Te Amo, the song sung by Ash King, is definitely a lovely one and Pritam does his own good thing with Ash’s voice, as long as you don’t compare this one to Dil gira daffatan. While Ash is lovely in the soft romantic song and natural with the English parts of the song, Sunidhi is not bad either. One song you would love.

Like in all Pritam albums, there is another version of Te Amo, a reprise by Pritam. I guess I need not tell you how a soft version of a soft romantic song would sound when Mohit sings it. The slight acoustic setting Pritam has given to the song is nice.

Mit Jaaye Gham. Dum Maaro Dum. Shirt. Potty. Nanga. Well, It’s like that only. All I can say is that after this song is on air, the censor board won’t have to do much to decide the audience. Families are NOT going to watch this one. Oh, as for the music, it’s okay. As expected, it’s made in kinda addictive mood. But lyrics, oh, well..

If there is something in the album that I was able to hear in a loop from the first time itself, here it is. Jiyein Kyun is not only good on music and singing, the lyrics are so lovely, I just fell for the song very soon.

As for the music, Pritam is almost in Metro mood here and Papon sounds so much like James in his singing. And Mr Sahni Jaideep, I love you. DO Listen to this one.

And then Zubeen Garg’s Jaana hai is a signature Pritam song in Zubeen’s very typical voice. Nothing too great, but there is definitely a special kind of depth in Zubeen’s voice that Always attracts you, which especially suits songs with a, what would I say, kashish, with a longing to go ahead and achieve something. And here is one such song. Liked it.

Overall, Dum Maaro Dum may be an album to hide from your parents (yes, at any age) after listening to that title song, but there are a few good songs in the album and while you love everything from Jiyein Kyun to Te Amo, Jaana hai and Thayn Thayn aren’t disappointing. In short, cool. In fact a bit too much in a some places, you know.

The next song, Nain Tere, sung by Pamela Jain and Ranjini Jose, is something traditional, that tries to sound a bit like Lagaan’s O ri Chhori, but since the song doesn’t have a male voice, it doesn’t quite go that way, keeping the song a bit different. The traditional style of music is good but the attention it requires will be available to the song is doubtful. Like it.

The title song, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, which credits only Suresh Wadkar, seems to be sung mostly by chorus and while some words sound ambiguous, at least until you try hard, the rest of the song is good. The song doesn’t exactly give you an immediate high but you get the feeling of revolt in the words Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey. Likeable, but nothing too great. Most useful as the background theme in the movie.

Sohail Sen and Pamela Jain’s Sapne Saloney has a huge hangover of What’s Your Raashee’s (probably the best) song Bikhri Bikhri si Zulfen hain Kyun. Sohail singing both the songs himself doesn’t help matters. Pamela sounds good in the song, and makes me feel they should have taken any other male singer for the song. Still, the song is okay and one may like it anyway.

The next song in the album is Vande Mataram, translated into Hindi by the lyricist of the movie, Javed Akhtar. The music of Sohail’s composition is quite close to the version of the song in Anand Math (1952), which seems very deliberate, of course. As far as translation are concerned, Javed sir starts quite beautifully but then get lost in pure Hindi words like ‘tere charano ka chumban lein hum, sheetal muskan tera karam,’ making the song almost as alien to common man as the original Vande Mataram. Thus the song doesn’t serve much purpose, though the effort put into the song can be seen there. Somehow the song reminds me of Commonwealth Games’ Opening ceremony. with all the different sounds singing together.

The next track, less than two minute long instrumental Long Live Chittagong is a good piece of music with the title’s theme in many instruments, many of them very Indian. Very like.

The next track, teenagers’ whistle, starts where the last ended, and you probably won’t know when one ended and the other started. This one gets a bit slow in places, but some sounds especially in those very slow places are very lovely. Should make a good background score in the movie. Just a bit too lengthy at four minutes. But like the way producers have put this instrumental music here. At least till now. Though there are many more instrumentals to go and my thoughts ‘may’ change.

Surjya’s Sorrow again is an instrumental but this one is deeper and has some more effects. The tune is very slow but Sohail has mostly picked his instrumental pieces from songs only so you do not feel like you’re listening to something completely unknown. Okay.

The next is an instrumental piece for Vande Mataram, the movie version. Start’s quite okay, but near the end it turns almost sad/thinking/gloomy kind, which I didn’t like much.

The last instrumental piece is called Escape and gives you, as you can guess, an espionage feeling, but in a more Indian way, very unlike a bond movie or Mortal Combat, except for a little small part. For a few seconds you may have a slight feel of ’70s Amitabh Bachchan movies too.

The next song is a sad version of Nain Tere sung by Pamela Jain. This one too is more of an instrumental as there are very few words in the song. Okay stuff.

The last track of the album, Revolutionary Comrades is again an ‘almost instrumental’ which starts off quite softly but turns into a rebellion anthem slowly. Of all the instrumentals, Sohail gives his best here and this can be seen, oops, heard. Quite liked this one.

Overall, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey should be considered a good album as there is not much scope of creation considering the mood of the film. In fact the album reminds me of Rahman’s Bose The Forgotten Hero, which in itself is not a small thing. Though, comparing the two albums isn’t suggested.

