Well, I am not talking about acting, but like almost every Salman film, this time SRK starts the soundtrack of Don 2 with a dialog, that merges into the second track, Zaraa Dil ko thaam lo, beautifully sung by Vishal Dadlani and Anusha Mani. I mean Shankar Ehsaan Loy this time get a voice that sounds like that of a Don instead of Shaan, who sounded all nice, not too fit for a Don I’d say. The melody is nice even though SEL keep the arrangements much as in the previous Don. Nice start.

The thing that most interested me, however, was Usha Uthup’s mysterious voice singing na koi raat hai, na koi din yahaan, to start hai ye maaya. Shankar Ehsaan Loy come up with a nice melody again, though the arrangements have been kept very espionage-y, reminding me of Karthik calling Karthik where this job was entitled to Midival Punditz. Totally like. Precisely, it’s ‘more than background.’

Dushman Mera is again the mediocre sounding number of the album that may well turn out to be the ‘Aaj ki raat 2.’ The interesting part of the song is Shankar’s voice that does not sound ‘regular’ at all. Sunitha Sarathy’s voice with controlled frequencies and almost no background music, is wonderful in the beginning. Do not listen to the song for Shankar, at least not the regular Shankar. He just uses his powerful voice to put some simple lyrics very simply out there, like Kishore Kumar? I don’t know, but yeah, Shankar is doing things in an old style here. Good chances that his singing here will totally grow on you.

The King is back theme is a bit too techno, though and the surprise voice almost made me laugh. Listen at your own risk. Btw, the second half of the theme, with a little ‘emotional’ sound is nice too.

KK starts singing Don’s title song from where Shaan left it, but the arrangements here is what is interesting. The way drums have been used, it almost reminded me of Darshan Doshi and MTV and KK’s voice may sound a little too overpowering in the beginning, at least if you imagine SRK there, but then KK is one person whose voice can never ruin a song. At least never has something like that happened till date. For the rest, SEL have done some nice work with the slightly-slower version of Don title track.

Oh, btw, the lyrics kinda disappointed me in this one. I think Javed saab could do better on this one.

If there is one more thing in the album to listen to, it’s Don waltz. Believe me, when I heard Waltz for the first time, my first thought was that Bollywood is growing up. At three minutes and twenty eight seconds, which is the length of many of my favorite songs (or so I feel, somehow), Don waltz, a tune that sounds totally like the background music of an animation/cartoon film, is a new experiment that you’d probably love to listen to, at least for once.

Overall, Don 2 is almost all that was expected, with nothing new, but the old things have been packaged well and look nice, and not just from the outside. The variety here goes less than in Farhan-SRK’s last Don, but the quality is the same, or may be a little better. Go for it if you want to, because whether you want it or not, you almost know what it is, and you’re right in thinking that you know.

The album starts with Chhammak Chhallo, about which I don’t think I need to write much as the song has been there for long now. The only two things I’d say are, one, Akon’s pronunciation of Hindi words is quite impressive, and two, love the song or hate it, it’s addictive. Highly so.

The second song, Dildara Dildara, based on Ben King’s Stand by me, is nice. Shafqat’s rendition of the song makes it a regular but very much lovable song. May sound templated on Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s patterns, but it’s great to listen to anyway.

The third track, Criminal, sung by Akon again, with Shruti Pathak and Vishal Dadlani, is addictive as papappap, as well as dhinna dhinna. Addictive again, though the album seems to be getting a bit repetitive here.

And so, there comes, bhare naina, sung by Nandini Srikar, for a much required break. The song, which is a nice composition and goes mostly on Nandini’s vocals supported by Tabla in the beginning, gets a bit into Jogi Mahi’s ‘dil thame hue’ mode, but surprises with English lyrics in that background. Interesting for sure. But either way, it’s Nandini’s song who beats almost anything else with the rendition of this soulful tune.

Sid Coutto’s Right by your side seems like yet another repeat of jaane kyun dil chahta hai in the beginning, but then turns away a little and comes up a not-so-fresh, but a lovely and a little addictive number. Nice, but I feel that Vishal-Shekhar probably could do a little more different.

