Crook. Pritam Again.

Crook is once again something wonderful by Pritam, this time with Babu Mann’s support.

The first song, Chhalla, is definitely a superb thing. Babu Mann’s song, which is so-heard, so-lovable, so-wonderful thing, I need not say will be an instant hit. Babu’s singing is lovable too. Btw, the song has Suzanne D’Mello singing too. Though she comes a second this time as Babu steals all the magic. Tadada-Tadada-Tada-dada.

Enters Nikhil D’Souza. If you’re reading the album covers carefully, you’d easily be knowing that the guy is progressing like anything and has sung with as varied composers as Amit Trivedi, Vishal-Shekhar and now Pritam, all that in less than two months. Well, the guy sounds pretty good and quite easy on ears, especially here as he sings Mere Bina, a slow, not-too-soft, but quite beautiful song for Pritam. Listen to the song. I can tell you’ll love it more every time.

The next is Pritam’s very own Neeraj Shridhar, singing Kya sunaun main kya bataun main. This time Neeraj gets a bit softer piece, (probably I’m comparing it to Mera Jeena hai kya) with some half English lines, quite typical of his. Definitely a good, quite likeable, and my guess is, addictive-to-be song, though not deep as the rest.

The next song is KK’s tujhi mein, quite a rock-ish number like many others Pritam has given to KK to sing, all of them good. The background beats of the song sound a bit nostalgic and from the very start of the song, I’m reminded of Gunaah’s Jab dil churaye koi, but frankly KK singing in the foreground is good enough to make me forget it.

The next song is a remix of Babu’s Chhalla, with a dhoom-dhoom-chik-chik. I wonder if the song has been added in the song early so as to make people not leave it and hear this one too. Well, not bad a remix. Liked it.

Next comes who was missing. Yeah, our very own Mohit Chauhan comes up to sing a very light tujhko jo paaya. A song with almost only guitar, a wonderful song, but the song seems so-very-heard. You know? Well, the song is the second track of the album, Mere Bina, sung by Mohit this time and with a different name. You may count it as unplugged, as it actually is unplugged, but then what would you call the Unplugged version of Mere Bina sung by KK. Golmaal hai bhai sab Golmaal hai. The only good thing is that the song sounds good for the second time too.

Next, KK starts a reprise version of Tujhi mein, but compared to the original, this version of Tujhi mein doesn’t sound all that good to me as I feel too many instruments have been added to the song and KK’s voice goes in kinda background, as much as that powerful a voice can go. Though, the pace of the song is seemingly a bit less which does add to the positive side. Still, for now I prefer the original one to reprise.

The next version of Tujhko jo paaya (credited Mere Bina this time) starts with some beautiful chords and I suddenly feel calm after the so-instrumented reprise of Tujhi mein. KK sings the so-called Unplugged version just awesomely and I once again fall in love with his voice, but at the same time, the song sounds repetitive as this is the third version of the song in the album. Yes, one song that makes 37.5% of this album. I think one of the versions should have been scrapped. Now don’t ask me which one, I may not be able to answer.

And that makes me say, Kudos to Nikhil D’Souza, for standing tall with established super singers like Mohit and KK.

Overall, the album is yet another in the ever-hit series of Pritam-Emraan Hashmi and will make no exception. With 8 tracks, which are actually just four songs, the album is not too big, but almost all the songs are good. Pritam has again gone for his tried and tested formulae, even though he has done tiny little experiments with his singers, and got quite good an album. Especially liked is Tujhko jo paaya/Mere Bina looks like something for short as well as long term.

Tags: Babu Mann, Emraan Hashmi, KK, Mohit Chauhan, Music Review, Neeraj Shridhar, Nikhil D'Souza, Pritam, Suzanne D Mello