For now, here is some detail about the show, mostly about who all are gonna be there on the show.

The show will have twenty artistes. While the top Bollywood line of the show comprises of Shankar Mahadevan, Shaan, KK and Sunidhi Chauhan, we’ll also see Kailash Kher, Richa Sharma, Shruti Pathak, and Benny Dayal from Bollywood singers.

Besides, there will be Raghu Dixit, or should I say The Raghu Dixit Project, the well known name from Bangalore; once so popular Colonial Cousins – Hariharan and Leslie Lewis; comparatively lesser known Bollywood singers Harshdeep Kaur and Akriti Kakkar (Harshdeep is winner of two television reality shows and has even sung for A R Rahman in Rang De Basanti, Akriti has almost twenty movies to her credit where she has sung); and the singer of mora saiyyan, aankhon kay sagar, mitwa, and many more, Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan.

Then there are Sabri Brothers*, Aftab and Hashim Sabri, qawwali singers who have sung for Hindi films as well, my best memory being of Allah Allah from Yeh Dil Ashiqana (no idea how crappy the movie was but the songs were good, the qawwali being one of the best) and Tumse mil ke dil ka hai jo haal from Main hoon na.

Also the show will have Sufi singers Puranchand and Pyarelal Wadali i.e. Wadali Brothers there too. The pair has also sung a couple of songs for Bollywood, the latest being Rangrez in Tanu weds Manu.

In lesser known singers, which could and should make the real life of the show, there will be Assamese Bihu specialist Khagen Gogoi, Tamilnadu’s once-a-singer-at-thirteen Chinna Ponnu, another Assamese Mausam Gogoi, maker of boatmen band Majhi Mallah Saurav Mandal and New Delhi’s eclectic music group Advaita.

What is still a confusion though, is that while the list above is given on the ‘Artists’ page of the Coke Studio website, there is another sentence that says ‘The collaborations are so eclectic as to bring together Shafqat Ali and Shruti Pathak, Sunidhi Chauhan and Wadali Brothers, Kailash Kher and Papon, Shankar Mahadevan and Khogen Da, and Bombay Jayshree, Richa Sharma and Rashid Khan among others‘ while going by the list, I won’t find Papon, Bombay Jayshree and Rashid Khan on the show.

* My guess is that there is some mix up regarding them on the Coke Studio’s official website, they claim that Sabri Brothers are a Pakistani Qawwali party.

The next good thing here is Bela Shende’s Mann bhi hai. The song is a beautiful poetry and Bela has sung it beautifully over the simple music. Nothing too high or trying-too-hard. Just simple and lovely so.

Ila Arun’s voice in the beginning of Mora Saiyyan may for once make you doubt the beauty of the song, but as soon as Pt Girish Chattopadhyay enters the song, you know it’s good. But then I felt Ila Arun’s voice is probably not required in the background there. Still, she sings the ‘maari nathni’ part perfectly. A bit of desperate effort, but a good one. Listen and decide for yourself if you are okay with the song.

Tikhi Tikhi Mirch, sung by Kalpana Patowary in the folk version and by Akriti Kakkar in Western version clears one thing for sure, and that is that Monty Sharma cannot do so much with Western arrangements as he can with Indian instruments. Kalpana’s version sounds like a very typical item number but still this is the version I’d prefer. Akruti’s version is simply not it.

And before that, there is one more thing in the album that I quite liked. Kunal Ganjawala, Vaishali Samant and Sharmishtha’s Zindagi tu hi bata seems to have Kunal Ganjawala in the same touch as Guzaarish, mostly because of the lyrics. the song is some good poetry with some beautiful lyrics. The music is decent and singing is good, but the song doesn’t click if you are not into the lyrics of the song. Listen to this one for the positive lyrics.

Overall Mirch is a fine album with some good songs like Shankar’s Badra and Bela’s Mann bhi hai, while Zindagi and Mora Saiyyan aren’t bad. Do listen to the album for Badra and Mann bhi hai.

The album opens with a romantically beautiful Pind di Saver where Gurdaas Maan simply falls in love with his village and gives you a wonderful musical description of his village. I think a song to be loved by those who know any amount of Punjabi.

The very next song of the album is Chori Yaari Nasha chhupaya chhupda nai mitra. A song with some old, likable beats, and kind of discipline-inducing lyrics, which might look a bit too preachy at times. Still an okay song.

Third song, Tu chaanan main Parchhavan is a complete Alka Yagnik song that just reminds me of Tujhe Yaad na Meri Aayi (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai) in the Mukhda part. Though the song doesn’t have much new to it, Alka Yagnik still sounds as good as ever and I think I may hear the song a few times just to hear her sing. Okay again.

