Ghajini --- Music Review

The last one out of the five albums of ARR this year , Ghajini, is out now and the stakes are even higher since it is one of the most anticipated film of the year starring Mr. Perfectionist Aamir himself . The last album Yuvvraaj of ARR didn't impress me that much and neither did the film impress the audience . This one is an adaptation of South film by the same name hence there would be southern influences not only in the film but also in the music . Last time ARR worked for a Hindi album with a southern director except Mani Ratnam was in Nayak when he worked with Shankar who directed the film . And clearly in some of the songs we could observe the southern influence . 

In the similar fashion the music of Ghajini also has some amount of southern influence . First let me clear my feelings as a writer which are not excited and amused as they should be . So I might sound a little mechanical since the music of the film didn't excite me that much apart from of course Guzarish which is a brilliant track . One thing that struck me clearly is the amount of work ARR has done this year . He has released five albums this year none of which is a complete album as compared to the one album released in 2007 (Guru) and the one in 2006 (Rang De Basanti) . What is the need to do a leap from one album a year to five albums a year ? Quality as a result has suffered to some extent . 

Talking of this one , it opens up with Guzarish which is the best track on the album and also the only one to look forward to . The lyrics in this song in specific are great and this is probably one of the best track out of all the five albums that ARR has released this year . Complementing the great piece of writing is the beautiful piece of music by ARR with a nice slow beat that he often uses . Some fine use of Mandolin in it by Seenu makes it even more beautiful . The vocals by Jaaved and Sonu are also impeccable . Jaaved sings the song in his own style and the small humming pieces by Sonu are just great . Since I am a hardcore fan of Sonu , I found the humming and small pieces that Sonu sung much better than the whole song that Jaaved sung . Though Jaaved does deliver his best , I would have loved an another full version of the song sung by Sonu alone . ARR and Prasoon , the lyricist , show their brilliance in this track . Overall , it is a treat for music lovers and a great start to the album . 

Sadly the good start gets a hit by the second track itself , Aye Bachchu , by Suzanne . Talking of the music of the song first , it sounds pretty much usual and the tune doesn't sound very new and probably you would feel that the tune is inspired in bits and pieces from here and there . Can't talk of lyrics because in any case they are in a scarcity in this track and also something that don't make much sense . Overall , its quite a commercial track that anyone like a Pritam or a Vishal-Shekhar could have composed effortlessly . And the singer Suzanne who got popular with Mahiyaa of Aawarapan sings in a good way but the track is not as good as the previous one .

The third track , Kaise mujhe , by Benny Dayal and Shreya Ghoshal is a nice slow track that frankly speaking didn't impress me as much as it could have. I know a lot of you would disagree with me on this one . Though I liked the tune but still I felt that Rehman didn't do full justice to the nice lyrics by Prasoon . I am sure this track would make even more sense and gain more popularity after the film releases just like "Kahin To Hogi woh" did after Jaane Tu .. . But still I felt that something was lacking in the song and probably it won't work that much . The singing by Benny Dayal is almost like that ARR does himself and sometimes it is difficult to differentiate . Shreya has been singing such songs since the starting of her career so she won't get any praise for this one in specific . In all , it is a nice track that could have been much better .

Next comes , Behka , by Karthik whose voice sounds very novel and his singing is the only thing that impresses . It has some fine use of Saxophone by Martin which sounds very nice . The song has some Jazz in it in ARR's style . The song in totality has nothing much to offer though some of the pieces in between are great . The lyrics are also quite average and overall the track doesn't impress that much and it is only the singing of Karthik that stands out .

Then comes yet another commercial track , Latoo by Shreya Ghoshal who at least for a change sings a club number and something that is not classical . The track though is not a good one and has neither good lyrics nor a good tune . So Shreya gets stuck with an average track that could have sung by any singer round the corner who is probably waiting for her big break .  

At last comes an instrumental version of Kaise Mujhe which has some fine guitaring by Neil Mukherjee and some nice use of flute by Kiran . This one makes you realise that the tune is a good one but it is probably the lyrics that don't match with this tune . Overall , some nice piece of music that you might love to listen at a lower volume . 

The album in whole is not that good and only Guzarish and Kaise Mujhe are worth listening . After watching the first trailer and now after listening to the music , my feeling that this film might be a commercial film at its core wrapped around with a different kind of story , has got much more stronger .  

Album Rating : Two and Half out of Five Stars ; only Guzarish being the track that can be listened to again and again . 

Dostana --- Movie Review

Dostana , the last film for Abhishek and Priyanka this year brings a lot of expectations along with its release and the expectations are also from Dharma Productions who are also back after a long time . So do we get what we expect from the team ? The answer would be a Yes and a slight no along with it . Yes because it is entertaining enough to get your money worth and no because it is not a flawless product . Dostana as the name suggests is about friendship and its different avatars. The film addresses that central theme effectively to an extent but in a little different way . By now everybody knows that the film has Abhi-John playing a gay couple and the film as a result focusses majorly on the homosexuality that they act out in front of Priyanka . The title of the film is Dostana yet the film focusses more on Gay Jokes for its length rather than the friendship part . The good part though is that the Gay jokes are at least funny enough to make you laugh throughout .

