Am back, this time with some choice Tusshar Kapoor specials! *mwaaahahahahahaa .. maniacal Mogambo-style evil laugh* What is it about this guy that makes it impossible to say his name without a dig or potshot about him in the next sentence? Loads of Tusshar bashing follows but lets begin on a more positive note :)

(Music links on musicindiaonline.com)

1. Jhankaar Beats (Vishal-Shekhar) — ‘Lots of masti, lots of timepass, lots of dhamaal!‘ A soundtrack that totally appealed to me, although i’ll admit, part of it was the intentional RD Burman feel. (All hail the loRD!) Good melodies, wonderful arrangements, due importance to individual instruments, spirited singing, all come together to create an album with a whole lot of pizzazz! I’ll listen to all the songs happily, but my picks for the day are ‘jhankaar‘, ‘jab kabhi‘, ‘tera muskuraana‘ and ‘suno na‘.
   • ‘Jhankaar‘ is totally RD-ish, singing wise too. A lot of the musicians who played in this song were from RD’s troupe, I believe and Sudesh Bhosle does a good job of imitating RD’s singing style. Bursting with enthusiasm, its a very obvious ode to the ‘Monica o my darling‘ type stuff from the 70s. Boy the bass guitaring brings back such fond memories of Pancham! *sighh*

   • Good electric guitar work once again in ‘jab kabhi‘ and does Kay Kay know how to hit high notes when he sings, or what!

   • ‘Tera muskuraana‘ — Heavy on the synthesizer, this racy, breezy song grows on you after a couple of listens. Reminiscent of the electronica-inspired but also bass-heavy numbers that RD created in the mid to late 80s.

   • I love ‘suno na‘. Don’t ask me why, I just do. Wonderful electric guitar work and minimal use of instruments, unlike the noise that dominates today. Plus i’ve lately started to really like Shaan’s voice a lot and he sings this song well, so maybe that has something to do with it.

   <digression rant> — When I say this soundtrack appeals to me cos of the RD factor, let me get on the soapbox and state that I think baloney like Dil Vil Pyaar Vyaar (which simply took RD tunes, changed the interludes a little, that too for the worse and had them resung by today’s singers) is not what I consider to be music, forget an ode to RD. The music of Jhankaar Beats in that sense captures the essence of Pancham in a much better way. As a movie too it’s pretty entertaining, although not what you would call a ‘family’ film! Debut director Sujoy Ghosh does a good job. Plus Sanjay Suri and Rahul Bose.. *sigh* okay, i’ll shuttup now :) To continue rant, people like Anant Mahadevan (the perpetrator of the DVPV atrocity) just tried to ride the RD popularity wave and make a quick buck. Pancham-spirit, my foot! <end rant>

2. Joggers Park (Tabun Sutradhar) — ‘Badee nazuk hai‘ is regular Jagjit Singh fare. I know I ought to gush over it as a loyal JS fan, but its not one of his better songs, so nah. There’s a kinda annoying synth-chorus that could have been done without. The lyrics are nice in parts though, so one could give it a listen. ‘Ishq hota nahin‘ by Adnan Sami is my pick from this album. A semi-depressing song that rises above the ordinary solely on the basis of Sami’s singing. There’s something about this guy — its not just his voice (which is kinda raw), nor his pronunciations (which range from decent to comical to atrocious) but the fact that he sings so completely dil se.. like he really feels what the song says. That spirit, the feeling that the person is really into the music/song he’s creating, that’s what makes Sami click for me!

   Side note — This Tabun Sutradhar is the guy who came out with a CD called ‘Soft Instrumentals of R D Burman’ some time ago, a CD that is most commonly heard playing in the background in a typical desi restaurant in the US :)

3. Kuchh To Hai (Anu Malik) — A baaaaad remake of I Know What You Did Last Summer starring Tusshar Kapoor (he’s the hero not the evil monster killer, although you could easily be confused :| ). My pick from the movie, ‘dil ding dong ding bole‘. The song is reasonably catchy and Sunidhi seems like she’s having so much fun! So if you can block out the image of Tusshar dancing to it, it can click for you!

4. Kyaa Dil Ne Kahaa (Himesh Reshammiya) — One of *the* worst movies of all time. Made me develop new found appreciation for Janasheen (which was my prior ‘worst movie’ status flick). My friends are of the opinion that I have a secret crush on Tusshar Kapoor (since I insist on seeing every movie of his). I am of the opinion that some healthy self-loathing never hurt anyone :| On to the song ‘nikamma kiya is dil ne‘ — a dhinchak hit category song, peppy and fast, although noisy at times (I *don’t* like the English bits), but generally very catchy. Shaan and Sanjeevani (who shone in Kareeb) sing in both versions.

Realization at the end of review — I watch a lot of really bad movies. Some by choice, that too. Tsk tsk.

So here’s some reviews, comments, digs, complaints, rants and judgmental opinions about an arbitrary selection of songs and soundtracks that have been in the news or have simply caught my eye. I’ve randomly reviewed music from my ’2003′ folder, so a lot of this stuff is more than a year old. If you’re one of those Hindi film music listeners who rushes to the nearest music store (or its .com equivalent for us ‘phoren’ log) when a new album is released, a majority of this is old news for you.

A cautionary note — a number of the songs mentioned here fall in, what I call, the ‘dhinchak‘ category, the generally catchy, not much long term value, but good timepass ‘enjoy-now-forget-tomorrow’ type stuff. So if, upon reading this review, you expect superlative music, you are sure to be sorely disappointed.