The next song of the album, Yaar de viyah de vich features the ‘new’ Punjabi in the market with the old one. I meant Mika comes for this one with Gurdaas Maan, but somehow, even with the two present, the song becomes an average Punjabi dance song, as it doesn’t sound completely like a song of either of the two. Disappointing, at least going by the names.

The next one, Paun dendi hai hulare features Akriti Kakkar and the girl sings the song just wonderfully. The song is a slow, soft, romantic Punjabi number. Feroz Khan, the guy who sings the song with her isn’t bad either and sounds pretty fine. The song has an old touch, something of the times 5-10 years back in time, but the quality of the song is what keeps you stuck there. Good one for sure.

The last one, the album’s title song, Chak Jawana is an enthusiastic, and say patriotic kind of song. The song has a typical flavor and if you’re a Maan fan you might love the song, but if you’re not, the song may sound a bit old to your ears and may not be loved by all.

Overall, Chak Jawana is an average album with some good songs. Gurdas Maan still sounds good in his well-known style though he might not fit well in all situations and Yaar de Viya with Mika is one such thing that almost fails trying to adjust between the two biggies. Still, his Pind di Saver completely works and so does Feroz-Akriti’s Paun dendi hai hulare. Here is the soundtrack list.

1. (04:28) – Pind Di Saver
2. (04:12) – Chori, Yaari, Nasha
3. (05:50) – Tu Chanan Main Parchhavan Ft. Alka Yagnik
4. (04:04) – Yaar De Viah Ft. Mika
5. (05:23) – Paun Dendi Hai Hulare Ft. Akriti Kakkar, Feroz Khan
6. (03:24) – Chak Jawana

And now, Karan Johar buys this song for his remake of Stepmom and gets it almost killed by one of the country’s finest musicians, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Oh, I do count them one.

Talking of the new version, it’s clear Kajol, Kareena and Arjun are shown trying to sing the song while they don’t remember the words from the song, as Kajol (actually Anushka Manchanda) says chalo hato pare nacho dil khol ke let’s rock, hello ji let’s rock, main to bhool gayi phir kya wordings the, something something Jailhouse Rock. Interestingly, while Anushka does the job of being causal perfectly (as shown in the video on Kajol), Suraj Jagan who has been a lot into rock a lot, and my thinking is, could well have been a big fan of Elvis, doesn’t get all that casual, as he seems to be giving his best to the song, result of which is that he doesn’t really sound casual unlike Anushka. Frankly, I did not like the song after the original version but still the best part of the song for me was where Suraj sings alone, especially where he says ‘yo mama let’s rock.’

And now, after saying such negative things about the song, I’ll tell you why this song will be a hit.

1. It’s a song in a Karan Johar movie with SEL’s music, so any relatively weak song would also have a chance of lasting much longer than it would have had in some other movie.
2. The music is still the same. The one that was there in one of World’s top 500 songs.
3. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy know what they do. They might have made the song a bit irritating, but it certainly is very tongue sticking. Listen to it thrice and bingo! you’re humming it.

So don’t get irritated, nor try to get used to the song. It’ll be there on your tongue in some time, as long as you’re in contact with TV or radio.

PS: I don’t know how Akriti Kakkar seems to have gone a bit down in the song, most probably it’s Anushka who has been in too high a voltage to let me concentrate much on Akriti’s voice.

I was wondering if I should even listen to the album but then I thought of Sharman Joshi and Tabu’s Toh Baat Pakki and decided to give it a shot. Here is the result, nothing great.

The album starts with another version of Aa jaane jaan, sung by Akriti Kakkar and Antara Mitra with Javed Jaffrey doing some rapping up. Singers are OK but with so many better versions of the song already around, nobody will know when it came and went.

The next song, Band Baaja, sung by RIcha Sharma, Ritu Pathak and Rana Majumder is among the better songs of the album. The song has is an enjoyable dance number, as almost clear by name. The song literally has a ‘ring’ to it from the very start and sounds good at the very first time, though I don’t think it has a long shelf life.

The next is Sunidhi Chauhan sung Dil to saala Ullu ka pattha hai. No doubt, Sunidhi sings the song well but the tune is just not that good. Or probably it’s mixing. I’m actually trying to find out what’s the major difference between Pritam and Pritam A songs. Anyway, Sunidhi’s singing still keeps the song listenable. By the way, even after Shankar and Ali Zafar’s good sounding ‘good looking ullu da pattha,’ Sunidhi’s ‘dil to saala ullu ka pattha hai’ sounded a bit vulgar to me. Can’t explain why. Okay.