Raftaarein credited to Vishal and Shekhar deliberately reminds you of ‘Duniya mein logon ko,’ and then turns into a full fledged background song for the superhero. Not really a musical thing to listen to until the video comes, but I hope the song would get much more meaning with the movie.

The last ‘song’ Jiya mora ghabraaye brings the much searched-for name of Sukhwinder Singh (at least for me, in Vishal-Shekhar and Vishal Bharadwaj’s albums especially) and while his singing is as impeccable as ever, I do not know how many of fans would like the more of music, a little rap and more of alaap by Sukhwinder. Not upto the mark for me.

As far as the themes are concerned, didn’t find anything too attractive in Comes the Light, while IM On looks like good ringtone material because people are already familiar with the track as background theme. Song of the end is effective, though it sounds like a typical ‘end’ tune of movies, a little older ones I’d say.

Chhammak Chhallo’s Club mix is quite nice and likable while the Punjabi mix does not seem too different from the original once Akon starts singing. Criminal’s remix is so very very typical Akon. In the Chhammak Chhallo international version, there was not much difference, except that I couldn’t find Shruti Pathak there. The ‘remix’ after so much is strictly for dance floors.

Overall, Ra.One is not something usual. If you’re looking for a regular, nice album with melodious numbers from Vishal-Shekhar, you may be in for a disappointment. But then I don’t think that was the aim of the album or the movie from the very start. It’s more of an experiment with at least some amount of English in every song, even the very Indian bhare naina. And as an experiment, I think it’s quite successful, as many of the songs are definitely going to be addictive, and hence popular.

The first thing I had to notice in the song: Akon can sing Hindi lines beautifully. Kaisa sharmana aaja nach ke dikha de. Aa meri hove aaja parda gira de. Aa meri akhiyon se akhiyan mila le. Aa tu na nakhre dikha seem to be sung almost as good as any foreigner has ever sung in Hindi.

The second thing, the song is a typical Akon number. I don’t know if the song is an Akon’s composition or Vishal-Shekhar’s, but either way, Akon has made it his song completely. The song is addictive as Akon’s songs generally are and I’m pretty sure wannabe my Chhammak challo is gonna be there almost everywhere.

Check the lyrics of Chhammak Chhallo HERE and check the meaning of Chhammak Chhallo HERE.

From the second song onwards, it gets Pritam. Antenna sounds a lot like some song from Ready, probably the sound matches character dheela hai. Also, the lyrics are written by Amitabh Bhattacharya, but didn’t like the concept of the song itself. Still, the sound of the song IS catchy and can catch up well with some good promotion.

Suhail Kaul and Ishq Bector’s School ke din is a well designed, well sung number from Pritam. The alternate use of Ishq Bector’s rap and Suhail’s touching voice (remember Baatein kuch ankahi si from Life in a Metro?) talking about something like school days is wonderful. Go for it.

The next song is Sunidhi sung Better not mess with me (Rock Mix), an okay composition with a not too good treatment. Probably the song doesn’t suite the rock mode that well. OK.

The next, called Undi the Condi, is sung by Shaan and Aditi Singh Sharma. As far as my knowledge of sound goes, this sounds like a typical college-dance number, something from the school of Ishk-Vishk to understand, though the genre is quite old. And let me tell you, while Shaan sounds fine in the song, it’s Aditi who sounds almost as sweet as she did in Katra Katra of Dev.D, almost beating Shaan with her sweetness. Nothing too great, but liked it.

Enters Naresh Iyer with a ‘Soul Version’ of Jaane Kyon (Don’t look back, the song is coming for the first time in the album). The song is a good composition and Naresh’s almost flawless singing makes it even better, but somehow the guy sounds a bit nasal, probably only in his ‘ye’ while singing, tujh bin tanha han ye raatein… Probably the best of the album yet.

Remember ye dil hai nakhrewala? The girl, Shefali Alvaris, sings the club mix for Better not mess with me, and to me at least, sounds much more natural than Sunidhi did in the song. Nice singing for sure. NOW I like this song too.

Next is a Sufi version of Jaane Kyon and this one comes from none other than Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan, who almost effortlessly sings as good as Naresh Iyer, and listening to the songs once, I cannot decide which version is better. OK, probably Shafqat has done better here. Lovely song.

