Read Full Review here.

Aadat se majboor has some experimental sounds with the regular Salim-Sulaiman pop pattern. The tune is catchy and the song sounds quite nice. Easy on ears. Salim-Sulaiman-Benny-YRF is a success again.

The next, Jazbaa sung by Shilpa Rao, has some nice lyrics and Salim-Sulaiman give some simple sounding music for this one, though the choice of instruments doesn’t sound that simple if you listen with attention. Salim’s backing vocals might remind you of Fashion or any other of their songs as well. Still, the song is overall a nice one and the hardwork the composers have put in is clearly audible.

Vishal Dadlani and Shweta Pandit’s poppy Thug le has a bit too simple tune in some parts, and even though the song is made to be catchy, I didn’t feel the song would last long. The lyrics aren’t Amitabh’s best either. Okay.

Salim finally enters with a full-fledged song called Jigar da Tukda, sung with Shradhha Pandit. The Punjabi song with a lot of pop in it, Jigar da tukda is interesting and should be a hit considering the amount of publicity YRF would give it.

Fatal Attraction, the theme, which has Salim in it with an unknown female voice which sounded like Sunidhi Chauhan’s at some points, and which hit me like Marjaava at 1.58 mins, is okay. The remix of Aadat se Majboor sounded nice too, though didn’t like Jazbaa remix much.

Frankly, in Ladies v/s Ricky Bahl, Salim-Sulaiman seem to have tried to do something more than their regular even though staying in their favorite region. So there is something new, a little new sound, but still the signature of Salim-Sulaiman is there. I’d say nice, because the album is definitely good, but yeah, I am still waiting for the duo to be less techno and rely more on melody some time, like they did earlier, in Dor and Aaja Nachle. Hope they’ll come up with something ‘that’ nice too.

Dhaeon Dhaeon sung by Vishal Dadlani and Aditi Singh Sharma is addictive, and still it’s not what you call come n go. Nice.

Ash King and Shilpa Rao’s Uh-oh-uh-oh kya hua is something to love. The music, especially the orchestration of the song sounds quite simple, but I don’t think many people can do it this nicely. Beautiful job by the composer, as well as both the singers. DO listen.

Six seconds into the next song ‘Baatein shuru‘ and I was impressed anyway. With the music of course. And then, the way Raghu Dixit uses Shefali Alvaris’ different voice, it’s really nice. Joi Barua probably for the first time gets to sing a Bollywood song in his raw voice. I mean he has mostly worked with Amit Trivedi for individual songs, or even otherwise you mostly get his voice with a lot of background music, but here it’s different. The song, too, is interesting, with light music and a melody that keeps changing. Nice, different.

Suraj Jagan’s solo Chhoo le is actual rock stuff. And though I never considered myself an actual rock fan in the least, I quite liked the song. Suraj goes up, down, and is almost ready to burst at some points, and still manages to sound good. Tough job for sure. All I can say is that he rocks in this one.

Har Saans mein from the first note reminds me of Hey Bhagwan. And then I realize that Raghu Dixit comes up with an old track of RDP, from 2007 I guess. But then, the song would be new for many fans of Bollywood. And is still as good as anything to listen to. Ths one’s pure awesomeness from that master.

Overall, Mujhse Fraandship Kaorge is an album full of freshness. In fact I guess Dhaeon Dhaeon that is already in market, is the most ‘typical’ song of the album. Rest of the album will be much better I suppose.

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 first song, Ek ladki hai shabnami jaisi has so very common lyrics and even music and the voice of the debutant seems a bit touched up. But the arrangements are nice and the song sounds okay from the very first time, getting better with the time. Not too good, but nice. Worth a try.

The second song Teri Palkein is again a similar kind even though this one is a much more romantic one. But somehow the voice seems touched up again. While the lyrics are good and music and arrangements, especially the tabla, are interesting, the singer is not looking too noticeable till now.

