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Ajnabi hawaayein is old-school melody; but its mysterious longing that gets on to you. Chaahata dil is Aditya Narayan’s show – lovely, romantic number that he makes great use of! Hayaati’s strong middle-eastern flavor is addictive thanks to Hamza’s authentic vocals. Kabhi na kabhi is a Pritam-style ballad, with a sing-along’ish melody and smashing vocals by Aditya, who composes and sings the rock’ish title song, Shaapit hua too confidently! Najam Sheraz’s composition, Tere bina, sticks to his standard repertoire and is soulfully wailing. Vikram Bhatt has a musical star in the making in Aditya, even as Chirantan delivers the goods.

Keywords: Aditya Narayan, Shweta Agarwal, Rahul Dev, Shaapit music review

Rubayee must be the best song of the soundtrack, since it has 3 versions – the duet with Raaj and Sunidhi works pretty well as a lilting melody backed by energetic arrangements. Despite falling into a staid pattern, Aameen suma aameen is effective mainly for Master Saleem’s lively vocals, while Shreya is strangely wearied in Mehroom, leaving Shaan to carry the reasonably neat melody. Adnan Sami’s title song drones with predictable sounds! Yaadein must have the longest intonation in Hindi cinema history for that word – fits aptly for a joke on yaaaaaawn too. Forced soundtrack for a should-be-soundtrackless thriller!

Keywords: Shreyas Talpade, Sada, Sneha Ullal, Chunky Pandey, Click hindi music review, click music review

Sharat Chandra’s violin is the soul of the album; pervasive and brilliant. The track Ganga is perhaps the best example of his skills, even as the band layers it beautifully with guitar. Ghulam Qadir Niyazi’s qawwali’sh vocals makes an interesting accompaniment to the jazz-rock that occupies most of Ali, while the band cooks up interesting ways to add both. Procession is the pick of the album – a hypnotic mix of Sanskrit verses, the sufi element and hyper-imaginative music. Mitwa is mellow, with Sukriti’s somber vocals and an oddly Louis Banks’ish ending! Pahari funk has a folk touch that seems peculiarly forced, but Scottish mixes the Celtic flamboyantly, except for the breathlessly coarse vocalizing during the penultimate stages. Deccan springs into life as the Carnatic fusion paves way to the qawwal portions and Rock the raag is the most exuberant of the album, with a foot-tapping tune expounded in violin. There have been fusion bands in the past and there will be in the future too. Mrigya’s album, The Composition of World Harmony 2010, is not path-breaking – it has a faithful invocation of what we appreciate as fusion. But within that limitation, the band produces some astonishingly entertaining music!

Keywords: The Composition of World Harmony 2010, Mrigya, Sharat Chandra Srivastava (Violin), Gyan Singh (Tabla/ Dholak/ Mridangam), Rajat Kakkar (Drums/ Percussion), Indraneel Hariharan (Bass Guitar), Sachin Kapoor (Keyboards), Karan Sharma (Guitar), Qadir Niyazi (Sufiana vocals), Sukriti Sen (Hindustani vocals)

Mrigya: Official website | Facebook fan page

Rang dharti ke liye, which also doubles up as the title song, has a nostalgic, Nadeem-Shravan’ish sluggishness that is remotely interesting. Jisne sapna dekha has an overdose of sapna and dekha that it all blurs after sometime, while Dagdu dada is monstrously bad. Main to hoon king is embarrassingly , particularly singer Kushubu’s grating vocals. Chadkar girna spreads on the optimism in a vehicle which should have been Nadeem’s anthem, even as the raucous item song, Saawan na bheegi, is oddly competent for what it sets out to achieve! Weird, time-warped soundtrack that has only its heart in the right place.

Keywords: Kumar Sanu

Note: The film’s title denotes the plight of shoe-polish kids!

The Punju parody of Jingle Bells by Gourov Dasgupta sounds abominable at first listen, but Krishna’s lyrics and over-the-top singing are strangely funny and endearing! Kaise jiyu, again by Krishna, is a lofty, sufi-tinged track that scores high on the fantastic arrangements, while Suraj Jagan’s almost-tattered, full-throated vocals go waste in the faux-rock Maula. The title song is equally pointless, and guest composer Chirantan Bhatt’s sole contribution, Friday Night, makes for a fairly likeable, brash mishmash of hip-hop and desi-tinged reggaeton! For a film that looks appallingly shady, the music, while definitely not a classic, surely delivers some rudimentary fun!

