Tashan - Da Moochik Revue

Last year the trailers of Tashan showed up in theaters and it seemed to be in the lines of Western gangster movies genre. The starcast and their getups were interesting. The roaring chorus chant in the background was full of energy and attitude. Naturally expectations were sky high for this album, adding to the fact that this was also from Yash Raj Films banner. Also VS have been giving decent hits in recent years. They also keep getting offers from big banners, which is good for them as they get to showcase their talent to a broader audience. Now having said all that, do they deliver in this album ? Does it have the expected ishtyle ? Lets see...

Dil Haara - I have to applaud VS for this amazing composition. From the promos the incredibly catchy chorus chant after a rocking guitar intro which goes like "Ooooooo Wo-Ho" marks the entry to this song. Looking at the setting of the song and the costumes, I thought this would be a total hardcore Rock song. But to my pleasant surprise this turned out to be a song with heart and a lot of depth taken to a different dimension by brilliant rendition by Sukhwinder Singh. Both the antaras and pallavis are top notch in this song and the supporting background music is very fresh and of high quality. The way the song ends in that high tempo crazy crescendo, one can't help but to jump out from the chair or increase the volume in the car and get into a state of complete madness. In the end I'm sure people will keep singing in their head "Dil haara re...dil haara haara dil haara haara...oh yaara re..."

Chaliya - This song takes off in a Hip hopishtyle mixed with Bhojpuri lyrics which go like "Naseela Naseela". It actually sounded pretty cool for me and reminded me of Abhishek Bachchan singing that type in some movie. The overall pattern of the song is on the lines of one of the songs from Cash, forgot which one. This song is tailor made for Sunidhi Chauhan as she is one of the few singers who can vary her voice to match the situations, like here she easily changes from a sensual start to a fun and frolic song. Overall a moderately enjoyable song which will have immense appeal on screen with smokin hot Kareena flaunting her Sex-pack Abs.

Dil Dance Maare - You want to know why this album is unique, listen to this song. An out and out fun song which I havn't heard in a while in Bollywood. A Bhojpuri folk song with exteremely funny English lyrics sung spiritedly by Sukhwinder, Udit and Sunidhi. The orchestration provided for this song by VS is fulltoo pumped up which can set the dance floor on fire. Regardless of how the visuals are going to be for this song, its a total entertainer. How did Vishal come up with such a lyrics? Must have been in a state of euphoria or something..I mean check this out "Hai cast of my feet Jo lamwa kare hai zalim beat" Lolzz...and then "Kadakti heat mein ban ja deet Nainan se nain mila re". I'm telling you...its insanely lovable lyrics...Fantastic composition !!! Mein very happy in my heart as my dil dance maare re...

Falak Tak - After some unusual songs we come to hear something which we all instantly love..a simple innocent melody. Udit Narayan is back after a long hiatus as this song totally belongs to him. If its a Yash Raj Banner we got to have a romantic song, and so do we with Falak Tak. Apart from the vocals by Udit and Mahalaxmi iyer, the accompanying guitar and basslines are magnificent. I'm sure this will be the favorite song for many because of it uncomplicated and easy-on-ears tune. However it doesn't stand up to the other melody from a flop movie by YRF last year, Bol na halke halke. Somehow I think when it comes to melodies its just two people who stand out - AR Rahman and Shankar Ehsaan Loy. And the rest, including VS, try to get there, but just can't...atleast till now.

Tashan Mein - The last and phinal song of the album. Once again VS tried to bring out a song with different flavor, but I guess this time they went just a little overboard. The starting portion is cool as it sounds a bit Cowboyish. But then as the song proceeds, the excitement subsides and gets to a point where the line Tashan Mein seems too repetetive. There seems to be no continuity in the tune. If thats what was in their mind, then they achieved it. I wondered what Rahet was doing in this rock based song, but it made sense when I heard some alaps and Classical singing. But overall I'm not too impressed with this song. My least favorite from the album.

We also get to hear brief intros from each of the characters talking about tashans. I just heard it once and thought Bhaiyyaji's and Bachchan Pande's Tashan were the most interesting ones.

There were times when YRF banner came up with beautiful soundtracks with lot of songs, and mainly superhit songs. Its been missing for quite a while. And even in this album, barring two super cool songs Dil Haara and Dil Dance Maare, the rest are OK. Falak Tak might be included in good songs list, but the other two are mediocre. Vishal Sekhar are undoubtedly good composers but they have their strengths and weaknesses. Their songs are cool, trendy, with nice orchestration, but not consistent enough. And we don't expect that for Yash Raj movies.

