The second song of the album, Wake Up now, is already on the TV too, and though the song faintly reminds me of some other song, and sounds like a wannabe Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy number, guess it is not too bad for a little party mood. Suzanne’s voice and the second-long entry of ghunghroo’s sound are some good points of the song.

Katto Gilehri of Daler mehndi and Mamta goes a little on the tune of ‘kab din hua kab raat hui mujhe hosh na tha _______ baat hui (haye re).’ The song of course wants to be Munni, but even with Daler’s high voice, it doesn’t reach that height. Still, sounds kinda interesting, and would be more clear when the video comes out. Do not go and listen to it until the video comes out, as you’d get to know yourself whether the song is for you when it’s on TV/Youtube.

Wait. Doesn’t the beginning of Mahi mahi use Tinku Jiya with town’s orchestra? OK, Whatever. Richa Sharma and Wajid’s song once again sounds like desperate ’90s to me. The best part of the song is that Richa doesn’t seem to be trying too hard and goes mostly natural even in this desperate ’90s number. And yes, Wajid sounds different, like a singer. Still, avoidable I say.

Truth be told, even Nazar se nazar mile sounds like ’90s to me, but then it’s not the desperate kind. In fact the beats in the song remind me of Nadeem-Shravan. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is good here but I don’t think there is much for him in the song. Anupama Raag is saccharine sweet here, but no problems with that. Whatever I say, this IS the best song of the album, and since Sajid-Wajid know this, they have one extra version of the song, sung by Wajid, where he sings the first few lines in his newly acquired ‘singer’ voice. No Kidding.

The arrangements of this version are a little more towards 2000s, and Anupama’s voice here reminds me of.. I think Mohabbatein.

Hope you’re not too troubled by my nostalgia in the review of the album. For the rest, I think the album is kind of OK with three more or less good songs. And then there will be Katto Gilehri too.

The next song, that is the title track, is very Nadeem-Shravan’ish in its arrangements and is sung by Sanjeev himself with Shilpa Rao to support. The song is a good listen if you put it a few years back, but today, it seems the song could have been worked on a little more. Also, bringing in a professional singer instead of Sanjeev could be helpful.

The third track, Mera Maula Kare, sung by Roop Kumar Rathod, is a good one. The only thing that disappoints a bit is the climax of the melody after the lovely build up, but once you have heard it, the song does sound good. Sanjeev Darshan do create something worthy of their uncle’s voice here.

The next song, Shreya’s Main Zameen pe hoon, sounded like the most complete song of the album to me. Not that the song is the best of the album, but the way the composer duo have made this one, it doesn’t feel like there is anything left to do, hence giving a feeling of completion for the type of the song it is. Peppy, well sung, nice.

The Next track, bin tere we mahi, sung by Master Salim and Richa Sharma is a nice Qawwali’ish composition and though there is nothing much new in the song, it’s worth a listen as the singers have done a good job here.

The last track of the album, Chand wahi hai, is a nice sounding, seen and heard so many times, romantic track sung by Javed Ali and Shreya Ghoshal. Okay end to the album.

Overall, the album is not great and is kinda insignificant, but is not as bad as I had expected it to be. Sanjeev Darshan are yet to be good enough to compete with today’s composers and to an extent, still have to come out of ’90s phase, but it was a nice try from them here.

The album starts with the title song, sung by none other than Sukhwinder Singh. Sukhiji, who has Omkara and Dabangg to his credits, gets even more serious here and the song does not only have a catchy title rhythm, but a good antara as well, giving us a quality title song. Sukhwinder’s voice has been given some effects here, but interestingly, the rock-solid voice is sounding good with them as well. Nice start.

Badmash Dil. Oops, Saathiya. Well, whatever be the title of the song, Ajay-Atul come up with a superbly lovely romantic number sung by Shreya Ghoshal, supported by Ajay Gogavale himself, giving it a breeze that is nowadays found only in Mohit Chauhan’s songs. Do listen to it.

The last, yes, the third and the last original song of the album, has a relatively unthinkable combination of Richa Sharma and Kunal Ganjawala who sing Maula Maula together. The song has a Qawwali-ish mood though it’s not a full-fledged Qawwali, but what is best in the song is that the melody and the overall music of the song are good and while likable at the first listening, the song will still take time to completely grow on you.