Suzanne De’Mello’s Atthrah baras ki is the next song of the album. The tune is barely OK and I still felt the pieces of tune were picked up from here and there. Only after listening to the song 5-6 times was I able to hum the punch line of the song. Kinda boring.

The last song of the album is Working Girls sung by Shweta Pandit, Ritu Pathak and Priyadarshini. Well, I’m quite hopeless about the album now and don’t know why exactly this song doesn’t sound good to me, though the tune of the song is quite okay. One problem with the song, though, is lyrics, which amount to nothing.

Overall, Hello Darling is an album Pritam doesn’t seem to have cared about and I don’t think people are going to care either. The best thing from the album seems to be the peppy-dance number band baaja, followed by dil to saala. I think that’s all.

Now that Karan Johar’s next product We are Family is coming, some of the details are coming out and I’m again getting a feeling that the music of the film will be same again. The typical that happens to be in his movies: one or two songs with a Sufi touch, one party song, like in a bar or something, maybe one philosophical, and quite surely a sad version, and definitely one theme. I think though that after MNIK, WAF also may have one rock-ish number as Suraj Jagan is there again.

For example, I know there is a song called Rehem-o-Karam in the movie and by the very words, I smell a Sufi song. Not that I don’t like Sufi songs but hasn’t he had enough of them in MNIK already? By the way, the song Rehem-o-Karam is sung by Vishal Dadlani along with Shankar Mahadevan. I wish Rehem-o-Karam turns out to be a rock number but chances look kind of bleak.

I know Karan knows what he is doing and I also know that the songs that come out will be wonderful, and at the same time hit, superhit. But I think this way, music loses, and at the end, we lose.

Anyway, all I can do for now is anticipate and guess, until the music release, which is reportedly scheduled for first week of August, though I was expecting end of July, guessing 28th. And all I wish is that I’m proved wrong, and KJo and SEL bring us the best music we have ever heard. Amen.

Update: Here is the detailed soundtrack of the movie.

1. Ankhon Mein Neendein – Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shreya Ghoshal, Shankar Mahadevan (5:02)
2. Dil Khol Ke Let’s Rock – Anushka Manchanda, Akriti Kakkar, Suraj Jagan (03:57)
3. Reham O Karam – Vishal Dadlani, Shankar Mahadevan (05:47)
4. Hamesha & Forever – Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Tara Waaliya (04:51)
5. Sun Le Dua Yeh Aasmaan (Theme Slow Version) – Shankar Mahadevan (03:53)
6. We Are Family (Theme) – Dominique Cerejo, Clinton Cerejo, Neuman Pinto, Vivienne Pocha (02:48)

The album opens with Mehrmaa ve, composed by Shankar Mahadevan. The song is a slow, good song with an oldie touch. Akriti sings the song well even though it’s not the best song of the album and the girl fares better in some forthcoming songs.

Gazab, the second song of the album, is the first composition of Akriti Kakar in the album. The song is not great but certainly good for a first time composer of 23 years of age. The composition reminds me of Sona’s aaja ve, mostly in terms of its programming. An average song, that you will like if you listen to it a few times.

The next song, Chhoone do, is again composed by Akriti herself and written by Neelsh Misra. Now this is an impressive composition by the singer and arrangers/programmers Tubby and Parik keep the music light there. A well composed, well written, and overall impressive song.

Na re na na re was the best song of the album the first time I heard it, without much pondering. The words might remind you of Guru but the song has nothing to do with that na na re. The only thing that matches is that even this one is a wonderful song to listen to. Interestingly, even though composed by Shankar Mahadevan, the song feels like coming from A R Rahman’s school of music, the soft madness it is composed with. No disrespect intended to Shankar; he has certainly created some good stuff. Good work by Gulraj Singh on arrangement and programming.

Dil vi diwana tera is an old, traditional Punjabi song that Akriti tries to sing and does sing pretty well, except that she seems to be trying too hard in some places to get that authentic Punjabi touch. No questions about the song that sounds perfect in its place. Good work by Akriti but she still has a long way to go. (The song is credited as a tribute to Noorjehan ji on the album cover)

The next song, Taabeez, is again a composition by Akriti, this time with a slight touch of Arabic style. The composition needs some full throated singing and the singer seems to do it quite well for herself.

The last song of the album Chal kahin sang mere is a soft, techno song with some good beats. A good, likeable song.

Overall, ‘Akriti’ turns out to be something much above my negligible expectations and certainly worth a try. The album is not very great when compared to those launched by biggies but certainly above an average debut album. Also, the album establishes Akriti Kakar as more than just a singer as she manages to come up with some decent to good tunes of her own. Now I have some expectations from the girl.