiya re Jiya.

The last song of the album is Dabangg reloaded, which is a new version of Hud Hudd Dabangg Dabangg from the first movie. However, this time Wajid is not there singing DaBHang instead of Dabang and Sukhwinder pronounces it perfectly, making the song irritation-free for me.

Among remixes, Pandeyji Seeti is kinda nice. Seems they have seen the potential of the song and so worked harder on the remix too.

Overall, Dabangg 2, the album, is the sequel you were waiting for. Hope the movie follows.

All Lyrics and their Translations for Dabangg 2 songs can be found here.

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Oct
11

Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana: Music Review (Amit Trivedi)

Harshit on October 11, 2012

Kikkli Kaller di. Hatt gayi heer di. Ranjha kare cheat ji. Kare heer kya!

If you know what Kikli kaleer di is, then may be you already know what’s up in the song. But if not, let me give you an idea. Kikli kaleer di is a ‘traditional’ dance game for little girls. You can guess what’s happening there when this is what comes out of a traditional thing. And after this, there is standard Amit Trivedi, the singer, singing with very visible stress on certain words.

And if this was not enough, there is Yo Yo Honey Singh saying Main tera Raja Hoon, Tu meri Raani Hai, Baby suraksha hi Saavdhani hai.

Amit Trivedi. All fun.

The second song is called Motorwada. I mean Motorwala. I mean, I can’t give that mix of L and D in English that Haryana uses for their motorists. But then Tochi Raina totally knows how to say it, and how to sing this song. Trivedi goes a little too experimental in interludes, but that’s what makes him what he is. Love it again, though not as impactful as the opening track.

Amit Trivedi makes a simple, melodius Punjabi track next as the title song of Luv Shuv tey Chicken Khurana. So let’s see how he goes.

1. Brings the real, earthy Punjabi voices: Shahid Mallya and Harshdeep Kaur.
2. Makes a simple tune and pours in the superb, lovely, even touching, lyrics of Shellee.
3. Keeps it simple, doesn’t do any Amit Trivedi stuff. Not even average composer stuff of today, just the basics.
4. Brings in some dhol towards the end.

Makes it perfect. Taste and let us know how you liked it.

Looni Hansi. Another earthy song gets the electronic touch that Rahman used to give, to say things like Sasural Genda Phool. Don’t know why I can’t remember an Amit Trivedi song for example, though it sounds very typical of him. Btw, don’t expect genda phool here, it’s not that dance-y from the base itself. Well done Harshdeep, again.

Makkhan Malai by Dilbahar. OK don’t ask me why I say so, but this suddenly sounds like a song of early ’90s. No, not even late ’90s. Maybe would have liked the song, but haven’t been able to remove the ’90s effect from the song and see it outside that. I can still see number of dancers doing PT exercises behind the hero. Sorry for that one, cuz the lyrics sound kinda interesting.

And with Farukhabaadi, we’re back. OK let me take a new angle. For the non-Punjabi, the song would go like this. Sound of girls laughing. Some traditional Punjabi things, some wedding songs maybe. Second line is on, wait, did they say FO? Continue, Teri maa-behen ki ma-behen ki kar doon main jay jay abhi. OK, they WERE saying FO. This is interesting.

Well, that was for someone who knows almost no Punjabi. And if you know the language, it definitely cannot make the song less interesting. In fact from then on, it’s Labh Janjua who is in the lead, but the girls, credited as chorus, the unheard-of-nowadays people, leave a strong impact. In the beginning as well as end.

What do you take from the song after listening to it once? ‘Teri ma-behen-ki-ma-behen-ki’ something something. And you get a music for that. ;)

And then there is an instrumental piece. Somehow Amit keeps it very simple, but still very intriguing, not allowing me to forward it. Great work I’d say. Loved the iktara there. And Rohwit tells me it was Rabab that they’ve used there.

Devender Singh’s version of Luni Hansi is nice, innocent. Not as good as Harshdeep, Devender sounds a little nervous, like he could do better, going by his performances I have seen. Still, worth listening to.

The end of the album comes with Kikkli Kaleer Di, Punjabi version. The song, despite my love for the Hindi version which I have heard numerous times, sounds more natural, lovely. The only thing I miss here is ‘Baby Suraksha hi Savdhani hai!’

Overall, Amit Trivedi is here. Not throughout in his regular colors, but the colors he is wearing are almost all nice. Better than some of his recent works.

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Oct
9

Jab Tak Hai Jaan: Music Review (A R Rahman, Gulzar)

Harshit on October 9, 2012

Challa ki labhda phire.

