Pardon me if i'm late to realize this, but I just watched the movie few minutes ago for the first time. Needless to say this is by far the best Indian movie made on Kargil war or in general Indian Army. Now lets leave it right there instead of going ahead and comparing with the surprise hit Border or the multiple love stories never ending saga LOC Kargil by JP Dutta. This movie had music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy, pretty good music for a war movie. More realistic and less melodramatic. Very situational too. However there was something familiar about the background music. Something I felt like heard before. And when it came the second time in a much spread out sequence it became very clear that this BGM was the inspiration or the cue for one of their later songs in a superhit album.
Watch the video to judge for yourself, and if you couldn't get it the answer is below the video. You can view it by highlighting it.
Rock On !! from their album Rock On !!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Interesting observation in Lakshya movie's BGM
Monday, November 19, 2007
Taare Zameen Par - Music Review
This is his first directorial debut and second movie from his production house. And he doesn't take the 'beaten to dust' path of making masala movie or a feel good entertainer, but rather he chooses a delicate subject, an area not explored so much in Bollywood, a story on the life of a dyslexic child whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate. Aamir Khan presents us "Taare Zameen Par" along with Amole Gupte who is also credited as the creative director and writer of the film.
We've seen quite a few movies on children off late. But most of them cater mainly to the younger generation. With this movie, I'm sure Aamir Khan would touch the hearts of both children and adults alike and would change the way adults look at children. Being a sensitive and touching subject, there can be only 2 names coming to mind as Music Directors who can do full justice to the theme - AR Rahman and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. I believe Aamir approached AR Rahman to score the music, but eventually it was handed over to SEL due to reasons unknown ( Source : Wikipedia ). And SEL amaze us by giving an album which would remain a special one in their musical career. Before I started listening to the album I didn't what kind of songs to expect. I knew it would be about children, but how can a full album comprising 8 songs be only on children was the question on my mind. And thats where SEL, Prasoon Joshi ( Aamir's current favorite lyricist ), Amole Gupte and Aamir Khan completely surprise us by talking about almost everything pertaining to the Child's World in these 8 songs.
Taare Zameen Par - All about Children and their behavior
With a lilting sweet tune starts the title track. And what follows is a blend of beautiful poetry, Shankar's heart-warming rendition and SEL's impeccable music. If you think the Mukhda is great, then wait till the Antara portion starts. SEL take this song to a totally new level infusing sitar and tabla with piano and vocals making it a spellbinding song. Prasoon joshi mesmerizes with his poetic charm and similies throughout the song. While listening to it one can feel "khona jaaye hum saare zameen par".
Uthre jo aangan ko sunehara sa karne
Maan ke andhero ko roshan sa karde
Thiturti hatheli ki rangat badal de
Kho na jayee yeh
Taare Zameen par
Kholo Kholo - Encouragement for children
Next song starts of in an Enigma like fashion and in few seconds switches gears to a casual Guitar-led intro by Raman Mahadevan. Once again the star of this song is Prasoon with this simple yet heart-felt lyrics. Infact the lyrics not only encourage children, I felt they were pretty inspiring for me too. A song which can be listened whenever anyone is down, or at the end of a tired day. I would place it besides another amazing song belonging to similar forte "Roobaroo" from Rang De Basanti.
mausam ka hai mehmaan tu
duniya sajee tere liye
khud ko zara pehchaan tu
Bum Bum Bole - Spread your wings and dream on Children
A track tailor made for children. Its got everything that kids love, fun, masti, Aamir's babble in the start, playful tune, and once again Prasoon's beautiful lyrics which entertains as well as enlightens. Sung very effectively by Shaan, this song would appeal more to kids in a large way than to adults. But hey, don't we all wanna be like kids sometimes and have some fun and masti time. So...
Pankh Zara Phailaao
Rang Naye Bikhrao
Chalo Chalo Chalo Chalo
Naye Khwaab Bun Le...
Jame Raho - Daily Life of children
For everyone who loved Johnny Gaddar's title track by the trio, here's another one following similar style, musically. I would call this a cool hep rock song for children. Lyrically it depicts the daily routine of kids starting with alarm clock ticking in the morning to their hardships throughout the day. This song is completely filled with very interestingly rhyming one liners. If we all thought Prasoon was at his chill-out best in "Masti ki paatshaala" with his funny lyrics " naata yei sannata hai, dekho lamboo shor hai, har dil mei bud bud kartha H2SO4 hai ",then he excels further in this one by imaginatively rekindling our childhood nightmares like heavy bags, tonics, tensions, exams, homeworks..and so on. Thank god I 'm done with my schooling :).