Now, while the original ‘Antenna‘ had Benny Dayal and Roshan Abbas singing, the ‘reloaded’ ‘SRK mix’ upgrades to KK and Anupam Amod and the song sounds like ‘Love Mera Hit Hit’ to me. Wanna compare again? Reloaded is the version. I sometimes (read with every album) wonder why Pritam has so many versions. One of those times again.

The last song happens to be an unplugged version of the title song, sung by Vinnie Hutton and Apeksha Dandekar. The song, much in English, is beautifully sung and sounds probably better than the original version simply because of the way it is sung. The use of chorus near the end is nice again.

Overall, Always Kabhi Kabhi doesn’t have anything much different but some things in the album can click as Pritam gives some regular, but good music here. Look out for School ke Din and Jaane Kyon. SRK is anyway gonna make you listen to Antenna.

The best thing about My Name is Khan is that finally Karan Johar moves over himself. With the same Shahrukh Khan and Kajol with whom he made his debut film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Though this very fact makes me wonder how much of his typical audiences are going to like it. Who knows what’s on girls’ minds after all?

To start with, I do not think My Name is Khan deserves five stars, but certainly the one star there, Shahrukh Khan, has worked well enough to make it a very watchable movie. At the same time, Karan Johar comes up with a good story and works even better on it. Additionally, you have some wonderful music that suits the film, thanks to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and their selection of singers, be it Shafaqat Amanat Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ustad Rashid Khan or even Adnan Sami Khan. Not to mention Shankar himself. No, I didn’t forget Richa Sharma and Shreya. They are great too.

My Name is Khan is exactly what the name claims, an all in all Shahrukh Khan show. Kajol gives a great performance there which comes naturally, but it’s Shahrukh who has the limelight over him. And while he does a role that doesn’t come naturally and demands a lot of homework, Shahrukh seems to have tried hard and worked hard, as he gives a lovable performance. The good thing about his acting is that he is quite consistent throughout the movie except for some rare points where he seems to pull a sentence or two a bit too much. Much better than I had expected anyway.

Talking of the movie in terms of Story and Screenplay, My Name is Khan has a lot of material, probably a bit too much in places. While the movie moves slow and builds a good rapport in the first half, the second half doesn’t cash it so good as one might expect as Khan keeps on going one thing after the other. In fact, in this part Forrest Gump comes back to me even though I had completely forgot about the alleged similarities of topics. The African connection adds to the Gump effect. Basically the film moves you but in parts. The story is good but the movie didn’t cast a spell on me, the one that lasts after the movie too. I wonder if it will turn like Kal ho naa ho which I like more every time I watch it.

Moving towards technical aspects (or whatever I know of them) My Name is Khan is quite good. The movie has some crisp editing. The first song is introduced quite late and all the songs in the movie fit really well in their locations. In fact all the numbers from the soundtrack don’t even show up in the movie as Shankar Mahadevan Suraj Jaggan’s Rang de is nowhere and a great song like Allah hi Rehem manages to find place only at the end credits. Also, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s background music is wonderful. But Ravi K Chandran goes below expectations in cinematography, especially at some specific points where you expect something really big.

One interesting thing about the movie is that Karan has gone over the top while selecting his actors. While the movie is a Shahrukh Khan show, Kajol doesn’t have all that you expected in her role. In fact some other actress could have done it too, though that would reduce the charisma that Kajol brings with her. Zarina Wahab is a perfect choice for Khan’s mother and so is her son, played by Tanay Chheda. Jimmy Shergill has a small role as brother while Sonya Jehan performs her act gracefully. Arjun Mathur gets yet another role of an achiever in the making. But what made me wonder was the small role that is played by Vinay Pathak. And then there is veteran S M Zaheer in a nobody’s role and even for the smallest role there is Navneet Nishan. Still, the overall cast of the film is good and mostly effective.

Overall, My Name is Khan is something that lifts both Shahrukh Khan and Karan Johar a level up. The movie is good and certainly worth a watch. If not for the story and it’s treatment, watch it for Shahrukh Khan’s acting. And not just his name.

PS: Just realized, Shahrukh doesn’t spread his hands anywhere in the movie. Now that’s another thing positive about the movie.