When I heard that one, I was struck by a small shock. I was hoping that the movie shouldn’t suddenly become what became of Gulzar n Rahman’s last big thing with a big producer, the Taal guy, Subhash Ghai. n the movie was Yuvvraaj.

The good part is that it’s not that bad. The bad part, it’s not a Rockstar.

Well, so you all have heard the song, and must know by now how SRK taking on Rabbi’s voice looks strange, despite the good song and an otherwise ok video. And yes, the interlude of this song reminded me of Yuvvraaj too, when I heard it first. Bad omens?

Anyway, the second song Saans had Mohit Chauhan and Shreya, and turned out to be good. A little touch of Tum Ho maybe, but the slow, romantic song is nice, and Gulzar’s lyrics are touching, though they don’t so much sound like a free flowing Gulzar. Still, worth listening to.

Ishq Shava. Well, I have some hopes from this song. Ask me why. Because on the first listen, the song sounds like a disaster, and after listening to it for a few times, it’s getting better. So this may be one of those Rahman songs that get stuck, though after their time when they’re considered a failure. Btw, the arrangements are nice, and Gulzar is a little in his ‘touch’ in some lines, for sure. Could be better, but whatever it is, give it some time.

Harshdeep Kaur’s Heer comes next, and that’s a lovely one again. Nice one, with a lot of Punjabi in there. The biggest thing about the song is its naturality, as neither music, nor lyrics sound at all forced. And Harshdeep is equally natural. So that’s one for you, especially if you love Punjabi.

Jiya Jiya re. Doesn’t sound like one from a Yash Chopra’s movie, but this one is nice nonetheless. Gulzar’s lyrics get a little different, slight rock feel here, and the result is not bad. Tells me Neeti Mohan is an underrated singer actually. Good again.

And here is the best of the movie. The title song.

Yes, I am liking the songs of the movie, but this is the one that I expect from Yash-Rahman-Gulzar. Javed Ali sings this one with Shakthisree Gopalan, a known name in Chennai for her rock, but heard little otherwise. And what do I say for the song, it goes right from some rocky feel to downright dholak. This is that This-is-it-Perfect-Blockbuster one. Okay, maybe I am saying too much. Do listen.

Saans reprise, sung by Shreya, is a small one, that would most probably come at the end of the movie. Short and slow, the song somehow touched me more than the original version. Good one.

The instrumental, Ishq Dance, sounded un-great, simple. And then there was Shahrukh’s recitation of a little-too-hyped poem of Aditya Chopra. Nice recitation though.

Overall, the trio of the greatest lyricist and musician of India with one great director comes out okay, but this is not what was expected of them. Hope things get a little better. But somehow I feel disappointed one year after Rockstar.

(All Links point to Lyrics with Translations. You can check All translated Lyrics HERE)

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Oct
9

Music Review: Rush (2012 film, music composed by Pritam)

Harshit on October 9, 2012

Pritam and Ash King is turning out to be a winning combination. Once again Pritam gives Ash a similar kind of song, though this time Muazzam Beg n Rizwan Ali Khan make it all interesting. Kahin ye tere dil se to chhup chhup ke milta nahi is definitely worth listening to. Nicely composed. Even better arrangements and that chorus’ singing.

The next, Fukraa is a catchy one sung by Jazzy B with Hard Kaur. The song is simple, with an average melody, but the catchy elemnt is taken care of with some okay arrangements. Not a blockbuster, but will work, especially on dance floors, in remix versions.

The second highlight of the album is called Mumkin Nahi. Instead of reading this, you can listen to the song. Though I didn’t so much like Tulsi’s average singing in the song. The song has a flavor of Tum Mile, with its long, lovely melody, and touching lyrics. But I was most surprised by Anupam Amod, who though sings well always, this time seemed to be kinda close to KK in this rendition. DO listen.

O re khuda is a ballad with some wonderful lyrics again. Don’t yet know the lyricist, though the maqta of the sher at the end names Faraaz. Interestingly, Javed Bashir seems to sing here somewhat in Adnan Sami’s style. Listen to this one for the lyrics, and also Javed’s singing.

With Rab ka Junoon, Pritam brings in full-fledged hard rock (is this metal? not sure.) to Bollywood, the track with very little lyrics and a lot of music was okay for me, though I am hardly into rock. Try this one if you want to try rock. If you’re here, I doubt you’d be someone into full-fledged rock.

The last song, Hote Hote, is a beat based one, more of a pop piece, and again brings in Ash, this time with Hard Kaur. Ash’s part of the song, jo bhi ho, jo bhi ho, is catchy, and does attract you. Also the beats of the song are not unheard, but still okay, will be liked after repeated listening.