Sau Raatein which has Shilpa Rao, has Shilpa Rao only for a few instants and Apoorv takes on the song alone. The good part is that the song gives the singer some scope to prove himself, and the bad part, is that the singer doesn’t prove himself that well. Frankly, the song doesn’t seem to be coming straight out of the heart, though Apoorv’s untouched voice sounds good.

Do Pal by Apoorv and Pandit Vinod Kumar Mishra is one of the good tracks of the album. While the music is good, Apoorv seems to have left behind some inhibitions that probably were there in the last song, and his voice comes out better. Kinda interesting.

After the good song, there is this bad one, Aye Khuda Aye Khuda, where you get a fast-paced sad song and the singer seems to be trying Atif-y style or something close to it. Whatever, the song is almost nothing besides the beats it has. For some reason, the next song Hey Diva Hey Diva has more touched up voice of Apoorv singing some English-Hindi-Urdu-Sanskrit-Science mixed words on the same music. Crappy.

In the last song, Bematlab thi zindagi, Apoorv comes up with Shilpa while the target looks like to create a ‘contemporary’ song, and while the composers have been successful to some extent, the attempt hasn’t completely succeeded, and the worst part is that the singer is doesn’t seem to be doing good enough. OK one again.

Overall, Ek Ladki Shabnami Jaisi, or rather Ek Ladki Shabnmi Jaisi is barely an average album, and while some of the songs are good, the attempt at showing off the singer, if any, has failed. Still, when the album ends, you still have a breezy title song with you, besides some bits and pieces.

There I started listening to Neelesh Misra and then never stopped for the next one and a half hours. I don’t know if I’ll be able to write an unbiased review of this thing I have completely fell for. So you may look at this as a praise. So, continue, shall I?

Yaadon ke idiot box mein, kya kya chalta hai. Shilpa Rao’s voice not only attracts you from the first time you listen to the song, it keeps getting better as the lyrics and music, all are good. A good start, but if you’re listening for the first time, probably Neelesh Misra’s commentary would still beat Shilpa’s lovely singing and those nostalgic lyrics.

Loneliness. The theme of second commentary, Tanha logon ke sheher mein. I’d not like to say more. Do listen to it.

The second song, Maazi starts with a radio-like sound, with Suraj Jagan’s voice, but the rock’ish attempts of Suraj seem to be only supporting Shilpa as she comes in. I’d say the song sounds like a fairly successful experiment. Wonder if the song should have been named More Piya.

Adrak ki chai use bhi pasand thi, mujhe bhi. Meri kavitayen use bhi pasand thi, mujhe bhi. Need I say more. Neelesh is impressive, continuously.

Yaadon ke Idiots box mein comes in for the second time and the good thing is that you have heard the tune once and you like it all the more. More like a pop-hit with a few words that do not fit the music but fit well in the context. A lovely song, though I wonder what generation it caters to as the lyrics mostly talk of the ’70s. Good nonetheless.

Poori film bhi nahi dekhne di usne. No, I can’t divulge more than that. Listen to the man, again. This time in the song as well, as the man, Neelesh Misra makes his debut (I hope) in singing, that too with a jazz number, Roobaru. Or as much jazz I liked to hear. Soft, romantic, easy on ears.

‘Gusse mein hum kitne badtameez ho jaate hain, nai..‘ and ‘Ullu!‘, the two things that give the story ahead.

Shayad, comes next, with Suraj and Shilpa. This one sounds quite like a Bollywood number, the ones that are created by Vishal-Shekhar nowadays, a bit sad, and with an element of rock in them, but definitely lovely. Or probably a bit better.

May ka mahina tha. Office ke saamne, ek building mein ek aurat achar ke liye neembu sukha rahi thi, maine phone uthaya, ek number dial kiya…

Suraj Jagan next sings a nostalgic, childhood memory of ‘Aangan.’ Watch out for the words here. Love them.

Aakhir shaadi ka fixed deposit. A touching narrative. Followed by a beautifully sung rock’ish, but more than that Naina Tore.