Ye Tonic Saare Peete Hain
Waqt Pe Sote Waqt Pe Khate
Taan Ke Seena Badhte Jate
Maa - A child's eternal companion
This is a song which is very close to my heart and I'm sure it'd be the same for many. A brilliant composition by SEL sung soulfully yet again by Shankar Mahadevan. The trio manage to beautifully intertwine music with poetry to produce a sentimental track which sends shivers through you when listening to it. The song talks about the fears and insecurities of child which he wants to share with his mother. A very touching song accompanied by simple beats arrangement and acoustic guitar giving lyrics more importance. Its a song which makes you think, smile, shed a tear or two, nostalgic.
Bhej Na Itna Door Mujkko Tu
Yaad Bhi Tujhko Aa Naa Paoon Maa
Kya Itna Bura Hoon Main Maa
Kya Itna Bura Meri Maa
Bheja Kum - The torture for a child...homeworks and tests
A situational background number, its a song or rather teacher's yelling and screaming on the poor performance of a child, most probably the main character, in his homeworks and exams. It packs in almost all of the scoldings which everyone might have got in their school days and SEL put together right set of sounds to create the desire effect. Damn, I can't forget the days when my parents were called to school because of my bad behavior. The song starts of in a similar fashion to Lucky Ali's song "Tu Kaun Hai" from Bhopal Express. Interestingly the song has 10 singers to its credit, all of them related to the movie in some way or the other.
Kyun Tera Bheja Kum?
Kyun Maths Mein Ho Anda?
Kyun Roz Khate Danda?
Mera Jahan - Child's innocent universe
As the beautiful album comes to an end, Amole Gupte presents us in his own words his experience of working with children for 7 years in the penultimate song "Mera Jahan" guest composed by Shailender Bharve. Given just one song, Shailender makes sure that he delivers the best and gives us yet another soulful song in this album. The song starts of with Gleehive, the kids chorus group, reciting Amole Gupte's lyrics, later on followed by Adnan Sami's impressive rendition and Auriel Cordo along with Ananya Wadkar pitching in for chorus.
A Little Close Not Too Far
All I Need, All I Need
All I Need Is To Be Free
The album ends with a beautiful Piano piece "Ishaan's theme". I know many might disagree with me on this but I feel Piano is the only instrument which can capture every aspect of human's emotions. This musical theme is a clear example of my statement. What starts of as a soothing melody later on gets to lower octaves becoming more complex and ruffled and finally ends with the same melody as the one in the start, depicting a full circle of life with happy and disturbing times.
When other actors and production houses are going and knocking almost every possible door in the name of publicity, Aamir chose to silently release this music in the residence of Shammi Kapoor. This is also the first movie in Bollywood which got a worldwide online release of its teaser trailer. I think he believes in Simplicity rather than Publicity by letting the content do the talking rather than himself. This is a great project with a lot of research behind it and looks like Aamir has poured his heart and soul into it. And Shankar Ehsaan Loy along with Prasoon Joshi have delivered a powerful and soul stirring album which surely would find a place in everyone's heart. SEL have so far had another consistent year with all of their albums turning out to be chartbusters. And what a way to sign off year 2007 with TZP. They are turning out to be another AR Rahman for the industry.
If in 2006 the most creative and brilliant music album was "Rang De Basanti" starring Aamir, in 2007 its got to be "Taare Zameen Par" once again with Aamir playing the main lead. I wish the music, the movie and the team behind it good luck and hope it achieves what it set forth for.
Every Child is Special....and so is this album..
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Johnny Gaddar - Bol kya story hai tera
Coming friday there are two things I'm keenly waiting for. One is to somehow lay my hands on Halo 3. And the other is to see how the new movie "Johnny Gaddar" turns out. The songs have been playing in my ipod in a loop for about 3 weeks now. Even after albums like Om Shanti Om and Saawariya coming in successive weeks, I can't get enough of Johnny Gaddar, especially the title track. I feel its a very honest and original attempt by Shankar Ehsaan Loy, who tried to come out of their feel - good compositions. They've successfully managed to bring in a new genre of music to Bollywood. The trailers also look very slick and stylish. Cinematography looks excellent. I planned to review this music long time ago, but I was late and missed the boat. Also by then there were many sites which came up with good 'straight from the heart' reviews. I just hope the movie turns out to be as good as the music.