The end comes with a repeat of chhup chhup ke, the opening song, with Shaan replacing Ash King. Didn’t really feel a need for this one, but Shaan sounds okay.

Overall, Rush has some really good songs, chhup chhup ke and Mumkin Nahi are must listen. Rest aren’t bad too. Worth a try for all, and worth a buy if you’re a music lover.

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Sep
6

Book Review: Maharani by Ruskin Bond

Harshit on September 6, 2012

Once again I’m writing a review for a Ruskin Bond book. Something that I should not do. Because I’m a fan, I love whatever Ruskin writes. And this was no exception. Pre-ordered the day I got to know about the book. Read within 36 houts of receiving it. Still, here I am writing, so read if you are interested.

We’ve read about the Queens in Ruskin’s old books. But most of the time they were either creatures of mystery, never coming out of their unreachable Palaces (turned ruins, at times) or just part of third hand stories. But this time, the queen is not so mysterious, not part of some fable, and very much a real person with a real life and real faults.

Ruskin’s writing style is the same, but nature is a little less and story a little more. Other than Maharani, there are accounts of a few more people in his life, but not very long. One of them, of a friendship with a little boy, is lovely.

In the name of shortcoming, I didn’t find many, but I was a little confused with the timeline as it goes up and down a few times. That, however, will most probably make a good reason for me to read the book again. Yes, that’s how fans are.

A word of warning. The book is a little sexually explicit in some places, and is not exactly the thing that you would like to give to a early teen. On the other hand though, teens today are reading so much more, more explicit and much worse, so this one is not really a problem, but then that’s a different issue altogether.

Maharani is actually one of Ruskin’s most multi-faceted book. It’s not just a thriller, or drama, or his nature love, or humor. But a mix of them all. Yes, Maharani is a Cocktail, in Ruskin Bond’s glass, with his own flavors.

I enjoyed this. And if you’re a Bond fan, you will too.

See also: Book Review: Secrets by Ruskin Bond

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Aug
24

Heroine: Music Review (Salim-Sulaiman)

Harshit on August 24, 2012

If you had suddenly got some big hopes from Salim-Sulaiman like I did, this might be a disappointment for you.

Yes, Salim-Sulaiman seem to have got the best of their creativity in Halkat Jawani itself. Even though Heroine is not exactly something to discard and has a few good things, Salim-Sulaiman are finally looking like a spent force and probably not looking for a comeback.

With that negative note, let me start a review that I hope is not biased against them.

And so, let’s begin with Khwahishen, which is probably the best song of the album. A ‘new’ (all terms are relative) song from Salim-Sulaiman, sung by Shreya Ghoshal, it’s a nice compostion with some above good lyrics. Zindagi ko dheere dheere dasti hain khwahishen is something I’d go for. Nothing special for Shreya as such, but she anyway sings it well. Worth listening to, at least.

The next song, the last in the album (but not in the review) is Tujhpe Fida. A song that already sounds like a remixed pop number, but does sound nice. Benny Dayal is almost a default choice for the song, and Shaddha Pandit does fine here. Still, with all the arrangements in the song, cannot help feeling it lies a lot somewhere between Aadat se Majboor n Thug Le.

Halkat Jawani. Frankly, item songs in general don’t interest me much anymore. Don’t know if Mamta Munni Sharma (or excess of her voice, everywhere) is the cause, but the result is what it is. Still, Halkat Jawani was something that kinda gripped me. The composition is simple, catchy, and Sunidhi’s singing is just superb. I mean, I think to a large extent she’s the one responsible for making most of our heroines worth their ‘salt’, literally. Not saying much about the song, I liked the song and loved Sunidhi there. And yes Salim-Sulaiman, this was a nice one. Thanks for that.

Saaiyaan. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Yeh Hausla Kaise Ruke.

I don’t know how much, but the song is a lot of ye hausla and I could only hear Dor in the song for the first few times. Or more than a few times. So much that I wasn’t able to like the simple lyrics. Salim-Sulaiman seem to have taken re-creation a little too literally here. However, other than that, the song in itself is good. With most other songs of this type (which sound like a clone/copy), it should find its place after some time of being called a clone.

Main Heroine Hoon. You can probably guess what type of the song it would be. Something like other Madhur Bhandarkar title songs. But somehow it sounds a little more ordinary, at least in the beginning. The song should go up slowly with promotion which I suppose will be there. As for Aditi, her singing is really nice here. From the uber-softness of katra-katra, she’s reached the attitude of Main heroine hoon quite well.