The film starts off with a Super-Hot song Shut-up and dance in which Shilpa sets the screen on fire with her hot bod and her dancing skills . She builds up a good youthful momentum in the beginning that makes it quite clear that the film is only for young blood . She probably looked hottest of them all and she is still a hot property . As soon as the song gets over we get to see the the two guys in the film flaunting off whatever they have to please the female audience or should I must also say even the homosexual male audience . Together they put up an image of the youth of today very effectively on screen that focusses more on enjoying the life as it comes in the best possible way . Both John and Abhishek become friends as a result of a co-incidence and then they act out their homosexuality to get an apartment to live which is actually owned by Priyanka . Priyanka allows them to live with her only because they are homosexuals . Then starts the whole sequence where both Abhishek and John hilariously act as a gay couple and also in the meantime keep hitting on Priyanka individually .

There is also a twist with a third guy , Bobby , that drives most of the second half . As I said earlier that the film's first half majorly focusses on Gay jokes and hence the story gets a little side-lined . Yet the first half is very entertaining because it is quite well acted part and hilarious . It makes a lot of fun of the Homosexual's which might offend them to an extent . The story is a sort of an extension to "Deewana-Mastana" story . Just like that one, this one also has a third guy , just the set-up has been updated and has been taken to Miami . One more common factor between both the films is that both are pure entertainers with very less emphasis on content . The film has some typical illogical things that any Entertainer has and sometimes we have to overlook them to enjoy the film . The film can be best called as a "Modern Entertainer" and though it follows the path of a typical entertainer the presentation is different and new .

The first half is brisk and has enough content to make it very much enjoyable whereas on the contrary the second half is a little slow and has very less to offer . It ends in a typical style and there is nothing unexpected about it . The entertainment quotient in the second half is a little less and it is just good enough and doesn't spoil the show . The film ends on a comic note which makes the audience leave with a light heart in the end . Some of the songs in between are quite a turn off and they disrupt the film's pace , especially "Ma Da Ladla" .

Talking of acting , the chemistry between Abhishek and John was much better than what Priyanka shared with any of the guys . Abhishek delivers a fine performance and has majority of the role . Priyanka and John serve as nice eye candy along with a little bit of acting . Priyanka looks great in the film and her looks attracted the most . She doesn't have much of a role and her acting was also very typical . There was nothing romantic for her to act nor it had something comic for her . He role was very limited in the film and though her character is the central one yet it is the guys that have done most of the acting . John can very well take Salman's position as a guy who knows a little bit acting and looks great . When everyone was showing some skin in the film Abhi was cladded with clothes , he just did the job of acting and that too was an average performance . Priyanka can do much better and she has struck a nice balance with Fashion being entirely focussed on her and this one being a commercial film . There is also a small cameo by Boman Irani and he does his job good . But I felt that the Director , Tarun Mansukhani , could have used him in a much better way considering his great acting skills .

The locations and art direction were good as any Dharma Film has and even the choreography of the songs was great . The cinematography was good but nothing exceptional about it and the background score was great . It uses the piece from the track "Jahan Teri Yeh Nazar Hai"(Kaalia) in a very nice and funny way in the background . The film's music is good enough to hold the film and Desi Girl is a rocking song . The Direction by the debutant director Tarun Mansukhani is good and he pulls off a good entertainer in spite of the fact that it was a little low on content . He has created some good comic sequences and has done a fine job overall .

Overall , its a nice entertainer with a little different set-up . It would keep you entertained for its length and looking at the commercial elements of the film it looks like it will work a lot on the box office and would also get decent ratings . The Director makes a nice first attempt and can certainly do much better provided he has a better and stronger script . Go watch it and get entertained .

Movie Rating : Three and a Half Star out of Five ; Nice Entertainer with good Packaging .

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi --- Music Review

One of the year's most awaited film RNBDJ starts its journey with the music hitting the stores and as usual I'll be talking a little about the film also along with the music . The music of aSRK film is always one of the main selling point of his film and call it a co-incidence or whatever his film's music has always worked irrespective of the film . TheAditya Chopra of Yashraj Production is back in the Director's chair after a long time and also after a very mediocre commercial film Mohabbatein which is supposedly a poor cousin of Robin Williams starrer Dead Poets Society . This one I hope is not inspired by any film from west and is a much better product than the last one . That one was a pure commercial film and this one sounds a little different but since commercial films run through Adi's veins it is a little hard to expect an off beat cinema . The film in any case has a lot on stake forAditya since it has been a below average year for his films just like the last year . Last year he got saved by Chak De India and I hope even this year he gets some relief . The music in this soundtrack is again by the Chak De Music Directors Salim-Sulaiman . If you don't know they started of with RGV providing Background music score and afterwards they turned into full fledged music directors . In Chak De also they not only gave a fabulous background score but also gave a very hit soundtrack .

