Wajid does a surprisingly good job in singing the bubbly Mukhtasar that, for some inexplicable reason, sounds a lot like London Paris New York’s title song! Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s Allah jaane is predictable, but is wonderfully serene and pleasant! Jabse mere dil ko‘s guitar and retro outlook is very appealing, as is Sonu and Sunidhi’s vocals. The techno qawali Humse pyaar kar le tu is too derivative to work, while That’s all I really wanna do‘s nursery rhyme-like tune is plain annoying. But for these two songs, Teri Meri Kahaani is a fairly competent effort from Sajid and Wajid!
Keywords: Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Sajid Wajid, Teri Meri Kahaani
Maare re is noisy, but works well as something loud and jolly at the stadium. Urmila Dhangar’s Marathi mix in Mala jau de is wonderfully orchestrated; Pritam chooses his sounds very well to accentuate the fun element. The kids chorus in Ae mere mann is a beautiful highlight, while Shyamantan Das confidently leads the vocals. Priyani Vani Pandit’s vaudevillian Good night makes for a superbly conjured lullaby, while Rusy’s theme, using the same tune, retains the dreamy sound to great effect! Shaan does a superb job with his infectious vocals in the Kishore Kumar’ish title song. Fantastic ride, this Ferrari!
Keywords: Pritam, Sharman Joshi, Ferrari Ki Sawaari
Chokra jawan, Title song, Aafaton ke parindey & Pareshaan – Ishaqzaade (Hindi – Amit Trivedi)
The soundtrack of the season! If Chokra jawaan showcases Vishal Dadlani’s vocal prowess (the part where he makes Sunidhi go ‘Kya gata hai, kya gata hai is super, in particular), Aafaton ke parindey’s dubstep-inspired sound is brilliantly catchy, even as a Sukhwinder Singh-sounding Divya Kumar and Suraj Jagan lend fantastic support, vocally. The title song rocks in the choice of instruments, while Pareshaan is the soundtrack’s scintillating highlight, along with the find of the season – singer Shalmali Kholgade.
Ivaluga imsai & Mokka manusha – Kalakalappu (Tamil – Vijay Ebenezer)
Kalakalappu is one of the most fun soundtracks in Tamil, in recent times. Despite the terrible pronunciation in Ivaluga imsai, the tune and lyrics make it a compellingly catchy listen. Mokka manusha, on the other hand is an out-and-out fun number that is mindbogglingly catchy and dance-worthy. The song is superbly sung by Steeve Vatz A.K.A Roky and particularly Suchitra!
Ooraana oorukkula, Yenna solla & Po po po – Manam Kothi Paravai (Tamil – D.Imman)
A surprisingly strong offering from D.Imman, who has always been content with fiddling the sidelines. The tunes he puts together in this soundtrack and the way he builds on the music are stunning, to say the least. The tunes are strongly folk’ish, but the music is considerably modern and together they make up for a wonderful listen!
Pani da rang – Vicky Donor (Hindi – Rochak Kohli and Ayushmann Khurana)
The song of the season, quite literally. Everything about this song just works seamlessly – the lyrics in Punjabi, the vocals by Ayushmann and the music by the singer/actor and Rochak Kohli. What a wonderful debut!
Dil se – Gabbar Singh (Telugu – Devi Sri Prasad)
Karthik’s vocals and Devi’s melody, albeit very derivative, works to stand out in a largely disappointing soundtrack.
Cuckoo, Kickin in, Shady, Take back, Trespassing & Underneath – Trespassing (Adam Lambert)
Lambert offers a confident sophomore album with sounds influenced by 90s electronica and draws comparisons from artists like George Michael and Robbie Williams. Shady is almost both those artists merged in one song, for example. Lambert also shows off his impressive vocals in songs like Underneath.
Mann kunto maula & Zihale miskin – Rang (Amaan Ali Khan & Ayaan Ali Khan)
Rang is an interesting effort that mixes Amaan and Ayaan’s sonorous sarod sound with lilting qawwal by Sultan Niyazi and Party. Mann kunto and Zihale miskin, in particular, stand out with their lovely tunes.
Zindagi kah rahi hai – Qasam Se Qasam Se (Hindi – Shailendra & Sayanti)
For a soundtrack launched by Salman Khan, and has 10 original songs, this has hardly been noticed. That’s perhaps because only one song stands out – Zindagi kah rahi hai, sung by Mohit Chauhan. It’s a nice, breezy song accentuated by the choice of singer and the use of saxophone, to very good effect.
Oru kural, Vaanthaye & Theme music – Vazhakku Enn 18/9 (Tamil – Guitar R Prasanna)
This 3 track list actually is the entire soundtrack of the much-lauded film by Balaji Shaktivel. Guitar Prasanna makes his debut as the film’s composer, but it a a mighty unusual debut. The 2 songs are actually without any discernible music and is actually just 2 haunting tunes sung like an unplugged version by Karthik and Dhandapani, respectively. The theme reuses Oru kural’s main theme with Prasanna’s guitar playing the base. Very interesting debut, this!