So overall, even though not really make me believe in Salim-Sulaiman, is fairly okay. Halkat Jawani and Khwahishen are nice, and despite problems, so is Saaiyaan. The rest are kinda okay. Short, crisp, not too good, but well, manageable.

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Aug
21

Barfi! Music Review (Pritam)

Harshit on August 21, 2012

Anurag Basu and Pritam are a team. So much so for me that I generally tend to forget Kites as Anurag’s movie, going back dircetly to Metro, which the two worked on together, and literally rocked.

Here, they come once again, to give you an album, where not a single piece of a single song seems to be touching Metro. Yeah, it’s all, all new.

The album begins with Ala Ala Matwala Barfi. Mohit Chauhan makes some wonderful onomatopoeic noises here, but it’s the simple tune of Pritam that deserves equal credit. Ranbir this time seems to be doing even better than what he did in rockstar, though it’s not really good to compare as the two are very different movies.

Back to the song. I hope you have all heard the first, Mohit Chauhan version of the song. So more on the Swanand Kirkire version. This one didn’t sound THAT interesting to me after Mohit’s version, though Swanand’s solid voice gives a different touch to the song. Sounds more like an old composer singing his song.

Nickhil Paul George (or call him Nikhil if you so prefer) singing Main kya karoon has been my favorite since the day I heard it for the first time, mostly for the vocals, again other than the light, simple arrangements. The singer, who has sung with Ash King, does sound a lot like him, at least in style. Actually this was quite clear with these two songs that Barfi! is gonna be a much lighter album than Metro, or even an average album of nowadays, and so it is.

The third song, Papon and Sunidhi’s Kyon na hum tum is a simple one. Simple as in, with not too much of new elements. Just a simple song with some nice lyrics. The lyrics of the song are actually sweet, the way ‘roopak’ is used in that. Not sure if what exactly is roopak in English, but I can tell you ‘nazar ke kankadon se khamoshi ki khidkiyan yoon todenge’ is roopak twice. That’s the part I loved the most in this one, with Papon’s evergreen singing.

Arijit Singh is Pritam’s favorite singer nowadays. You can pick any of his past five albums to confirm that. And this time he gets a completely different assignment from his mentor. The song, phir le aaya dil, is more like a Ghazal in its treatment, with all the ‘thehraav’ and of course the tabla based arrangements. And Arijit sings it the lovely Urdu piece quite well.

Of course, Pritam doesn’t leave his beautiful song to Arijit alone this time, not in this Ghazal mode, and gets a perfect version done from none other than Rekha Bharadwaj. Need not say she is a killer yet again, right from the VERY first line. No surprises, it’s in her very forte. MUST listen.

One more experimental-beautiful-old-sounding piece is Aashiyan sung by Shreya and Nickhil. Shreya is a little different with her voice here, though Nickhil remains his regular voice only. The arrangement of the song is interesting, in all its old-western touch. So much so that I can see a girl in something like a polka-dotted frock, in almost black-n-white. Yeah, that’s what music can do to you. To me at least. Anyway, you can guess how much I am into the song, and it is worth it. Very sweet-cute types, nature touching lyrics.

The last song of the album (discounting all the repeat versions as I’ve talked about them all) is Saanwali si raat ho, once again sung by Arijit. This one is a very slow, very simple, and very minimally arranged number. The lyrics are wonderfully romantic in this one. Fall in love with them.

OK. So overall Barfi! is very much in tune with what you would have already heard from the album, almost continuing in the same mood (other than Phir le aaya dil), but still giving you enough to stick on to, for quite a long time. The good things about the album are: It’s simple arrangements, beautiful lyrics, quality compositions, and lastly, it’s lack of remixes. Actually remix is something you wouldn’t even think about in this album. It’s a Barfi that you’d like to savour for quite some time.

PS: At times, I felt like this was a Shantanu Moitra album, with all the slow-soulful-remixless music, and Swanand Kirkire’s lyrics. Special accolades for Pritam for doing something that I’d say out of his comfort zone.

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Jul
24

Shirin Farhad ki Toh Nikal Padi: Music Review (Jeet Ganguli)

Harshit on July 24, 2012

Shirin Farhad ki To Nikal Padi Music ReviewJeet Ganguli has been in Bollywood on and off. But since Jeet-Pritam’s separation, he’s not been in the top rated movies. After a long time, he gets to compose for Shirin Farhad ki To Nikal Padi, which, depsite its irregular star cast, should be a big one. And Jeet plays his part right here. Here is a review.