My last aur Phinal word- moochik acha tha, par thoda more acha ho saktha tha. Nevertheless a honest attempt at creating a hatke album, VS almost had a winner, almost....

Rating -

Om Shanti Om - Music review

For my view on OSO movie click here. For music review, read on..

Friday's are the best days of anyone's life. I don't have to explain why. But one of the factors surely would be new movies and music which get released. In short entertainment unlimited. So what do we have in store this friday. None other than the Numero Uno star Shahrukh khan's Om Shanti Om music album. The one which everyone have been waiting for both in terms of movie and music. Farah Khan created magic with Main hoon na. Even the songs were fabulous. Good work by Anu Malik. Will the same repeat with Om Shanti Om ?? Will the soundtrack find equal success as MHN or more than that ?? Before I go into reviewing each and every song, I have to tell you that Indiafm has hyped the album a bit too much. I don't know how many times they heard the songs before coming to the conclusion they came to.

'Ajab Si' gives a subtle start to the album. Its a nice melody, although not as lilting and beautiful like Kabhi alvida na kehna's title or Main Hoon na's title track. The flute interlude which comes after the mukhda is very soulful. KK as usual is great in this song. But other than that I didnt find anything special in this song. Needs more listenings.

Moving on...next track is the more popular one 'Dard-e-disco', thanks to SRK who finally thought...enough is enough...every small bacha coming to bollywood is showing off their body and i'm just crying or romancing...lemme show the Manly side of myself :)..the song starts off surprisingly with the same tune as " De de pyar de pyar de pyar de re...humein pyar de " from Sharabi. And then Sukhwinder catches on..Once again not a great track. If it wasnt for SRK, I would just have passed on this song. I thought Kaal Dhamaal was a better item song. The video looks promising though, so we never know..in the theater this song might be rocking.

Now we come to my favorite song of the album 'Deewangi Deewangi'. A very catchy song, it keeps changing genres throughout the song. One time you hear bhangra beats and then you hear qawali. And this is the song which features the words Om Shanti Om. Shaan and Udit have sung very well and the whole arrangement gives a joyous celebration feel to it. This would be the song I'll wait to watch on the big screen ( coz i believe there's also Salman and Saif in this song )...I wanna see what would be the reaction in the crowd when SRK goes "All the hot girls put your hands up and say ...Om Shanti Om "...

Next song 'Main agar kahoon' starts with the bells/crystal tune which comes in the background of the first trailor, a beautiful start which is then followed by a mediocre tune quite effortlessly sung by Sonu Nigam. It felt like Vishal Sekhar wanted to give a retro melody with contemporary feel and ended up giving a song. Once again when related to Kal ho na ho or any other SRK's similar type songs, this one falls behind.

"Jag soona soona lage" starts off with the opening tune of Main agar kahoon. Must be a situational sad song which probably would go on in the background. Rahet Fateh ali khan did a wonderful job in Bol na halke halke from JBJ. And he renders beautifully in this one also. This has to be one of the well composed songs of the album. I've started luving this song more after repeated listenings.

"Dhoom tana" is a tailor made song for Madhuri or Sridevi. This song belongs to the 80s style. Nothing great again about this song, has a heard before tune. Abhijit sings the same way, be it any song. Instead VS should have used Udit...remember Kaike paan banaras waala...what energy he put into that song..I don't see that here. Passable song.

Dastaan-E-OSO is the theme song, where we get to hear the kahani of Om shanti Om..I feel Shaan is a misfit in this song..the words seem like its all about revenge and reunion, while his voice aint that powerful. But in the end the song conveys the message it was supposed to. This must be the first heavy orchestration done by V-S. May be this was the reason Farah wanted ARR to compose music...he would have broken all boundaries with this song.

Then come all the remix versions of which Dard-e-disco and Deewangi remix versions stand out.
The album ends with the beautiful Om Shanti Om theme music. For people who wanna burn cds of this album, my suggestion would be to put this theme music as the first track. Very nice and mellifluous tune. In future when anyone talks about OSO, people would relate to this tune.

So there you go...thats my impression of Om Shanti Om's soundtrack. I had lot of expectations which were not completely met. If ARR or Shankar ehsaan loy had composed the music, they would have taken it to a different level with lot of experimentation. The problem with V-S is their inconsistency. Some songs are very good while some are mediocre. And you don't want mediocre songs for big banner movies like Om Shanti Om. Nevertheless its gonna be a hit album, if not superhit, and I am still excited to watch the movie featuring 70s Elvis styled Shahrukh and the pretty Deepika, thanks to the colorful and vibrant promos.