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 . 

Half Way Through ...

Well we are half way through 2008 and the first half was a little dissappointing in terms of fim content this year . The same was the case in last year when only three films Guru , Life in a Metro and Namaste London faired well both on the box office and audience expectations . One surprise hit was Bheja Fry . There were some great dissappointments in the first half of last year in form of salaam-e-ishq , eklavya , Nishabd and Ta Ra Rum Pum . Then there were also some of the most pathetic films like Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom , Shaka-laka boom boom , Just Married and Good Boy Bad Boy etc. But last year some great movies released in first half that didn't do fair at the box office yet deserved much more than they got like Black Friday , Parzania , Namesake and Ek Chaalis ki last Local .

This year it has been even worse where not only did movies failed on the box office but also lacked creative content . The only two movies which were rich in creative content and a good script were Aamir and Khuda Ke Liye amongst which the latter came from other side of the border . So in all only one film i.e. Aamir was a good film in all aspects of Film making yet it was a disaster at the box office . The team that gave Bheja Fry last year gave Mithya this year which was an excellent attempt at off-beat cinema considering it didin't have the usual happy ending that we always have . Even the Direction and Style was very european . This film did average as it is the case with such films . Jodha Akbar which released in the begining was a very brave attempt by the Director Ashutosh Govariker which did well at the box office but didn't get that much appreciation from the audience . The other two films(Race and Sarkar Raj) that did well at the box office were mere commercial films and the quality of cinema was not up to the mark . I don't know how did films like Jannat and Race did well at the box-office . Small budget films like Woodstock Villa , My name is Anthony... and Superstar were a disaster . Not even the small budget films but even the Big Budget films like Tashan and Krazzy 4 were like rotten eggs .

The Biggest rotten egg came from the biggest production house of country , Yashraj , in form of Tashan . At least Yashraj have some consistency , they had given the rotten egg last year in form of JBJ and this year they have gone ahead and given even more smelly and pathetic one in form of Tashan . I thought only Emran Hashmi did bad films but now even stars like Kareena,Akshay,Anil and Saif are doing so . Bad streak for poor Abhishek and RGV continues , with even Sarkar Raj not doing well on both box office and neither on people's expectations .

The films were a disaster in the first half of the year but one thing that did really well was the Blogging which was an instant hit and provided much more entertainment than the films . The blog has all the elements of a typical commercial film but with real emotions of Jealousy , Revenge and Stupidity . The Blog fever is catching on big time in Bollywood with Aamir,Big B,Salman,RGV and many more using the next big medium to reach their fans .

The biggest hit in terms of Entertainment came from the Cricket Fields in form the Indian Premiere League or the IPL . The biggest show in India , with a lethal combo of Cricket and heavyweight people like the SRK and Ambani's etc and a whopping budjet of around 4000 crores . Set Max rightly called it the "Manoranjan Ka Baap" . For 45 days every producer feared to release any film . Some used it for Promotion of their films (Tashan) and TV Shows (Dus Ka Dum) but neither did well . You see , promotion and hype can guarantee you a good opening but nothing can save the project if it doesn't have a good script or say no script in case of Yashraj .

The second half looks more promising this year with films like Love Story 2050 , Jaane Tu , Singh is Kinng, Kismat Konnection , Bachna Ae hasino , Dostana , Ghajni and Drona . There are also some small budget films like Rock On , Ugly and Pagli , Ashayein , Fashion and Maan Gaye Mughal-e-azam which may attract the multiplex audience .

The second half last year gave excellent films like Chak De India , Manorama Six Feet Under , Johnny Gaddar and Taare Zameen Par . Well , lot of money and expectations are at stake in the second half of this year and lets hope the second half would be much more interesting and entertaining and most important "Paisa Vasool" .