Another good thing about the album is that out of three, two remixes also sound more-than-average, and the third isn’t bad either.

In short, Singham is an album to listen to. Do buy, do listen.

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 album starts with Mika’s Pyaar do Pyaar lo, that you might have caught on TV. The oldie-newie song sounds more like a remix and looks very much like a try to redo apni to jaise taise from Housefull. I guess Pritam has been successful, but not so much as SEL were with theirs.

The next song, Razia, is sung by Saleem and Ritu Pathak, but Saleem can be confused for a girl with his high pitch here. Allah bachaye meri jaan ki razia gundon mein phans gayi sounds like a typical item song and Ritu sounds pretty good with her singing. Nothing new, just another good product from the Factory.

Pyaar tera pyaar mujhe = Main yahan bhi, main wahan bhi (Toh Baat Pakki). Next beat seems to be taken from Action replay. Even though I liked Neeraj Shridhar and Richa Sharma’s Full volume with it’s never-too-high notes, Pritam looks like he’s out of composition styles and trying to feed old things, though I don’t actually think it’s the case.

When I heard Sonu Nigam’s My Heart is beating, I was wondering why Thank You seems so inspired by Housefull. This one is sung by Sonu very much in Mohammad Rafi’s style, precisely like the ones the legend sang for Shammi Kapoor. With good promotion, song should do well. Liked Sonu’s singing in this one, and not bad work by Pritam as well.

Pyaar Mein is the last original song of the album, which is sung by Neeraj Shridhar and Javed Ali. Again, Pritam looks like captured in his own styles even while he gives a good song. While Javed Ali makes the song his own by singing it beautifully, Neeraj’s ‘chorus’ sounds lovely. But what fascinated me the most in the song was the backing vocals that appeared from the very start of the song. Unfortunately, I don’t know whose voice that is, though I presume it’s either Suzanne or Bianca Gomes as their names are mentioned for backing vocals in the album. Also, this is probably one song of the album which is good not only in music but also with words. Amitabh Bhattacharya is the guy holding the pen here. And another similarity with Housefull. OK. Excuse me for that.

And while I was looking for the backing vocals, one more thing I came to know was that Sachin and Jigar were among the programmers of the album. Nice to know that.

I didn’t try listening to the remixes especially they were all merely ‘remix’es and mentioned nothing more specific than that.

So overall, Thank you is an okay, run of the mill thing in which most of the songs are danceable while one particular song called Pyaar mein is something close to Tum mile’s level, but a bit lower than that, also because it’s so much similar. Quite what was expected from Pritam, or actually slightly better if you think of No Problem.

The next, Kyun Main Jaagoon by Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan maybe a bit too slow for loving it the first time, but as you listen to it, you love it more and more. A beautiful track with the background music that slowly grows inside the track. The unplugged version of the song is equally good. Oh, pain in Shafaqat’s voice sounds so very natural in here.

Mehndi vi mehndi, mehndi vi mehndi. Gaadha rang je chadhiya te balle ve balle. I am reminded of Kal ho naa ho. And then of Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani as Hard Kaur comes in, and then Shankar Mahadevan sounds all in mad-dance mode. Well, the song sounds a bit broken at the start, but once you’re used to it, the song is definitely gonna rock you. Raula pai gaya. Raula pai gaya. Dil se gaya. Raula pai gaya.

Khwabon ke lifafon mein, kisson mein kitabon mein, Vishal Dadlani sings aadat hai woh in his soft-husky voice. Well, I was surprised quite pleasantly, but a bit confused too as to why Vishal was singing this, and then when I heard usko banane wala kuch kuch to behka hoga, I knew Vishal was the perfect singer for the song. Lovely music, superb lyrics, deep singing. Woh aadat hai is a song with some poetry. I loved it, probably the most in the album, almost as much as Kyun Main Jaagoon. Do listen.

Baby when you talk to me is one more song in the Bollywood rock. This one is sung by Suraj and the way he sings it, it reminds me of Sadka kiya, though the song is not much like that one. Simple tune, and very instantly likable.