Remember that ‘Sach hai ki dil to dukha hai‘ sung by Sonu Nigam in Kal ho na ho? I record them as one of the very best lines of Sonu Nigam. In Noore-Khuda, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy go on the same lines, trying it with Shreya this time. This time it’s done in a main track instead of a slow/sad version and I hope the words are pictured perfectly by Karan Johar.

My problem with S-E-L is that they perform even their oldest tricks in such style that one cannot resist them. My Name is Khan maybe half an album running on the lines of Mitwa, songs with a signature of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and a Sufi touch to almost all of them, but you cannot stop once you start listening to it. The good part is that even with their old formulas, they never stop experimenting and add at least something new. For example Adnan Sami, and Shreya Ghoshal starting in between (as Sonu did in KHNH slow) is a bit new. Certainly like that.

Lyrics:

Noor e khuda, noor e khuda, noor e khuda ..

Ajnabi mod hai, khauf har ore hai
Har nazar pe dhuan chha gaya
Pal bhar mein jaane kya kho gaya

Aasman zard hai, aanhein bhi sard hain
Tan se saaya juda ho gaya
Pal bhar mein jaane kya kho gaya

Saans ruk si gayi, jism chhil sa gaya
Toote khwabon ke manzar pe tera jahaan chal diya

Noor e khuda, noor e khuda
Tu kahan chhupa hai hume ye bataa
Noor e khuda, noor e khuda
Yun na humse nazrein phira
Noor e khuda, noor e khuda
Tu kahan chhupa hai hume ye bataa
Noor e khuda, noor e khuda
Yun na humse nazrein phira
Noor e khuda ..

Hoo nazarein karam, farma hi de
Oo deen o dharam, ko jaga hi de
Oo jalti huyi tanhaiyan, roothi hui parchhaiyan
Kaise udi ye hawa, chhaya ye kaisa samaa
Hmmm rooh jam si gayi, waqt tham sa gaya
Toote khwabon ke manzar pe tera jahaan chal diya
Noor e khuda, noor e khuda
Tu kahan chhupa hai hume ye bataa
Noor e khuda, noor e khuda
Yun na humse nazarein fira
Noor e khuda

Aaa.. (Aalap by Shreya)

Ujde se lamhon ko aas teri
Zakhmi dilon ko hai pyaas teri
Har dhadkan ko talaash teri
Tera milta nahin hai pata
Khali aankhein khud se sawal karein
Aman ki cheekh behaal kare
Behta lahu fariyaad kare
Tera mit-ta chala hai nishaan
Rooh jam si gayi, waqt tham sa gaya
Toote khwabon ke manzar pe tera jahaan chal diya
Noor e khuda, noor e khuda
Tu kahan chhupa hai hume ye bataa
Noor e khuda, noor e khuda
Yun na humse nazarein phira
Noor e khuda

noor e khuda noor e khuda
Aaj kal tu kahan hai ye bataa
…
Noor e khuda, noor e khuda
Kya ye sach hai ke tu hai humse khafa
Noor e khuda…

Meanings:

• Zard: Yellow
• Manzar: Scenery, View
• Noor: Light, Noor-e-Khuda: Divine light

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.

Joining the bandwagon of stars, THE Shahrukh finally joined Twitter almost 16 minutes ago as @iamsrk.

This, of course, has been done on the recommendation of Karan Johar, obviously for the promotion of their film My Name is Khan. His first Tweet was:

hi everyone. being extremely shy i never thought i would be here. but my friend @kjohar25 insisted that i should learn to share my life.

Here is a pic of Shahrukh Khan’s Twitter account.

The news has been confirmed by none other than Karan Johar himself on Twitter.