Ishq mein tere bina dil hi na lage. The opening song of the album is a regular romantic number, with a lovely melody, and KK and Shreya singing. The song sounds a lot like those of 1990s-2000s, and sounds good, something that we are not getting to see a lot these days. Good singers, good composition and a nice romantic track. And still a little rare today, that’s what the song is.

The second song, Khatti Meethi, again maintains the melody quotient, while adding some nicer vocals from Shreya as she goes on to sing again. The other feature of the song is Amitabh Bhattacharya’s lyrics with lot of English words, but still keeping them from making the song anything other than natural. You get to hear ‘mausamon mein feel hai’ instead of ‘mausamon mein ehsaas hai’, something a person is more likely to say today. This may be start of something new.

The sad part is that Urdu is leaving us, and English is coming in, but then that’s exactly what is happening in our daily lives and the good part is that the song does it without going overboard. I’d say, good work by Amitabh here.

The next song of the album, Kaafir Andhere, is a treat for music lovers. The song is a love ballad, sad, a little rocky, and sung perfectly by KK. The lyrics of the song are good, as one can expect from Amitabh. The only negative, the song seems to have a hangover of ‘Jaane kyun tanha ho gaye’ of Bhram. Other than that, it’s just lovely.

And yeah, this one kind of makes up for the loss of Urdu out there.

Shirin Farhad ki Toh Nikal Padi. I love this title song. For two reasons. One, this gives something different to the album, something that is prevalent in the market today, and Jeet does it nothing less than Pritam or say, Sohail. And two, I love the simple, very slightly philosophical, but feel-good lyrics. OK, maybe I said a bit too much for the lyrics, but the song is nice. And makes me feel I should watch the movie. Me.

Guitars. Kuku duku. Again a little hangover’ish from here n there, but the sounds are nice, and until Mohit Chauhan enters with the strange, monologue’ish, ’90s type lyrics, you expect a nice romantic number. The good part is even with the comic-romantic lyrics, you like the song, just that it’s not a blockbuster. But nice. Especially for the movie.

Ramba mein Samba by Usha Uthhup has got some nice music, or I should say interesting music, as there were many other songs that fit the words ‘nice’ better. But the fusion of Electronic, Dhol and Spanish background vocals is something that gives a good feel. I like.

Overall, SFKTNP is an album with a lot of melody, something we don’t get a lot nowadays, some good lyrics, with some regular, nice tracks, and a little experimentation and some light comedy thrown in. I don’t think I could have asked for lot more flavors here. Welcome back, Jeet.

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Jul
17

Ek Tha Tiger Music Review (Sohail Sen, Sajid-Wajid)

Harshit on July 17, 2012

Should I start with Mashallah? Well, I think there is enough said about the song, and then everyone seems to have heard it, so let’s just say the song is probably going to be the weaker part of the album. Or maybe I can say the weakest, if Salman Bhai’s fans allow me to. Not because he’s wrong anywhere, cuz Sajid-Wajid HAVE given some good songs for him. How can I ever forget the small preview of Tere Mast Mast Do Nain I heard at IIFA. That number within seconds told us what a hit it was going to be. But then, this time they seem to have got it wrong. Not too wrong, but not as right as it has been earlier.

And I wrote again so much about that song. OK, leave that one. Let’s see others.

Sohail Sen’s part of the album begins with a KK song and the duo seem to maintain the rapport shared in their last album, Mere Brother ki Dulhan. KK here again plays the fast track, and sings a full fledged commercial number for Salman, this time with Shreya Ghoshal Palak Muchchal. The song, though not extraordinary as such, has a nice melody and the ‘main laapata‘ part is catchy as well. So be ready to hear many fans singing this one, and in due time, some non-fans too.

The next song of the album, Banjaara, is sung by Sukhwinder Singh. And will definitely be pictured on Salman Khan. That actually tells you a lot about the song. Let me spell it out a little more clearly. The song is full of energy, so much so that without even watching it, one can see Salman Khan dancing to the tune with full energy. This one is a hit.

Teri Meri Meri Teri Prem Kahani hai Naadan Parindey. Saiyyara Main Saiyaara. OK leave the name. Let’s just say there is a sad song sung by Mohit Chauhan for Salman Khan. Can there be a thing deadlier than this as of today? OK I may again be overselling it, but I would at least say that Saiyaara is the best song of the album. The song has a superb melody, touching lyrics, the singers are superb, be it Mohit or Tarannum Malik, and so is the singing. The orchestration is simple and beautiful. One cannot doubt about the presence of Salman Khan in the song. Basically there isn’t a thing that would leave me in doubt about the song, it just is going to be one of the best this year. The only minor hitch is that the lyrics of the song make me feel that the movie ‘may’ have a sad ending. Hope that isn’t the case. I want the Tiger to remain there.