The next song, Tumba Tumba tudak gaya, is a kinda slow Punjabi-mixed dance number which stands out for its simplicity. Hans Raj Hans does a beautiful job at this one. The song may not be the best thing when you listen to it the first time, but slowly it takes up its space in your head. Also, have hopes from the video of the video.

Kailash Kher. Richa Sharma. OK. Kailash isn’t here this time, but Richa Sharma sings the mukhda of the bhajan Kailash sang for Road to Sangam. Aval Allah. A small track for the background. Not the full bhajan though, sadly.

The next thing is the remix of kyun main jaagoon. I’m not much into remixes, but quite loved this one. Try once even if you don’t listen to remixes.

The last, baby when you talk to me remix isn’t bad either, probably because there are no huge changes made in the song and speed seems to be the same.

Oh, forgot Raula pai gaya remix. Totally enjoying it.

Overall, Patiala House may not be among the best of Shankar Ehsaan Loy, but like most of their albums, the album has some freshness, and some good ol’ things. To say the least, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, once again, don’t disappoint.

The next song O Bekhabar seems to be on the lines of Tum jo aaye of OUATIM and even though in this one Shreya sings alone (as compared to tum jo aaye’s Tulsi-Rahat) she sounds good enough to equal the hit. Likeable song.

The third song, Nakhre, sung by Francois Castollino, is a step ahead of zor ka jhatka when it comes to lyrics. The song has some matter-of-fact lyrics (according to boys that is) which can make you laugh even before you reach the theater to watch the movie. Definitely interesting, again.

Sunidhi and Ritu Pathak’s chhan ke mohalla is another interesting number. With old school lyrics of item songs and an added punch of ‘jali to-bujhi na’ the song is fine to hear, and definitely will be worth a watch once the video is out there. I will not be surprised if this one becomes a chartbuster with the video out.

Tera Mera Pyaar sung by Karthik, Mahalakshmi Iyer and Antara, though, doesn’t sound all that interesting and sounds more like a chorus based thing, which here reminds me of Vande Mataram and other patriotic songs we used to sing at school, with all due respect to both. Somehow didn’t like this one much.

The next song, Mika’s dhak dhak dhak, is an interesting one again. More musical than just interesting, and a more regular song, dhak dhak sounds good as the song is quite beat-based but Pritam has done some good experimenting with instruments (was that bagpiper that I was loving the most?) while Mika’s voice keeps things from sounding boring.

Luk Chhup Jaana is the next song where KK sings the whole song and Tulsi gets to sing one line some five-six times. And somehow that gives me a sadistic pleasure. Anyway, the song sounds too loud and doesn’t even rock properly. I’d say not such a good use of KK’s wonderful voice. Could be better.

In the next, Suraj Jagan’s I am dog gone crazy, Pritam probably tries to make up for Snoop Dogg’s Singh is Kinng, but quite predictably, doesn’t reach that level. But the good thing is that the song still sounds fine, especially as Suraj sings with his heart. Not bad. Likeable.

I somehow don’t like Shreya singing fast numbers. Otherwise, all is well with the next song baaki main bhool gayi. Actually this one is not actually that fast a song but the instruments may give such illusion. In fact Shreya sings this one beautifully if you listen to her singing only, not concentrating on the unavoidable drums. I think this one could be better on arrangements. Not bad though.

Overall, Action Replayy is exactly what it was supposed to be, an ‘interesting’ album. The album has songs that sound good and have some good music, but more than that the album relies on its interesting lyrics and the punch factor in music. I don’t think there’ll be anything that you’ll be singing for years, but everything that you’d like to dance and laugh with for as-long-as-it-works.

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.

Taaron Bhari hai ye raat is a good composition which Adnan decides to sing himself with Sunidhi Chauhan. The result is a good song that will take some time to be liked. Now whether the movie is going to last that long is a question. Still, a good one from Adnan even though it sounds bit like a ’90s tune.