KHJJS has some good songs and some good instrumentals too. Especially the first three songs show that Sohail has quite some talent, but then he needs to work more upon it and also leave the greed of singing more and more of the songs himself, something which has gone quite negative for the album’s fourth track, Sapne Saloney. Rest, I say, is good. Hope to see Sohail getting more directors to work for and more singers working with him. For now, my first suggestion is, DO listen to Yeh Des Hai Mera.

The video is certainly worth a watch and Abhishek is looking different again, though Aishwarya in water reminds me of Guru again. The song is definitely good and I am hopeful about the music that is coming on April 24th. Here is the video.

Behene De – Karthik
Beera Beera – Vijay Prakash
Kata Kata – Ila Arun, Sapna Awasthi & Kunal Ganjawala
Khilli Re – Reena Bhardwaj
Ranjha Ranjha – Rekha Bhardwaj & Javed Ali
Thok De Killi – Sukhwinder Singh

So hopes from the songs of Raavan are high. Check the video of the first song Beera too.

Big B has been accused of poking fun at people with disabilities.

The case has been filed by Patna High Court lawyer Shruti Singh in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate under The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. It has also been filed against director R. Balkrishna.

“I filed a case in the court demanding a probe into whether ‘Paa’ violated the act or not,” Singh said Saturday. As a result, the lawyer’s name has come to the front page of the Times of India and I hope many other places. So her work must be over.

“My stand is simple: If it violated the disability act, the authorities should act against the producer and actors of the film for making a joke of disabled people,” she added. Now, after watching everybody using all their spare tissues to wipe their faces, I’m wondering how Auro and co. made a joke of disabled people.

Wasn’t there a fine of 10000 bucks or something on useless PILs? Well, 10k well spent by the lady then.

3 Word Review: Just Loved it!

2 Word Review: Go, Watch!

1 Word Review: Paa.

Rating: 9 on 10. In the hope that Mr Bachchan may still have some surprise someday.

My WORK is over. But if you still want to read on, you sure can.

Now that you have shown the willingness to read ahead, I should give you the story from start. Abhishek Bachchan joined Twitter on 3rd November. The promotion of Paa started on 4th, right one month before the release. And I was mad about the movie ever since I saw Amitabh Bachchan’s face on the evening of 4th November.

Since that day, Paa team has been saying ‘Introducing Amitabh Bachchan’ which I felt was a little too much for a mere film, however good it might be. But today, after watching the movie I’d say they are right. They HAVE introduced a new Amitabh Bachchan today. Hats Off to Mr Bachchan.

And now, I come to the movie.

It starts off well. An idea-l* politician, a courageous doctor-mother, an even more courageous, more understanding grandmother, and a mature with mind, witty and too mature with body Auro. That makes a small, perfect cast for the wonderful story of Paa. I don’t want to give the spoiler here so I wouldn’t talk much about the story. All I can say is that the story is amazing and so is direction and acting of Amitabh, and even Abhishek, Vidya, and Arundhati Naag. The only thing that beat them all in the movie is the look of Amitabh which does not let you think at any point of time that it’s him. Paresh Rawal hasn’t got as much as others but has been good in whatever he gets to do.

One line for the Hollywood fans. PAA IS NOT BENJAMIN BUTTON. (Though make up artists could be same, they both have superb getups)

Ilayiaraaja’s music is wonderful and even a small Halke se Bole is effective.  And while make up artists are as good as Amitabh, Cinematography of PC Sreeram is good too.

Overall, Paa, which belongs to Auro, is probably the best movie of the year. It’s big on emotions, good at wit, harsh on media, gives some funny moments, and has imperfect characters who strive to do good. It has negatives but it gives you a lot of positivity too. Go, watch it.

PS: The only question on my mind about the movie is why was the movie named PAA and not AURO. My guess is somebody must have thought of that name, and seriously.

* – Pun Intended

Paa is something I have been looking forward to from the very time I got to know about the movie. The day their website, paathefilm was launched, I was sitting in front of my monitor with speakers on, playing the paa tune for hours. And now, there is Mudi Mudi, sung by Shilpa Rao that is out there on music channels.

The song, composed by Ilayiaraaja, is a wonderful number. While you feel the song is yet another normal song when you hear it for the first time, as the time passes and you listen to it more, you like it more and more. Though the lyrics of the song are a bit of tongue twisters and the words mudi mudi kahan kahan kahan kahan main mudi mudi ittefaq se/ judi judi jahan tahan kahan main judi judi ittefaq se/ ghadi ghadi kyun main kyun, udi main udi, ghadi ghadi kyun udi/ judi judi kyun main kyun, udi main udi, judi judi kyun udi/ kyun mudi udi thi judi ittefaq se definitely take their own time to set there. And even if they don’t, the music sticks to your mind and keeps challenging to find the words.

Also, Shilpa Rao, who has been mostly known for some element in her voice that I cannot name as roughness, sings the song in a different way here and her voice sounds more like other singers’ voice, say Alka or Shreya. But then, at the same time, her voice still sounds more mature than that of Shreya, probably the reason Ilaiyaraaja has preferred her this time.

In short, it’s something I’ve fallen in love with. If you haven’t yet heard it, try this link.

Abhishek gives credit of his joining Twitter to Tarun Mansukhani, the director of Dostana who is already twittering for quite some time now.

You can follow Abhishek Bachchan by clicking here. To follow all Bollywood Celebrities on Twitter in one single list, go to http://twitter.com/hg6/bolly