Enough with the disclaimers, on to the rants! (Music links on musicindiaonline.com)

1. Chalte Chalte (Jatin Lalit, Aadesh Shrivastava) — The album is kinda generic romantic, standard Jatin-Lalit fare. Aadesh Shrivastava’s ‘layi vi na gayi‘ stands out for me though. I think its probably in raaga Puriyadhanashri, although not sure. Even though I don’t fully understand the lyrics, the song conveys the pain of a broken heart beautifully. I think its the rawness of Sukhwinder Singh’s voice that somehow always does it for me. Think the lyrics translate to something like ‘our relationship broke apart like a star falling from the sky’ .. Very nicely sung.

2. Chameli (Sandesh Shandilya) — If you love Sunidhi Chauhan’s voice (like I do) then this is the soundtrack for you cos she’s in all 6 songs. This gal can hit supersonic notes and make it seem as easy as .. um .. eating ice cream. (I couldn’t think of a better analogy :|) ‘Bhaage re mann‘ has a beautiful melody and some wonderful flute interludes. The song has a very easygoing and relaxing feel, kinda like a babbling brook or flowing river. ‘Jaane‘ is again a lovely song — great saxophone bits and Udit Narayan does full justice to it. Also a very tough song to sing, IMO. Its two variations ‘bheegi hui koi‘ and ‘jaane kyon humko‘ are nice as well. Overall, Chameli is a softer, breezy, jazz-ish album.

3. Chhal (Viju Shah) — Viju Shah creates music only once in a while, but when he does he always reminds us why he was the original god of the synthesizer, much much before A R Rahman happened. As I always say, if you want synthesized songs that don’t sound synthetic, then VS is the man for you. Two songs stand out in this soundtrack —
   • ‘dil jhan jhanaale jaan-e-jaana‘ with Asha Bhosle’s sultry vocals working very well in tandem with a dark husky uncredited voice. The arrangements are very reminiscent of Tridev, especially like the ‘gali gali mein phirta hai‘ number from it.

   • ‘chup chaap‘ — Simple melody, minimal use of the synth, and a simple heartbeat-like rhythm pattern make this song a winner for me! I like how the rhythm goes from being played on the electronic drums when Shaan sings to the tabla when Sadhna Sargam hums the ‘aa aa aaa’ portion (which is my favorite part of the song). And I love the prelude saxophone in the Sadhna Sargam solo version! Just an overall sweet romantic number.

4. Chura Liya Hai Tumne (Himesh Reshammiya) — A movie that was supposedly a remake of The Truth About Charlie (which in turn was a remake of Charade, the Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn flick). The things that stay in your head after you watch the movie — Esha Deol’s acting ‘skills’ that make you feel a compulsive need to boil yourself in oil (Yes, I have seen this movie, so sue me) and the superhit dhinchak number — ‘mohabbat hai mirchi‘, a song that is a must-hear just so you can go ‘oh that song, yes i’ve heard it’. Oh, and while I like Shaan’s singing why oh why does he have to roll his Rs when he goes ‘mirrrrchi‘ Most annoying! Grr.

That completes the C movies. Ah, you didn’t think there was a method to my madness, did you? :)

I have been getting gentle and not-so-gentle reminders from people who insist I will ‘lose readership’ if I don’t blog soon. Was very gratified to know I have readership to begin with! Thankoo thankoo! *graciously bows to all readers* And thank you Ekta, Saurabh, iii, Karthik and Madhav for the motivation! :)

A friend recently asked me to review and suggest some worthwhile Hindi film music to listen to from the past year. Apparently, in her words, ‘You listen to all the crap in the world anyway, so how about filtering some of the better stuff and reviewing it, so I know what to listen and what to avoid’. Hmpfh, crap she says. Another friend suggested that I write a music album review when I mentioned that I couldn’t think of what to blog. ‘You can’t seem to stop talking about music anyway, so why not blog about it?’ he goes. With friends like this.. tsk tsk.

But it did get me thinking. How is it that I have just *one* measly blog about music until now? What a sacrilege! (cut to song playing in background – yeh kya hua, kaise hua, kab hua, kyon hua.. etc etc) So I’ve set out to remedy that. Of course, once I got started, my blog soon looked like a 500 page manuscript, so in the interest of everyone’s sanity, the actual reviews shall follow in subsequent blog posts. Consider yourself duly warned :)

It’s interesting how some songs stay in our head more than others. Not for their musical merit but for the simple memories one associates with the song. Or sometimes.. how the meaningfulness of the song increases when one personally experiences the feelings that the poet is talking about. Once we relate to the song on a personal level rather than on a musical alone, the song becomes that much closer to our heart. We just dont just listen to the song, we feel it..

Was revisiting one such song today, after many months.. Gulzar’s evocative lyrics set to a simple and beautiful melody by R D Burman. The questions that life throws at us, ever so innocently.. and the storm of emotions and thoughts that we pass through as a result of it..

Tujhse naraaz nahin zindagi hairaan hoon main
Tere masoom sawaalon se pareshaan hoon main

jeene ke liye socha hi nahin, dard sambhaalne honge
muskuraayen to, muskuraane ke karz utaarne honge
muskuraaooN kabhi to lagtaa hai
jaise honTon pe karz rakhhaa hai

aaj agar bhar aai hain, boondein baras jaayengii
kal kyaa pataa inke liye aankhen taras jaayengii
jaane kab ghum hua kahaan khoya
ek aansoo chhupaake rakhaa thaa

zindagi tere gham ne hamein rishte naye samjhaaye
mile jo hamein dhoop mein mile chhaon ke thanDe saaye..

Film: Masoom (1982); Singer(s): Lata Mangeshkar, Anup Ghoshal; Lyrics: Gulzar; Music: R D Burman

When I smile, I feel the smile weigh on my lips like a debt. When the tears flow, I don’t stop them, for my eyes might crave for those very tears tomorrow. Eloquent words that tug at our heartstrings.. This song will always have a special place in my heart.