Shayad, the next piece, is a slightly romantic one, and the following Unka Khayal is something I must congratulate Neelesh Misra for. It’s definitely not easy to even decide to sing such a song for a beginner, but Neelesh pulls the much background-less thing off. Shilpa is of course good in this one. Lovely song, no, wait, ghazal it is, right? And made a jazzy one at that.

Takleef, followed by probably the only ‘fast’ song of the album Dil Raffu Raffu, chahti karwana re, followed by aapke jaisa hi hoon comes next. Among the three, probably Shilpa’s song is the weakest, cuz the two narrations are as good as the rest of them, the last one ending just like an ideal ‘kavitta,’ ending exactly where it started. Boss, chhote sheher ka Banda hoon main..

Recommended. Buy the CD. It deserves your 150 rupees.

PS: The CDs can also be bought from flipkart Here.

One. Rock your stereo and include/forget your neighbours.
Two. Fit your earphones well and turn the volume up.

Either way, Dilli rocks. The same deep pain that was there in some songs of Dev.D, has finally come back in Dilli. And while Amit Trivedi’s music is nothing less than awesome, Amitabh Bhaattacharya touches the emotions in very few words. If there is anything missing in the song, move to the hardcore version. * evil smile *

The second song, Aetbaar, brings Bollywood’s rockstar Vishal Dadlani with Amit Trivedi and the result is rocking. Wait, I’m using the word again. No, can’t help. This is a second rocking song in a row. The Sufi touch in ‘dil aetbaar karke ro raha hai’ with Vishal’s very rock singing is worth a praise. Lovable song, and particularly good lyrics by Amitabh.

The next song, Yeh Pal, is a solo by Shilpa Rao where she simply sings Amitabh Bhattacharya’s deep lyrics to a very light music, almost like a poem. While the second half of the same song is an instrumental with Aetbaar visible there. Good, though not catchy and so, may take its own time.

The next song is a very experimental Aali re, which is probably what may be an ‘Amit Trivedi Item Song.’ The song seems to have a Mumbaiyya soul, at least the title ‘aali re’ made me feel so. But with the lines ‘patloon mein junoon hai’ the song almost talks of Delhi too. OK. Don’t take an offence Delhi people. I just mean the not-so-minded-language of the place. Nice experiment, but not a great song. And no, this is Not Motumaster.

And then, there is Dua.

A beautiful voice, that of Meenal Jain, comes up to sing some words after a very light music and then a chorus, sorry, Joi, Raman and Amitabh join in to sing Sab sajde mein, sajde mein, sajde mein, dua karo, with Amit Trivedi turning the song into an anthem-ish style with that chorus and those army band style beats. Not exactly fresh, but effective nevertheless.

So overall, No One Killed Jessica is Good, and has things that you would like to have in an Amit Trivedi album, but then, beyond Dilli and Aetbaar, songs aren’t that fresh, and Aali re sounds like a failure at least for now. Still, will like to see how the song turns out with the video and more listening that is going to be there. So if you have hight hopes, you may be disappointed.

My say, buy the album for Dilli, its hardcore version and Aetbaar. And you will have two songs in bonus, even if you don’t count one. Dilli is the way to go, Sir Trivedi.

KK and Sunidhi’s Chahun Tujhe is nothing different from a lot of KK Pritam songs that do NOT appear in Bhatt Camp movies. Too complex? OK. Pritam has got KK to sing a number of rock-ish numbers, but in the past some Bhatt camp movies the combination goes a step above and got us songs like Alvida, Dil Ibadat, and Mere bina of crook, but this one stays a level below, something like mere falak ka tu hi sitara. Quite okay, maybe good, but nothing great.

The thing that surprised me, though, is Ittefaq to Nahi. I had started the song quite hopefully because of Shilpa Rao’s name. But seems that her male counterpart, Raaj, is going better than Shilpa in the song. The song has two versions, namely rock and sensuous versions, though the rock version is not too much rock while sensuous version isn’t very sensuous either and the difference between the versions is less than I had expected going by the names. Still, the song is quite good, and certainly worth a listening. Raaj sounds quite KK-like in his singing. In good probability, it’s the guy who sang that slow, slightly jazzy Ajnabi in superstar.