Keywords: Purab Kohli, Arjan Bajwa, Gourov Dasgupta, Chirantan Bhatt

No point in stating the obvious, since the news sites have carried it adequately – AFP and NDTV. But, this double-win should put to rest the murmurs that Slumdog Millionaire’s score is ‘not one of Rahman’s best’. I’ve heard it being said so many times, every time someone started the Oscar topic – and I tend to agree too – but only partly. The point is, we see the score from our Indian perspective but stubbornly refuse to see it from anybody else’s point of view. Perhaps, we Indians do not know how to see it any other way. The truth here is that Rahman’s undiscovered gems – undiscovered by the West, that is – may remain undiscovered forever and may not win him multiple Oscar/ Grammys in the future. Simple reason? They were scored with us Indians in mind.

Today is as momentous an occasion as the Oscars morning for India, last year. I just hope Rahman doesn’t fritter away the opportunity on films like Couples Retreat which have absolutely no scope for decent music and the soundtrack proved that too. I wish this Grammy gives him access to better directors who value his music and create scripts to include Rahman’s music as an integral part of their narrative. Clichéd, but…Jai Ho…again!

Bachchan’s probability mumbo-jumbo sounds silly in an otherwise-enjoyable, Bond’ish Life is a game; fantastic vocals by Sonia Saigal and Anushka! Summertime (George Gershwin’s original used as-is) has corny lyrics, but the zingy pop works instantly, thanks to Joe Alvares’ vocals. The title song is likeable techno-pop with a psychedelic soundscape. Sunidhi is scintillating in the OP Nayyar-meets-Bond theme Neeyat while the boy-band-ballad Intezar by Naresh Kamat is the only odd one out; picks up steam as it goes, but sounds like a bad Luck leftover! Salim Sulaiman drown their tunes in the sound they conceive for the film, but it is still a great listen!

Keywords: Amitabh Bachchan, Sir Ben Kingsley, Madhavan, Raima Sen, Salim Sulaiman, Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant, music review Teen Patti

Jaffer Zaidi’s thick’ish voice hangs like a heavy cloud waiting to pour – like Raghu Dixit’s, minus the panache. But the tunes make all the difference! Jaffer’s mother, the incredibly talented Nayyara Noor, composes and writes 2 songs – Piya dekho na and Moray sayyan; both are soulfully old-fashioned, with arrangements that blend flawlessly. Nayyara’s lyrics feature in Bachpan too; they strike a chord with the nostalgic portraits and the appropriately mellow tune credited to Jaffer and Zohaib Kazi. Out of the other 7 tracks composed by Jaffer, Chaand taaray and Chalte rahein impress with their soft, melodic appeal and that tinge of classical. Sunn zaraa and Dil main meray are more pensive, with the latter’s interlud’ish guitar work making a case for itself. In Koi hai toh sahi, fellow band member, Maaz Maudood joins Jaffer for a passionately fervent call for togetherness, even as the track soars to an almost-unrelated note! The best tracks of the album are the tenderly tuned Dekho and musically-rich Tere pyaar main; the latter uses Rahat Ali’s flute and Javed Iqbal’s violins as well as Jaffer’s vocals in a harmonious tune with enormously imaginative orchestration. Kaavish’s Gunkali treads the popular with the mature, skillfully.

Keywords: Faisal Rafi, Jaffer Zaidi, Maaz Maudood, Shallum Xavier, Gumby, Amir Zaki, Rahat Ali, Omran Shafique, Abbas Premjee, Khalid Khan, Javed Iqbal

Javed Ali spoils the otherwise lovely Mudhal pen neeye, with his horrendous pronunciation – but, thankfully, Dharan’s tune is fresh and catchy. The title song is conventional and atrocious, while Koothadu machi, despite the mish-mash’ish inspirations, makes for a funky listen, particularly the final, ‘lokkal’ sound! Hariharan and Shreya Ghoshal’s Yaaradi is a middling melody at best – too predictable to make a solid impact. With Indru naan Dharan tries his best to reinvent the pathos genre, but despite mild innovations, it simply doesn’t work, while Benny Dayal’s groovy Ore minsaaram is annoyingly short. Very templatized and disappointing fare from Dharan.

Keywords: Bharat, Bharath, Sana Khan, Dharan

Jis din and Dil le jaa’s age-old hooks sink whatever enthusiasm the rhythm tries to evoke, but Phir se is as breezy as things can get – Pritam opts for a slightly retro’ish long-drawn melody and it works very well with the lively arrangements. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s version is significantly better than Sonu’s, however. Pritam springs a pleasant surprise getting behind the mike, along with Rana and Soham, for the best track of the soundtrack, Karle mujhse pyaar. This one sees the composer getting back to his cross-over filmy rock and works brilliantly! Two unexpected, lilting melodies…aur baat pakki.

Keywords: Pritam, Tabu, Sharman Joshi, Vatsal Sheth, Toh baat pakki