And yeah, the Tiger Theme is something you have already heard a lot since the very first teaser trailer, most of it. So that one already makes a fan nostalgic, which is a little strange, but quite positive for the movie. Other than the heard part too, the theme has quite some shades and should work perfectly in the background, and once you have seen the movie, on the CD too.

So clearly, this Tiger is going to rock. As per the rumors, Salman may not be too happy about Sohail doing the score for the movie, but the result has come out really well, and Sajid-Wajid’s song turns out the not-so-good piece of the album. As for Sohail’s part, I’d just say, Mashallah.

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Jul
13

This Cocktail comes with a Hangover of Love Aaj Kal

Harshit on July 13, 2012

First things first. It’s quite a Cocktail.

And secondly, after a certain point, or maybe even before it, the movie has got a huge hangover, that of Love Aaj Kal.

Meera. Saif. Imtiaz. Delhi. Just so much.

But besides this, Cocktail is almost what you expected. Probably more than what you expected, because you probably didn’t expect anything more than some good songs and light comedy in the movie. However, the movie seems to have some story, though courtesy Imtiaz, who is the writer here too, we have already almost seen it.

Still, storywise, the movie goes fine. The screenplay is light in the first half, but doesn’t remain so tight in the second. The locations are nice, and the songs are not just beautiful, but quite fit in the movie. The cinematography is nice and in certain places the story is told simply with cinematography. At least in one place I remember seeing that.

Actors are good. Saif knows what he’s good at though goes overboard at times. Deepika seems like the role could have been written keeping her in mind. Diana is pretty, the cute girl of the movie. Dimple looks quite natural even with a little overacting thrown in for her role, but it’s Boman who speaks so less and still looks all natural and perfect in his small role, mostly with his expressions and his varied funny voices.

Basically, if you don’t mind a little LAK hangover, this Cocktail might be perfect for your weekend. Or whenever you want to have a little weekend.

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Jul
12

Mashallah (Ek Tha Tiger): Music Review (Sajid-Wajid)

Harshit on July 12, 2012

You might call me mad for this, but the first three-four seconds into the song felt a little like Sneha Khanwalkar singing Bhaiya Bhaiya from Jiya ho Bihar ke lala to me. From then on though, the song was a different thing, with all Turkish-Arabic style patterned arrangements on an okay composition by Sajid-Wajid.

To tell the truth, I had been expecting something better, something maybe of the level of Tere Mast Mast Do Nain, but then the news that Wajid himself would be singing the song had its own problems. However, the result was just an okay one. The composition is good in some places, mostly where Shreya is singing (like tu mila mili mujhe khudai), but does not retain the quality througout.

The second best part is my ringtone, i.e. the prelude of the song that appeared in the theatrical as well.

One more positive aspect in the mediocre song is Wajid’s singing. No, he hasn’t suddenly become KK or Sonu Nigam, but he sounds better than almost all his previous attempts, e.g. Dabangg title song where he was supposed to sing just ‘hud hud dabang dabang dabang dabang’ and he sang that too as daBHang daBHang instead.

I have my own doubts about singing as Mashallah what I thought to be Masha Allah or Masha’Allah, but I am sure that Dabang is Dabang only and is not rendered as DaBHang in any dialect.

Other than all that, just to state the obvious, Shreya Ghoshal is one of the best things to have happened to the song. She’s the one who is singing it beautifully, like always.

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Jul
4

Cocktail Music Review (Pritam)

Harshit on July 4, 2012

Heavy voices and Light rock, if mixed well, can be the key ingredients of a Bollywood hit today. And this time in Cocktail, Pritam seems to have kept this well in mind. No, not taking any credit away from him for this wonderful album, just trying to understand how it was made.

Tumhi ho Bandhu – what Pritam is.

With Neeraj Shridhar and a tune that catches you in literally seconds, not minutes, Pritam adds Kavita Seth’s voice to make a perfect cocktail of music in the very first song of the album. One that took the world by the storm, and is not going to go down too soon. It DOES make you tap your feet.

The good part about the song is that the more catchy part of the song – tumhi din chadhe..sakha tumhi – is not all that the song has. The soul of the song comes up with Kavita’s singing and Irshad’s words which seem to express a Meerabai like devotion even in the beach-madness-rock ambiance.

Daaru Desi – regular stuff from Pritam.