The next song, Shah-E-Khubaan, is a beat based thing that would have been declared quite fine had it not been reminding of Kaal’s Tauba Tauba, in its percussion and, in almost all its beats. The song, sung by Niti Mohan (totally unknown name to me) and Amjad (who?) is not bad but lacks originality required to enjoy it. At least for me.

The rest in the album are two remix versions of Woh Bhooli Daastan. I tried one, and left in between. No reviewing for them.

So overall Mallika is not too great, of course, but an above average ittefaq to nahi gets me more in the album than I had expected. Do listen to the two versions of the song, that’s all I have to say about the album.

The album starts with Anjaana Anjaani ki Kahani which is already there on televisions for quite sometime. While the short promo of the song rocks, the song, sung by Monali and Nikhil D’Souza offers a bit more and you get something that is sure shot party material.

The second, Hairat, is a hairat for me. I mean, surprise. Not that I was expecting anything less with Lucky Ali there but the way he sings so lively at the age of 51 simply amazes me. And then, before I start on Lucky’s singing, another thing that amazed me in the album was Vishal Dadlani’s lyrics. He’s always been good with lyrics of kinda fun and rocking songs, but here he impresses with his poetry. As for Lucky’s singing and V-S composition, will it suffice to say that I find it difficult to move to the next song?

Anyway, I move to the next and I’m welcomed by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s Aas Paas Khuda is typical and good. Something that I’m repeating about Rahat songs a lot, but then I guess Rahat is being kinda stereotyped compared to his immense talent for whatsoever reasons. Still, like most of the times, Vishal-Shekhar add some bits here and there trying to make things more interesting, and I’d say it works. In short, a typical Rahat song of the times we live in.

I have always been a fan of Vishal and Shekhar’s voices, and so the next song Tumse hi Tumse is a treat for me. As the song starts with guitar, I think for a moment if something like Bin Tere unplugged was coming, but the moment passes quickly and the song turns into what I’d say a Lucky’ish mode as soon as Shekhar starts singing. Caralisa’s quite fast English (rap?) sounds interesting to say the least, but the hero of this one is Shekhar Ravjiani. He’s going to get more people saying, ‘This is for you Shekhar!’ Oh, btw, the end of the song has some nice effects on Caralisa’s voice. This simple but beautiful one is a must listen.

As far as I remember, while the world was (and is) standing in queue outside Mohit Chauhan’s home, Vishal-Shekhar were doing it pretty fine without the guy and now that they make him sing a composition of theirs, he gets more than what you can say a typical Mohit Chauhan song. This time Mohit comes with a sad song, Tujhe Bhula Diya. The best part of the song though, for me, was Shruti Pathak’s wonderful start where she sings with near-zero background music. From here on Mohit picks up and where he comes to a still, Shekhar comes with an entry somewhat like Jogi Mahi, with the difference that here things don’t get high like that. Anyway, the point is that the song sounds good from the very first time and the more you hear it, the more you like it.

The next song, I Feel Good, goes on the well-known rock abilities of Vishal and equally unknown rock abilities of Shilpa Rao. Vishal starts singing the song in his soft voice in a way that for once can sound like Shankar Mahadevan’s voice. And then Vishal and Shilpa both completely rock me with the song. The interesting thing is that while the song is something normal for Vishal, it’s strange how Shilpa Rao never (with an exception of Woh Ajnabee, to some extent I guess) sang such a song and was kept to soft numbers with (her) heavy voice. I hope to see her to get more rocking numbers now.

Even more interestingly, the next song, which is the title, Anjaana Anjaani, again has Vishal and Shilpa, this time in a bit different mood. It’s not exactly rock but falls somewhere nearby, something like Sadka Kiya. I never had doubts about Vishal’s abilities as singer but the way he goes singing such wonderful songs, I’m bound to say he’s more a complete musician rather than a composer.

