Dus Kahaniyaan Music Review

Whenever there is a Sanjay Gupta's movie round the corner, I'm thrilled for just one reason. And thats the Lounge album. He's the only Director who's so much passionate about Lounge music that he releases a 2 cd version everytime his movie releases, one being Lounge Cd, while the other being Club cd. With Dus Kahaniyaan he surpasses his feat by releasing 3 cd album, adding a Poems cd by Gulzar along with his usual. Kaante and Zinda are one of my favorite albums till date. Will Dus Kahaniyaan get in the favorite list. Lets find out...

The album kicks off with the title song "Dus". Not one of the best title songs, but not a bad one either. The Cirque De Soleilish start is excellent. But then the song meanders into a usual techno song. However being the title song, it'll get more publicity. When one says Dus, I'll easily remember "Dus bahane karke le gaya dil" than this one.

"Jaaniye" has a retro touch to it, something like Aap jaisa koi from Qurbani. But not as great or memorable as that song. A passable song. This is supposed to be a lounge cd, but so far these two songs don't fit in that category.

Now we get to the best song of this album, "Aaja Soniye". Gourov Dasgupta excels big time in this song. Right from the start he sets the mood right. The saxophone mellows the mood even more. Sudhanshu Pandey sounds very dreamy. Newcomer Shweta Vijay voice is very enigmatic..a perfect lounge song. I feel like I am standing in the beach and surrounded by no one and the sun has just set. Its just a flowing song.." lambi lambi bailon se " line is mesmerizing. The 2nd interlude is made interesting with addition of hindi folk tune.

These days any Hindi album is incomplete without a punjabi-influenced song. And so is this one, with Mika coming back after a very successful "Mauja Mauja" from Jab we met. While he rocked the dance floor with that one, here in "Nach le Soniye" he's very ordinary. This song just fails to register. And can anyone explain why is this in a Lounge album ?

Now we get to the second best song of this album, "O Mahiya". Shweta Vijay's digitized voice makes the song grooooovy. KK does a neat job as always. The beats and the arrangement are perfectly handled here and would be an awesome song for the dance floor.

"Mushkil kushaa" by Kshitij Tare is what "Maula" by Vinod Rathod in Zinda was, however not as effective in rendering emotions as the former. This was kinda old fashioned. Kshitij's voice sounds very fresh and he whole heartedly sings the mediocre song. Why did Bappa lahiri compose a track in the first place.

Next song is "Vichodeya Ne" by Shaqat Ali Khan. Well..what can I say about this song..Nothing !! as I didnt understand any word of it. It sounded like "Yaar Mangiyasi" from Kaante at places. Must be a background song. I'll let it go to background then. With "Kaala Peela" Shaqat elevates himself both as a singer and a composer. The song is enticing with a smooth beats and heart warming rendering by Shaqat himself. Once again didnt understand a word other than Kaala peela thola kya..ram raheem, mola...but still listened fully..I guess its the power of music. My third favorite song from this album.

"Bin Tum" has Anand Raj Anand taking over music director's chair. Considering the amount of love songs which have released lately like in Saawariya, Om shanti om, Jab we met, this one pales. This is a very good love song with nice lyrics but belongs to late 90s or early 2000's. The same is the story with "Bhula Diya". Can u believe Anand Raj Anand has scored for 62 movies so far. I expected songs like "Kaante", "Sandhya" which was once my favorite soundtrack for a while, and "Musafir". But the 2 songs turn out to be pretty mediocre. Indiafm says this sad track is entertaining. Well if its entertaining then its failed to be sad, which means its failed the purpose,didn't it?

The Poems CD by Gulzar is top notch. Every actor gets to recite one poem. I especially loved Anupam Kher's recital of "Bauchaar". All the poems carry some lilting background music with them. When you listen to most of them you feel like you are in an island or something. You can start with the first poem and get totally lost in the magical words and music until you realize that the CD is already over. All in all a great CD.

With the festive season coming, Dus Kahaniyaan might not find that many takers at the onset, but once things settle down people might take notice of this album. Its packed with way too many songs with remixes in Club CD. But sadly only 3 - 4 songs stand out, "Aaja Soniye", "O Mahiya", "Kaala Peela" and probably "Jaaniye". Others are not that much attention grabbers. But the Poems CD makes this entire 3 CD collection a special one by giving it variety.