Arrival of celebrity heirs to the film world is always a matter of much fanfare, more so in Bollywood. The latest such kid-in-the-block is veteran producer Vashu Bhagnani’s son Jackky Bhagnani whose debut movie Kal Kissne Dekha‘s release is just round the corner. To ensure that nothing was left wanting in terms of publicity, Vashu chose the biggest possible venue for the music launch of the movie, the 54th Annual Filmfare awards. Here is Music Aloud’s take on the album.
Aalam Guzarne Ko
Except for the ghatam sequence in the middle and Suzanne D’mello aka Suzie Q’s westernised throaty humming at the same time, Aalam Guzarne Ko is your typical Bollywood song of the 90s. Nevertheless Sajid-Wajid have done a good job of arranging the song, bringing in a breezy feel to it. And when you have Sonu Nigam doing the vocals, there is not much that can go wrong on that front. On the whole, a good composition evoking, in parts, a sense of nostalgia and in other, a sense of déjà vu.
Soniye Billori
Yet another Punjabi-disco song to add to the exponentially growing list of Bollywood songs in that genre! And for the same reason, I didn’t find this song with slight Arabesque flavour very impressive. Sonu does justice to the rendition however, assisted by Suzie Q. The club mix doesn’t succeed in doing much of a facelift either.
Aasmaan Jhuk Gaya
A romantic song with dark overtones. I had initial ideas that this song might be subject to a sensual picturisation but the orchestration as the song progressed didn’t quite give that impression. Whatever the picturisation be, the song is an engaging one, rendered very well by Shaan and Shreya Ghoshal. The choral segment in the second interlude is especially impressive.
Jashn Hai Josh Hai
Neeraj Sridhar seems to be a regular feature in almost every Hindi movie of late, singing for every music director barring A R Rahman. And so it is that Neeraj shares the microphone with Alisha Chinai in this disco song. The Arabic instrumentation and tune gives the song an overall Sufi touch. Especially the interludes, devoid of the modern beats sound very much Sufi. The stringed instrument, which I believe is the Oud, has been employed very well. Alisha Chinai’s voice is well suited for songs of this type, and she pulls it off in style.
Tere Bina Lagta Nahi
Of late it has become a sort of necessity that music directors themselves sing a couple of their songs in the movie. Sajid and Wajid used to work in the chorus department during their initial days, but last year Wajid decided to jump into the mainstream playback singing bandwagon. And I should say he has done a decent job in this solo. The rendition style and the general orchestration of the song would have one thinking that this is from some Pakistani band.
Bin Tere Mar Javan Main
A classical song having Punjabi lyrics. A rather strange combo I would imagine. Even stranger is the fact that the song is just over one minute long. But in that one minute Shreya Ghoshal does manage to capture your attention with her superior singing skills. Too bad its so short. Not everyday that you get to hear a proper classical song in a Bollywood soundtrack. Of course this year there was Bhor Bhayi in Dilli 6 but even that was only over three minutes.
Kal Kissne Dekha
Another trip down the memory lane, this time with a song reminiscent of the 80s disco numbers. From the heroic elements in the instrumentation, this definitely seems to be the song that will see the entry of Jackky. Shaan always succeeds in lending this commanding effect when singing such songs, which was seen with songs like Don. Shreya does the chorus part. The effect is quite the same in this song as well. On the flipside, I don’t understand why the music directors find it necessary to add rap to every such fast song. This song could have managed quite well without the rap by Bob. But Sajid and Wajid felt otherwise. The club mix is again a bummer when compared to the original.
A third version of the song, namely the romantic version, has Wajid getting behind the mike for the second time. With the kind of percussion (conga if I am not mistaken) and the guitar, this song could very well pass off for an R D Burman comp!! And Wajid has tried to modify his voice to make it Kishore-like and has ended up Kumar Sanu-like!! The singing has been good nevertheless.
Sajid-Wajid may not be the best music directors in town, but they have put forth their best efforts in Kal Kissne Dekha and have ensured that if anyone spoils Jackky’s debut its definitely not going to be them! Now whether Jackky does indeed display the prowess to make all the efforts put in by papa Bhagnani worthwhile, let us wait and see. After all, kal kissne dekha..!!