The next track happens to be the remix of Tujhe bhula diya. The track doesn’t impress me, but strangely, it strengthens my belief in the original track. Never mind.

And after a noisy sounding remix, the end comes as a beautiful unplugged version of Aas Paas hai Khuda by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Shruti Pathak. Strange to see an extra name in an unplugged version, but then, nobody questions a miracle. Though, for some reason unknown to me too, I didn’t find this one as great and superb and marvelous as Shekhar’s version of bin tere in IHLS. Maybe I’m too fascinated by his voice.

Overall, Anjaana Anjaani is a superb soundtrack. V-S align a bit towards rock, and on the negative side, there are a few things that sound repetitive from them (like one inside Tujhe Bhula Diya) but the overall end result is something that you can rock yourself on, dance to, or simply cherish in a relaxing mood, in short, a perfect soundtrack. As I said, more than I expected.

My favorites (as of now): Hairat, I feel good, Anjaana Anjaani (Vishal-Shilpa), Aas Paas Khuda unplugged, Tumse hi Tumse. And the best part, it’s not easy to decide.

Update: As anticipated (written too), Tujhe Bhula Diya is sounding better every time I hear it. So much so that it is probably the most heard song of the album now, beyond the rest.

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The album starts with a rock-ish title song sung by another newcomer called Rohit Sarkar. The song has a punch feel attached to it and Swanand Kirkire’s lyrics quite help that. Nothing great but the song certainly sounds good as a background in the promos. I think good promotion will make the song popular for at least some time, till the release or so.

The second song of the album is Mohit Chauhan’s Mann Lafanga, which is definitely the high point of the album. Anandh goes on to give Mohit a good tune and his singing has all the necessary and regular effects. In short, the song sounds as good as any running song of Mohit Chauhan. Also, the tune has an oldie feeling to it or maybe it resembles some old song vaguely. Whatever it be, the song sounds good and that is what matters. Go for it.

The next song is Dhatad tatad sung by Monty Sharma’s Saanwariya guy Shail Hada along with Anushka Manchanda. The song has almost no quality, except that it’s chipku. Dhatad Tatad may sound like a tongue twister but actually the term is a tongue sticking one as the music is too simple and repetitive. Also, the music seems vaguely similar to some Amitabh Bachchan movie or maybe some ’90s song. (tumsa koi pyara koi maasoom nahi hai, is it??) Oh yes, in some corners, even this song has good lyrics.

The next in the album comes Nain Parindey sung by Shilpa Rao. This one is a soulful, slow song and Shilpa sounds perfect there. Swanand Kirkire and Shilpa Rao’s big names get Anandh’s equal support in the music department and the result comes out really good even if not great. Another piece of Top quality after Mann Lafangaa.

Rang Daalein is the next song of the album and this time Rock star Suraj Jagan comes up behind the microphone, in his full Rock mode. The song is almost a full fledged rock one, at least in terms of singing while Anandh seems to be in a mood to experiment as he goes out of and then back into rock mode, especially in interludes. The song, like many more good ones, doesn’t sound too good in the start and sounds a bit noisy too but once you grow into the song, you may like it, or even love it. Just do go for it if you are into that new genre in the making — Bollywood Rock.

At the end comes an instrumental, Born to Fly. The instrumental starts well I kinda liked the first half but then the second half gets all background score cum medley. Near the end it the tune starts getting into climax which sounds okay. The last ‘Lafangey Parindey’ probably said by Rohit Sarkar sounds not-too-bad.

O yes, there is a Remix of Mann Lafanga by Joshilay. Not bad, okay.

Overall, Lafangey Parindey tries to get into rock a bit while trying to maintain a balance by keeping two very typical songs (from Mohit and Shilpa), but end of the day the balancing thing doesn’t seem to succeed completely as both the types seem like parts of separate albums. Still, most of the songs are at least above average (except the sticking dhatad tatad) and as a re-debutant, R Anandh does a pretty good job.

In short, I can say, ye saaf kabhi ye gande, lafange parinde..