A song that would at one time happen to feature KK and can’t-guess-who comes up beautifully in Benny and Shalmali’s voices. After Ishaqzaade, Shalmali’s open voice singing works here too, though the song is not Pareshaan for sure. Good, worth a listen.

Mohan Kanan. Shilpa Rao. A little more Rock. And a good song. Na chhode yaariyan.

Actually people criticize me for being reminded of songs all the time while reviewing. And at times I feel that’s true. But I can’t help thinking of Kar Chalna shuru tu when I listen to Yaariyan. Not like the songs are same. It’s just the Amit Trivedi style processing of the song and the minor similarities in songs make me think of the former. However, Pritam takes a beautiful step in making Mohan sing this one. The depth in his voice is an expression in itself. Lovely that.

Second Hand Jawani. The compulsory single screen collection song.

The song with Meri behen-d jawani, second hand jawani type words. Catchy, Govinda-age music. Singers can be from India or Canada, you know what it is. Important for collection in single screen cinemas.

Tera naam japdi phiraan. Light rock, Heavy voices.

Javed Bashir here has been given a mammoth task. Of making an average song an awesome one. The track is good, and the experiment of using Javed’s voice and Sufi style singing with Nikhil’s full fledged English lyrics and some Barbie-doll style singing by Shefali turns out to be nice. However, this one could be added a unplugged kind version, with just Javed leading the song instead of the remix.

Luttna. Lovely singing. Killer lyrics.

Yep. Taking nothing out of the music, I’d say it’s the superb lyrics that make the song. Anupam Amod’s slow, shayari-ish singing is beautiful here, and the background rock track is just fine. But the overall mix gets heady, if you’re the one for it.

Welcome to India, Arif Lohar.

Heard the name and can’t place it? I bet it’s that one song of Coke Studio that you either didn’t hear much, or heard and just got stuck to. Jugni ji is here in India, in a new cover, but the packaging and the material, though changed, has not been altered too much, mostly keeping the soul of the song there. The lovers of Coke Studio might not like it too much, but Pritam has done some good work here, much of it by not working too much on the song. This one is something to listen to, a must-loop if you haven’t heard the original one. And yes, before I forget, good choice putting Harshdeep here, she is that one part of the song that’s probably better than that in original.

So that was the review that should have came ages ago. But better late than never. Hope you’re loving this Cocktail already.

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Jun
21

Book Review: The Asocial Networking – Dhiraj Kumar

Harshit on June 21, 2012

Why this Review?

Because the author asked me if I’d like to review a book, and I said yes, and received the book a few days later, AND the author kept asking me when I’d write the review.

Why this Book?

I hope the author knows. I think it’s because he had a thought in his mind on which he thought of writing a book and just went ahead. Not like I am against the book or something, but I’d prefer a white paper or something on the subject rather than a book.
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May
27

Gangs of Wasseypur: Music Review (Sneha Khanwalkar, Piyush Mishra)

Harshit on May 27, 2012

No, what’s there about this Anurag Kashyap guy, that every time he comes up with a movie, all these internet addicts, facebookers and twitterati people get up from graves and start writing praises everywhere they can. Why?

I myself am one of those net addicts, and even though I don’t exactly know the answer, it probably lies somewhere in the raw style he has, be it his films or their music. Yes, the man has used some nine composers in his nine directed movies, repeating just one of them, and coming out with different but wonderful music mostly.

This time, Anurag gets Dibakar Bannerjee’s regular composer, Sneha Khanwalkar to compose, as Dibakar goes for Vishal-Shekhar for his Shanghai, which comes in the same month.

And from here on, it’s not Anurag, but Sneha who is the point of interest. More because her music seems as raw as Anurag’s movies.

The first song of the album, Jiya ho Bihar ke lala, is the trend setter, theme setter for the movie. With those lovely beats and Manoj Tiwari, Sneha creates something really rare for the film industry, even though something of similar style should be very common on the streets of Bihar. The song, which is based on a para picked from a Nautanki in Gaya district, justifies the one month research Sneha seems to have done for the song, and Manoj Tiwari sounds like the most natural choice for the song. Full marks for this one.

Hunter, the second song of the album, is all experimental, with the music-melody normal, arrangements and voices used highly experimental, and lyrics quite double-meaning. If you get the lyrics, you’d enjoy the song a lot, else you might just like it for the experimental value.

Womaniya, however, is a simple song for the album. That said, don’t expect Shaan or Sonu Nigam to come up with a ‘dil churaya’ type song. This one is a very typical piece for all those hundred ceremonies (generally before and after weddings) where the elder ladies of the ‘mohalla’ take charge of the dholak and just sit down to share songs which are more jokes than songs. The best part of this one is that Sneha maintains the realness of the song completely with just a few added beats. And yes, if Varun Grover has written those lyrics all by himself, without help from a professional dadi-nani-aunty from the mohalla sangeets, he’s a sooper guy, to say the least.