The next song, Sargoshiyon ke kya silsile hain, starts beautifully as Shreya croons ehsaas khwahishon ka saanson mein mar na jaaye, sadiyaan guzar gayi hain, lamha guzar na jaaye. But then, a beautiful tune again gets Adnan’s repetitive orchestration which works kind of negative for the tune. Still, Raja Hasan’s voice sounds fresh in the song and the melody is worth listening to, as a result of which I do not mind listening to this exceedingly typical Adnan tune too. A real good song, if only it had more fresh instruments in the background.

Dekha tujhe jo pehli baar is finally something new from Adnan, especially because of the way Shaan’s voice is made to sound prominent and above all instruments. Good tune. Even better singing. Certainly worth a try for it’s light fusion behind Shaan’s superb voice.

Manmauji Matwala starts with hurrrr, chak de, and hadippa (I don’t mean Yashraj movies) by Mika. But somehow I get a feel that this tune had potential to be much more than it is made to be. I think Man mauji matwala is a composition that deserved a Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and not a Mika, as it’s not that typical dance tune it has been used as. Anyway, the song in it’s present form is likable anyway. Try the song if you’re looking for one more Mika piece; he has tried his best to color the song in his own color.

With the next track, Sona lagda Mahi sona Lagda, Adnan gets more variety and quality to the album as Richa Sharma croons the song with the background vocals from senior Sabri Brothers (Sharib n Toshi should be the junior Sabri Brothers now, isn’t it?). A good song which either fails to make a typical Sufi song or simply doesn’t try to do that. Whatever it is, the result is fresh and sounds good to ears. Liked the song.

The next song, Pehla Pehla Tajurba hai is a good composition sung by Kunal Ganjawala and Sunidhi, but somehow I did not like the song a lot as it seems that Adnan tries to westernize a melody. Seems Kunal is getting typecast with a certain type of songs and most of his songs are sounding the same recently. Wonder when he will be back to charts.

The last song of the album, Sadiyaan Ve, or Waqt ne jo bij boya as it is credited, is one of the best songs of the album and so Adnan Sami brings Rekha Bharadwaj to sing the song. The song is a good composition and has some good lyrics too, though the difference between Sameer and Gulzar or even Javed Akhtar can be clearly seen and felt. The song is actually the story of a mother’s journey and Rekha sounds perfect for singer.

Overall, Sadiyaan is an above average album by Adnan Sami that could be very good had he tried to keep it fresh. Also some songs are ‘excruciatingly’ long, just like the word. Still, the album has some melody that you may like to hear. If you’re not in a mood to hear the long soundtrack, just try Taaron bhari, Dekha tujhe jo, Sona Lagda and Sadiyaan ve. Not necessarily in that order. ‘Sargoshiyon’, though good, is very Adnan-like but can be tried.

Noor e Khuda is something that would be counted as very typical of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy had there not been Adnan Sami.  Shankar also sings a major part of the song and Shreya gets a piece in the end. But Adnan’s voice has made the song a bit more fresh. A typical song for a Karan Johar film. A certain hit material.

Rang de Aman se Aasman is the odd one out in the album. The song has some rock mood and hence Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy call in Suraj Jagan to sing with Shankar. The song is good but will take some time to reach its peak. Lyrics of the song are good but somehow I feel like there was more scope in the lyrics here. Also, hearing for the first few times, you will feel that the song has been sung in a haste at some points and that a bit slower could be better.

Sajda is a typical Karan Johar song as you might have guessed from the promos of the movie. The song again has a good Sufi touch and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan-Richa Sharma combination works well. Shankar Mahadevan in the background is perfect. Reminds me of Mitwa though.

Talk of Mitwa and here comes Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan. Shafqat gets to sing another Sufi song, Tere Naina all by himself. The song is good with some good lyrics and music that gives scope to Shafqat’s singing which he has used well. Full marks to Shafqat Amanat Ali for the song.

The album also has a two and half minute Khan theme by Strings, which doesn’t affect as yet. Maybe it shows some more effect in the film.

Overall, My Name is Khan is a good album with more than just a touch of Sufi. The songs are good and certainly going to be super-popular. Also, Niranjan Iyengar’s lyrics are good enough. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy haven’t taken much risk and given an album on old prescribed formulas which are certainly going to work for KJo’s film. If you like typical S-E-L music (which most do), go for it. You won’t be disappointed.