Ranga Rao’s popular yesteryear song from Bahaddur Gandu gets a funky, funny remix in Oorige nee (Muthinantha maatondu gottenamma); Upendra goes a good job in singing it in his usual style, along with Sunitha Boparaj. Ambika seems a lot like the popular MGR number from Idhayakkani, Inbame, but uses a typical 80s Hindi song background – pleasant number. Ju jumka too is very 90s Bollywood’ish – catchy, but largely templatized. Oo la la is like a bad Anand Raj Anand number, but Parijatha offers the best of the soundtrack – a gorgeous melody, wonderfully orchestrated. Good masala music by Harikrishna.
Chinta ta ta shamelessly – and without any credit – rips off MM Kreem’s Telugu original from the film’s original, Vikramarkudu. If it sounds catchy, don’t credit Sajid Wajid for it. Dhadhang dhang and Chammak challo bring back the pointless 90s masala music we had gladly gotten over, while Aa re mauls the catchy cue it picks from Vidyasagar’s Tamil original. Tera ishq is the only song that has an innate charm, with foot-tapping rhythms to match. Chandaniya is sleep-inducing, as it should be, while Rowdy Mix makes a silly mish-mash of Salman-style dialogs. Rowdy, criminal (plagiarism) and meddlesome music.
Keywords: Sajid-Wajid, MM Keeravani, MM Kreem, Maragadhamani, Rowdy Rathore, Vikramarkudu
Bharat mata ki jai, with 6 singers, is an enthusiastically raucous package with biting sarcasm in its lyrics, by Dibakar himself. Imported kamariya is not very different tune-wise, but this one doesn’t register. The utopian Morcha works for Vishal’s lyrics and the anthemic tune. The soundtrack’s highlights are Duaa and Khudaaya – the former, an ambient melody with towering lead vocals by Nandini Srikar, and the latter, a serene tune, led by Shekhar, lovely lyrics by Neelesh Mishra and mesmerizing orchestration and tune changes. Vishnu Sahasranamam is treated with adequate respect. Shanghai is a solid effort from Vishal and Shekhar!
Poondamalli, despite LR Eswari’s post-Kalasala presence, falls flat with a tune that hardly works and even the music is ho-hum. Kelamale is trademark Thaman – auto-tuned to perfection and a mighty pleasant, breezy tune! The unplugged version too is a wonderful listen, with Thaman replacing Aalaap Raju. Kaalangal, with Javed Ali and Chinmayi’s vocals is a gorgeous tune too, with a mildly melancholic feel, almost Rahmanish music, particularly in the interludes, and involving lyrics by Madhan. The theme music barely passes muster and seems perfunctory. Short, tuneful soundtrack by Thaman who gets the melodies right and the sole kuthu wrong.
Asathum azhagu flows with a simplistic, faux-rustic tune and the background music holds a lot of appeal. Yeno en idhayam, with tantalizing sax, works as a lovely pop ballad, while Yanakkullae offers something very similar – simple, sing-along’ish pop. Yele yepulla‘s lively tune is a winner – particularly the variations for anupallavi and charanam. Yethu yethu, unfortunately, is too common-place for its foot-tapping appeal, despite some snazzy guitar and interesting lyrics. Yakkai suttrum, with its Tamil TV serial title song’ish appeal holds limited interest. Raattinam is hardly representative of the promise Manu showed in his earlier soundtracks like Kavya’s Diary.
Gangster, beyond the glitzy sound, is annoyingly repetitive and familiar; not to forget the downright silly lyrics. Yedho mayakkam is no different – the template is shockingly stale, with Thirumoorthy’s nadaswaram offering the sole respite. Unakkulle mirugam adds to the steadily escalating woes, but the soundtrack finds its mooring wonderfully in two tracks – Madurai ponnu, the Ottagatha Kattiko 2.0 version that morphs beautifully into a very-Yuvan’ish world music mix and Shweta Pandit’s stunningly serene Idhayam, a Rajaesque melody in a Yuvan package, with magical tabla usage! Yuvan salvages Billa 2’s heavily stylized music only because of these two songs!
Chill out and Kicko gicko are shockingly and irritatingly trite in every conceivable way. Cinderella seems to be learning from the triteness of the earlier two tracks and makes a reasonably smart balance between its lyrics and a nice, free-flowing tune. Yegiri pove too is a competent combination of an interesting tune and more importantly, grand background music. The highlight of the soundtrack is definitely Nee choopule! Haricharan and Chitra work superbly together in this gorgeous tune and the GV Prakash’s vibrant imagination is on display in the choice of backgrounds. Largely tepid and run-of-the-mill soundtrack but for Nee choopule.