When I saw the first poster which was black and white with red and yellow colors standing out, I was pleasantly surprised. It closely resembled "Sin City", one of my favorite movies. But that joy was short-lived, as the movie preview told a different story. In fact it was more on the lines of Kaante and Reservoir dogs. But I was sure that Sriram Raghavan, who had a magnificent debut with "Ek Haseena Thi", wouldnt just remake any other movie, and that too certainly not a movie which was released just few years ago. So I did some research on web to see if there's anybody talking about this. I eventually found a site where Sriram himself clarified what this movie is all about, and thankfully its different from what I thought. Here's what he had to say about the movie :
" Johnny Gaddaar is NOT even remotely based on any of the films such as Harmesh Malhotra’s Gaddaar, Reservoir Dogs, Ringo Lam’s City on Fire or Kaante.
It’s a caper thriller with the same synopsis as seen in many websites and there’s NO suspense about who Johnny Gaddaar is. As the film unfolds, the viewer will be the first to know his identity. The fun/tension/suspense is in how and when the rest of the group find out and what happens next.
In India, we often confuse Suspense with a Whoduit factor…which is quite wrong actually. Alfred Hitchcock has NOT MADE A SINGLE WHODUNIT and yet he’s acknowledged as the Master of Suspense. Suspense is about emotion....about fear....about anticipation and NOT about guessing who the killer/informer/ whoever is.
The movie doesnt have any BIG names etc. So I’d really request you all to watch the movie in the first weekend.In the hall of course. And all criticism is welcome. Thank you. "
I thought it was so good of him to request us to watch his movie. But in reality, he doesnt have to do that. He's one of the few directors whom I adore and include in the hatke director's list which also has directors like Shimit Amin, Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra, Anurag Kashyap, Madhur Bhandarkar, and Nagesh Kukunoor. When everyone in Bollywood follows a standard hit formula set by Chopras or Johars or any other big names, these directors and few others tread a different path. And thats what makes them develop a cult following. I'm really looking forward to watching "Johnny Gaddar". I hope so do many of you.
Friday, August 17, 2007
"Heyy Babyy" Jeene le de is pal ko - music review
Ok as this post is regarding the music review of Heyy Babyy...lets go straight to it.
Title track "Heyy babyy" is an instantly catchy and a peppy club number. Its my favourite song from the entire album and is running @ number 1 position in my ipod most played list. If u think its a tad bit slow for a club number, then there's the Big 'O' remix of the same song for u. The antara portion of the song is what elevates the song to the top level. Of the 3 singers, pervez quadir's voice stands out as its very casual and cool...esp when he sings ' madhoshi mein kho jaane de, hota hai jo bhi yaara...ho jaane de '..main sachi mein kho gaya. Sajid khan has also used 21 'not so famous but hot' actresses in this song, so i'm sure the picturization is gonna be awesome and ice creams wud melt instantly.
Next tracks "Dholna" and "Mast Kalandar" are pretty ordinary tracks for me. We've heard better dholna style and bhangra songs in the past..however sonu nigam and shreya's flawless singing makes the former a good listen. If the previous track has more Ehsaan n Loy's touch, then these songs belong more to Shankar. I like the part of the 'dholna' song where shreya goes 'dholiya dholna raaze dil kholna...'. "Mast Kalandar" will feature Shahrukh Khan which might push it to top of the charts, but i'll pass on this song for now. Then there's "Dholna Remix" which has additional beats, but same tune. "Heyy Babyy" featuring the girl band sounds like its sung in a concert. Same tune different pitch, the only difference being the use of " Jaane jaa o jaane jaa " which we hear in the trailers...Skip to the next and we find a situational song " Jaane bhi de ". Not very impressive, but a passable song. The remix version sounds better.
Just when we feel that after a great start to this album, none of the other songs r catching up, we have a beauty in " Meri duniya tu hi re". This song is simply very sweet (Cheeni bahut Jyaada). Especially the soulful humming of all the 3 singers, Sonu, Shaan and Shankar. This song just touches your heart right from the starting music. I can't wait to see the song in the movie. I'm guessing it would come in the second half after they learn their lessons and start loving the baby.
Indiafm calls it "Undoubtedly the best soundtrack of the year so far." I hope they havnt included Salaam-E-Ishq and Guru in this years list, coz this album just has 2 outstanding songs and 3 ordinary songs and the others being remixes, compared to the other 2 movies which had all superhit songs. However, the title song and Meri Duniya are more than enuf for me to go and watch the movie. Also the lyrics by Sameer are very good for these two songs. SEL are turning out to be one of the most consistent and dependable music directors after churning out hits after hits. Go for it !!!