Lyrics

rom rom tera naam pukare
ek hue din rain hamare
hum se hum hi chhin gaye hain
jabse dekhe nain tihare..
sajdaaaaa…..

teri kaali ankhiyon se jind meri jaage
dhadkan se tez daudun sapnon se aage
ab jaan lut jaye
ye jahan chhut jaaye
sang pyaar rahe
main rahun na rahun
sajda
tera sajda
din rain karun
na hi chain karun
sajda
tera sajda
main to vaar karun
meri jaan karun

ab jaan lut jaye
ye jahaan chhut jaaye
sang pyaar rahe
main rahun na rahoon
sajda
tera sajda
din rain karun
na hi chain karun
sajda
tera sajda (karun main tera sajda)
main to vaar karun
meri jaan karun

raanjhna
naino ke teer chal gaye
saajna
saanson se dil sil gaye
palkon mein chhupa loon
tera sajda karun
seene mein sama loon
din rain karun
palkon mein chhupa lun
seene mein sama lun
mere ang rang ang mera bole

ab jaan lut jaye
ye jahaan chhut jaaye
sang pyaar rahe
main rahun na rahoon
sajda
tera sajda (karun main tera sajda)
din rain karun
na hi chain karun
sajda
tera sajda
main to vaar karun
meri jaan karun

Meanings

• Sajda = Prayer, a posture in prayer where one bends head to God

Akela Dil Online: Most of the times, music has one quality. If you keep on listening to it, you start loving it even if it’s mediocre. Akela Dil online is such a song. It’s nothing great, but it’s okay and since you’ll keep listening to it, you’ll start liking it. By the way, the song is sung by Adnan Sami and Anushka Manchanda and is full of beats. Nothing like the typical Jatin-Lalit material. As I said, OKAY.

Aaja Aaja Mere Ranjhna: One thing about this song. The song is straight from the Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham age. At times you can pinpoint the line too. Interestingly, the song, that comes from the K3G age, is also sung by Anushka Manchanda with Swananda. The interesting part is even though the voices have not been great (no doubts they are ‘good’), you might easily fall for the song. Yes, Jatin-Lalit are back for a song it seems.

Magar Meri Jaan: The next song, too, is sung by Anushka Manchanda (this is the last by the way), with Mahua Kamat and Lalit pandit. The song has some good music, but the lyrics are very mediocre. Still, since it’s an SRK movie, I don’t think people are going to think much about the lyrics and anyway going to love it.

Tu jo Jaan le: Like him. Love him. Sonu Nigam is here. At his old, romantic best. Lalit Pandit creates some wonderful music for Sonu Nigam to croon and Sonu takes it with both hands. Try the song, hope you love the older flavor of Sonu Nigam. I’m just listening to it. Tu jo jaan le to phir jaan de o meri jaane jaan… .. mera dil hai pata teri manzil ka..

Rang Diya Dil Maine: Five songs are over since the album is on and now I get a song where the female voice belongs to someone other than Anushka. Well, this time it’s Shreya Ghoshal and somehow her voice reminds me of Devdas songs here. The song is slow-soft-romantic, in Hindi with some Punjabi additions, but interestingly it’s faster than the usual songs of this type. In fact sometimes I feel that the song was run in 1.1 or something of the actual speed after recording. Anyways, an above average song. Not very noticeable but video will certainly help it a lot.

Dulha Mil Gaya: Starting with a brrrrrrrr… sound, this is the song you hear on your TV screens everyday (if you are watching any TV, of course). Sung by Daler Mehndi, Dulha Mil Gaya title is going to be a superhit. Because it’s catchy, it has an energetic Daler Mehndi, and biggest of all, it’s the title song of an SRK movie.

Dilrubaon ke Jalwe: Dilrubaon ke Jalwe, A new age Qawwali sung by Amit Kumar with Monali, is something worth looking out for in Dulha Mil Gaya. The song is a full of masti piece that should be loved by people once out in the market.

Tu Meri Shirin aur Main Tera Farhaad: Here comes the guest composer Pritam Chakraborty for one song and brings with him his favorite Neeraj Shridhar, singing with Tulsi Kumar. Typical Pritam-Neeraj song that will stay in your mind and will have its share of FM time for some weeks.

The songs Dilrubaon ke Jalwe, Dulha mil gaya, and akela dil online have been remixed.

Overall, Dulha Mil Gaya is a good album with a number of above average songs and a few really good ones, like Dilrubaon ke jalwe and tu jo jaan le. In fact, the way Lalit Pandit has made things good while there was not much expected, at least by me; I will be less surprised if Dulha Mil Gaya turns out to be something really good.