..paataal mein ghus ja. Jisme ghusna hai ghus le, ghus meri jaan. Teri Keh ke Lunga. Okay, they are not the best words of the song, but they give you an idea of the song. The song, in iteslf, is a little dark, gives you a feel of the movie without even watching it, and you know it’d be running in the background in the xyz type of scenes. Sneha herself, is a little unusual for singer here, but with the words they sing and the way they sing them, the two are worth listening to.

Bhoos. Five minute and ten second song. And forty-five seconds of April fool. :)

Yes, the story is little like that only. The first 45 seconds into the song and one sings it’s a soul-stirring number from, say, Piyush Mishra, like that Sheher of Gulaal.. And then, Voila, there is a gentlemen-sangeet. A song that makes you feel like an idiot with its words, but I still love the words, because they are not really idiotic. Also the Nautanki-ish parts in the second half are lovely. One of my personal favorites on the album, probably because I’ve not really heard anything like that ever, despite its simplicity. Manish J Tipu (composer, Phas Gaye Re Obama) and Bhupesh Singh are the names on the cover.

Ik Bagal mein. I mean, there is nothing to say about the song other than it’s a TRADEMARK Piyush Mishra song. I suppose the song is written, composed, arranged, sung by Piyush Mishra only. The song is a masterpiece, and I can listen to it a hundred times. Especially towards the end the song is terrifyingly haunting and just superb, wonderful. The only complaint, it sounds so much like Duniya, despite some lovely sitar and overall difference in arrangements. Still, this one is what you must be looking for if you’re one into serious music.

Bhaiyya is a track which is again experimental, where a performance by Musahar of Sundarpur gets turned into something heavy, but the track is not so much of a success, majorly because you need to work too hard to get the words being sung.

Tain tain toon toon ti ti tee tee ta. Spoiler ahead. The spoiler is that the whole song has similar kind of lyrics, as if someone’s singing a self-made barahkhadi. You can seriously write your own lyrics for the music. Spoiler ends. And the music of the song is quite good.

Soona kar ke gharwa. I don’t know what I found in this simple dhol-manjeera song, but I just loved this one. There aren’t many words in the small song, and everything sounds real. I somehow feel like this is a simple recording from the Gaya Nautanki where Sneha found Jiya ho Bihar ke lala (I did hear jay ho Bihar ke lala in the background in this one). But no official word on this one.

Gareebi tod deti hai jo riste khaas hote hain, aur paraye apne hote hain, jab paise paas hote hain. And one more like that. But it’s the instrumental part after that that was the focus. Still, I didn’t get what really Sneha planned on providing here. Because if there was something played by the baal party, it’s more or less lost in the mixing. Not the favorite.

Womaniya, which comes as a remix-like version here (not called remix, the other version was ‘live’) is one of the highlights, and most probably will be a hit, or a superhit, depends on publicity. Do listen.

There is one song in this album that I don’t want to watch a video for. Manmauji, the song, is something I would have loved to listen on the radio in the afternoon sessions of my summer vacations with mom, without thinking if the song had a video at all. Seriously, my complaint is that the song is just two minutes and fifty-three seconds long. Sneha, wherever you are, if you’re listening, please, please, please create some more songs like that. Khula hai baajuband phata hai kaaj sambhal ke chalna hoga.

Loonga Loonga, a little too much of mixing-remixing. Skipping this one.

Humni ke chhodi ke nagariya e baba. This one from Deepak Kumar – Muzaffarpur is yet another very earthy number. In fact the song reminds me of some music that I have heard within my hometown, and in a very unimagined way, gives me a kind of peace. The only problem is that I don’t really get all the words in the song, hope that will be solved though.

So, the album is something to listen to, and the album is something all those who want to listen to ‘experimental’ music would love to have. Mind you, this album in itself is a complete season of Sound Trippin’ from Sneha. In fact the album tells me that music not always needs to be ‘composed’, you can ‘discover’ music and then produce it. Of course, that too needs a genius, but that would be a genius that would continuously learn, and it seems Sneha Khanwalkar is one such genius. More power to her.

And I hope you know by now why Anurag Kashyap is a guy talked about. No, producing a movie that features THIS music is not everyone’s kind of game. And then, that’s not all. The movie is yet to come. More power to him.

O ri Duniya.. #np

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