There are always high expectations from the music of a film which comes from the stable of one of India's leading production houses-Yash Raj Films.Add to it,if the film has some top rung stars in the form of Katrina Kaif and Imran Kaif,one expects nothing but an out and out commercial soundtrack.Sohail Sen started out with 'Sirf',which was an absolutely forgettable soundtrack.He bounced back with Ashutosh Gowariker's 'What's Your Raashee' which had as many as thirteen songs.Sohail proved his versatility as a composer by experimenting with various genres of music with this album and managed to impress in a big way.After that,he scored the music of Gowarikar's period drama 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey'.Although the film didn't had much scope for music,he still managed to compose some soul stirring songs for the film.Sadly,both the above mentioned albums,though critically acclaimed,couldn't click with the listeners due to almost nil promotion of the songs.Although the music of 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan' has released after three weeks since the movie's promotion has started,it can well act as a boon for the soundtrack as already two songs from the soundtrack ('Title track' and 'Dhunki') have managed to become extremely popular due to some agressive promotion on air.
The album kick starts with the title track sung by K.K and Krishna Beura.Although the song offers nothing new,it is far better than most of the 'masala'songs churned out in the recent past.The song is very 'desi' in nature with the 'dhol' being the dominant instrument and some western arrangements have been used here and there lending a new age sound to it.Irshad Kamil's lyrics are very catchy and very different from what he has written in the past.K.K leads from the front while Krishna Beura's voice has been used only for the hook line 'Marimonial si aankhein....''.He seems to breaking out of the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan mode by delivering a kind of rendition which was also quite evident in 'The Mutton Song' from 'Luv Ka The End'. Nice to hear K.K sing a kind of song which he rarely sings. The song has already become very popular and is sure to become more now when the full song has released.
The next track 'Dhunki' is the other song to have become extremely popular before the audio release. The song has Neha Bhasin,who was last heard crooning 'Kuch Khaas' from 'Fashion’, coming behind the mike. The song is very different from the singer's last Hindi film song and reminds one of the kind of songs she used to come out with her band 'Viva'.The song can be categorized as what people call a 'sufi rock' song. The lyrics are again a highlight and has a strong sense of divinity attached to it while the composition takes a complete Bollywood-ish rock route. Sohail's music is bound to appeal to both the classes and the masses. The video,in which Katrina is seen in a never seen before rebellious Rock star avatar,has contributed a great deal in making the song popular.
The third track ‘Choomantar’ sung by Benny Dayal and Aditi Singh Sharma doesn’t grow on you instantly but after a hearing or two one falls in love with the song completely. The song is high on techno beats and follows a somewhat hip hop groove.Benny and Aditi do a fine job in rendering the song.Infact,if I had not seen Benny’s name on the cd credits,I would have thought the song to have been sung by Sohail Sen himself.Benny sounds very different from what one heard of him in his earlier songs. One can instantly connect his voice to the numerous songs sung by Sohail in ‘What’s Your Raashee’ and even ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey’. Coming back to the song-the song may find some time to climb the popularity charts depending upon its picturisation.
The fourth track is called ‘Isq Risk’ and is sung by none other than Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The song reminds one of ‘O re Piya’ sung by Rahat himself for another yrf film(Aaja Nachle).The composition is very simple and has a semi classical base to it.Irshad Kamil’s lyrics score again.The music is decent.One expected Sohail to create some magic with Rahat which doesn’t quite happen.
The fifth track is called ‘Madhubala’ and is sung by Ali Zafar and Shweta Pandit.Ali Zafar has often been accused of being a Kishore Kumar clone and in fact the way this song starts one is reminded of ‘Jai Jai Shiv Shankar’ sung by Kishore Kumar himself. The song is a typical ‘Nautanki’ number and one have heard several such tracks in the recent past. And the thing is that such songs work big time with the listeners if picturised well.
The sixth track,’Do Dhaari Talwar’ is sung by Shahid Mallya and Shweta Pandit. Shahid’s voice can also be heard in ‘Rabba’(Mausam),in which he sounded like a Roop Kumar Rathod clone. Although his voice sounds quite different (and original) in ‘Do Dhaari Talwar’ one can’t really applaud as he seems like a total misfit for this song and the energy in his voice which was quite evident in ‘Naina Wali Whiskey’ (Sahi Dhande Galat Bande),is completely missing in this song.The song ,undoubtedly,is the weakest link in the entire album.The only that works in this song are Shweta Pandit’s lively vocals.The song is strictly average and would need some really good picturisation to make it somewhat popular.
The rest of the two tracks are remixes of ‘Isq Risk’ and ‘Choomantar’ by Joshilay.The ‘Choomantar’ remix is strictly okay but the ‘Isq Risk’ remix works because it has Sreeramachandra and Neha Bhasin singing it with some really fresh youthful energy which,more or less,changes the structure of the song and I found it to be actually better than the Rahat version.
Overall,Mere Brother Ki Dulhan is a very entertaining soundtrack which has two sure shot super hit songs (The title track and Dhunki),three good to above average songs(Choomantar, Isq Risk and Madhubala) and a situational track in the form of ‘Do Dhaari Talwar’.Irshad Kamil’s lyrics work big time.Sohail Sen does a good job in creating a ‘masala’ soundtrack but reaches nowhere near ‘What’s Your Raashee’.
Overall Rating-3.5/5