This time though it is Aditya instead of Shimit Amin so the music has to be different from what it was in Chak De . The album has almost all the big names of Music world . The album consists of Six songs in total along with Five Originals and One Instrumental . The lyrics are byJaideep Sahni who also wrote the script of Chak De India .

The first song on the soundtrack is "Tujh Mein Rab" by Roopkumar Rathod who comes back to the house after the hit song "Tere Liye" from Veer Zaara . This song starts off with somewhat similar music that was their in the Veer Zara song and later it sticks to a very basic tune and there is nothing fancy about it . The lyrics though are the one thing that stand out and help the song to go about in a nice way . The lyrics make the song good and the music isGood enough to make it sound good . The main part though would be the on-screen chemistry between SRK and Abushka that could add a lot the song and increase its value much more . Roop Kumar Rathod does a decent job as a singer and the few inputs by the female singer are also good . Overall its a nice opening track with nothing fancy about it .

The next track on the album is "Haule Haule" by Sukhwinder Singh which is already on-Air with the snippets from the film . This one has a more commercial tune than the previous one and this song would definitely get popular . The song interestingly has a lot of use ofDafli and Harmonium which makes it sound quite different . The lyrics are good and are catchy enough to make the song a potential hit. The music also suits the lyrics and gives it a nice feel .The whole song is simple and different from usualYashraj Tracks that are more commercial in nature . Sukhwinder does a nice job singing and the songs that he sings for SRK always get popular . In all its a good track that would probably get a lot more popular in the coming days .

The next track on the album is a Dance track since the film is also about Dancing . The song "Dance Pe Chance" is a typical commercial dance track and has some lyrics that concern dancing . The lyrics and music in total don't have much to offer so the song has been offered toSunidhi Chauhan who for no good reason singing only bad tracks since past few films . This one though is not that bad because it again doesn't attempt to do something fancy and keeps it pretty simple and basic . The song has been purely made for film purpose and would make a little more sense in the film . The song though is a dance track yet its tune is not like those songs that make everyone dance along with it . The video of the song would probably feature some good dancing steps that might attract the dance loving people . The music is good and the track in all is much more film oriented so probably would look good in the film .

Next comes the best track on the album for me , "Phir Milenge" . When I heard it for the first time the starting gave me hint that it has music from some old song so I thought that they stole it and made it their own . Then after few lines everything became clear that it is in fact a mix of many old songs and their music . Even the Lyrics are very interestingconsisting of only Film Names and Lines from some of the Old Hits . There is only one line in the song that is original . The whole song consists of inputs from hits songs of all the eras like ,Aawara Hun , Pyaar Hua,Bol Radha Bol Sangam,Pal Bhar Ke Liye,Yaahooo,O Haseena,Badan Pe Sitare,Mere Sapno Ki Rani , Jai Jai Shiv Shankar , Bachna Ae Hasino,Dard-e-Dil etc. etc. All these great songs and music pieces from them have been incorporated in a brilliant way in the song . Here both the music director and the lyricist have done a fantastic team-work along withSonu Nigam who sings it in his Impeccable style . Some people might not like the whole changing the rhythm of the old classics and also remixing them a bit BUT I find it quite enjoying and in fact it is the Best Way to give a tribute to the Indian Film Music . A real treat for a music lover like me and probably the most enjoyable song on the album .

I hope Adi shoots it in a very nice way just like Farah Khan did in "Dhoom Tana" of OSO and I hope they reveal the song's video only in the film . It also feels like that this song might be a climax sequence song and would definitely play a huge role . Sonu Nigam as usual gets the best song on the album and he gives a very flawless performance . The whole concept is great and looking forward to see it on-screen and I hope it becomes a real treat on-screen too .

Next comes the Female and a little sadder version of "Tujh Mein Rab" by Shreya Ghoshal . In this song Salim-Sulaiman get a little inspired from their own flute music that they used as background music in some of the very important moments in Chak-De . That music features in this song in background less prominently . I liked it in Chak-De also and even it felt good in this one . This song is just an excerpt from the first song and is just roughly two minutes long .Shreya gives a fine performance as usual and impresses through her singing .

The last track on the album is an instrumental remixed version of Dance Pe Chance and it is a nice instrumental piece that has little inputs from some of the other songs also . Saleem-Sulaiman make a Techno friendly track almost like Bad Girls of Chak-De India . Just like music from Bad-Bad Girls was used in background in the film this would also be probably used in Background .

Overall , it is a nice soundtrack and a little different from the recent Soundtracks that Yashraj has released . The music and lyrics have been kept simple and nice . It can definitely be listened to and the songs would look great in the film . After the film gets released it will definitely add on some value to this album . It might get much more popular in the future if the chemistry works and the film gets successful . "Phir Milenge" is the best and "Haule Haule" is also good .

Lets hope for the best and I just hope Aditya doesn't come up with yet another commercial one and the SRK-Adi duo re-creates the same or at least a similar magic like they did in DDLJ.

Album Rating : Three and Half out of Five Stars ; Recommended for a change .