Mausam-music review

Pankaj Kapur has been an actor who has always done the right films and chosen the right kind of roles.He also delivered sparkling performances in television shows like 'Office Office','Karamchand',among others.So when a quality conscious actor makes his directorial debut,the promos of which compel you to hit the replay button on their youtube page,the least that you can expect from the music is it to be good.Honestly,I was not too happy when I got to know that Pritam would be composing for the movie because Pritam can hardly qualify as one of my favourite composers.As for the lyricist, Irshad Kamil had some good with composer Sandesh Shandilya in films like 'Chameli', 'Socha Na Tha' and that wonderful album 'Ustad and The Divas'.I didn't quite approve of his more popular work in ‘Jab We Met','Love Aaj Kal' and 'De Dana Dan'. But I was quite taken aback by his work in the recently released 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan'. Okay,let's get back to 'Mausam' and see what is in store for the listeners.

The album kick starts with 'Rabba Main Toh Mar Gaya Oye'. The song is sung by newcomer Shahid Mallya who sounds like a Roop Kumar Rathod clone. Honestly, I feel that Rathod's voice would have suited this much more than it suits Mallya's. Nevertheless,Mallya does a good job in singing  this one. The song has a semi classical base to it with some western arrangements (which I think was absolutely unnecessary) thrown in to give it a ''today's feel''. The song is very easy on the ears and has already become very popular thanks to some aggressive promotion on air.

The song that follows next is called 'Saj Dhaj Ke' and is sung by Mika.Mika and Pritam and you know that you can expect an out and out commercial number. And as the a large portion of the movie is set in Punjab,so one can't really do without a Bhangra number,can one?Mika,as always,does a brilliant job in rendering this high energy track.The song lacks novelty but one does not need complain as it has enough 'tashan' to entertain you throughut its duration.

The next track is called 'Ik Tu Hi Tu'. The song takes you aback completely as this song in so not Pritam. This one can be easily classified as one of the best sons composed by Pritam ever. Pritam truly comes out his comfort zone and delivers something which is extremely classy and at same time very commercial in nature. Rendered excellently by Hans Raj Hans. This would be Hans Raj Hans second song in a Hindi film his year after 'Tumba  Tumba'(Patiala House).How one wishes that the talented singer sings more for Hindi movies. The songs tells of seperation and longing and narrates the pain that Shahid's character in the movie goes through.It's easily one of the best songs that had come out this year.Irshad Kamil's lyrics deserve special mention. He balances Hindi and Punjabi words and weaves them together into writing a song that truly touches your heart. This one can,well,be the 'Tu Jaane Na'(Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani) of 2011.

The title of the next song,Poore Se Zara Sa Kam Hain Hum,catches your attention instantly. Second sad song in a row after 'Ik Tu Hi Tu' ,'Poore Se Zara Sa Kam Hain' is far more intense than the former.Ustad Rashid Khan, who apart from developing a fan base among the true blue Indian Classical music fans, has wooed Bollywood music fans by his soulful renditions in films like Jab We Met(Aaoge Jab Tum) and My Name Is Khan (Allah Hi Rahem) comes behind the mike to sing this song which has some heart wrenching lyrics by Irshad Kamil. Irshad Kamil truly proves his mettle as a lyricist with this song. If one goes by the popularity of the earlier film songs rendered by Ustad Rashid Khan,this one well can be his third hit!

The next song,'Aag Lage Us Aag Ko' has been sung and composed by guest composer Karsan Sargathiya. I have been a huge fan of Sargathiya ever since I heard 'Mehboob Mere' from Fiza-In Search Of His Brother(2000).The highly underrated singer has mostly been used as a back up/background vocalist and very rarely given the opportunity to deliver something of his own. While he does a brilliant job in singing this 'Garba' type number, one can't expect the song to go a long distance in the popularity race, as it reminds one of numerous such songs we have heard on 'Navratri'

and occasionaly in films and television shows. One can expect the song to arrive at an important juncture in the movie, a kind of situation in which both the lovers meet after a long time or even reunite. One would have to wait for the movie's release to find that out.

The last original track to arrive is called 'Mallo Malli',sung by Tochi Raina. This song actually disappoints you after hearing four superb (and entertaining) tracks from the album. Infact one wonders ,if the song was actually recorded for this film. The song reminds of you of hundreds of similiar sounding songs composed by Pritam. One actually ends up thinking that this would be one of the unused tracks by Pritam which have been lying in his library from a long time and he used it for ‘Mausam’ after doing some last minute snazzy arrangements to it. Not that the song is bad, but it does no good to an album filled with gems. It's, however, refreshing to hear Tochi Raina's voice instead of Neeraj Shridhar who is fast becoming a regular choice when it comes to rendering such songs. This one is average.

There is the reprise version of "Ik Tu Hi Tu' sung this time by Shahid Mallya who does a good job overall. Reprise version of "Rabba Main To Main Mar Gaya' has Rahat Fateh Ali Khan behind the mike who, obviously,does better than Mallya. Having said that,Shahid Mallya's apparently younger voice suits Shahid Kapur more than Rahat.The ‘Mehfil Mix’ version of ‘Ik Tu Hi Tu’ is sung by Wadali Brothers. It would be their second Hindi film song this year after ‘Rangrez Mere’(Tanu Weds Manu).One would love to see them coming behind the mike more often for film songs.

Coming to the remixed tracks,there are two remix versions of ‘Sajh Dhaj Ke’.Although both ‘Desi Mix Tiger Style’ and ‘Club Mix Tiger Style’ are well done remixes,I would prefer  the former as it accentuates the ‘desipann’ of the song without taking anything away from it.

There is another version of ‘Mallo Malli’ sung by Lehmber Hussainpuri who had already two hits this year with ‘Saddi Galli’(Tanu Weds Manu) and Bhoot Aaya (F.A.L.T.U),and the inimitable Hard Kaur.There is no difference between the Tochi Raina version and this one except for the singers. The remixed version is good too.

Overall,Mausam is one of the most satisfactory soundtracks to have arrived this year and undoubtedly one of the best original works by Pritam.Save for an average ‘Mallo Malli’and a good ‘Saj Dajh Ke’ the soundtrack is filled with gems that are bound to find a lot of respect among the quality conscious listeners in times to come.(P.S.Just hope nobody comes up claiming the rights for any of the songs as it has happened with many of Pritam’s earlier acclaimed works).

Overall rating-3.5 /5

Mere Brother Ki Dulhan-music review

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