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How does one explain ICICI’s theme tune sprinkled all over the title song? This one, along with Samjho ho hi gaya are best left in the film than the soundtrack. Karunya makes an impressive debut in the catchy, calypso-tinged Aane chaar aane. Pal pal borrows liberally from Dr Hook’s ‘When you’re in love with a beautiful woman’, long after Bappi’Da and Anu’ji have done. Finally, Shantanu and lyricist Swanand Kirkire leave their stamp on Bande Mein Tha Dum, the Rahman-styled recycle of Jagriti’s Aao bachcho. A pat on the back for this. And one tight slap for lifting Dr Hook!

Keywords: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Shantanu Moitra, Vidya Balan

The neat synth opening of Maana madura gets into a routine rhythm and tune. Gangai Amaran returns with his vocals in Oppuraane, a rather bland track. Money money has a very catchy rhythm loop and a simple hummable tune. The general Tamil-lessness of Anushka’s voice adds to the catchy groove! Kunal Ganjawala and Shreya have a blast in Kattikko, laced with middle-eastern interludes and phrases rivaling Rahman’s innovations. Thithikira vayasu tries hard to be interesting but sounds forced, at best. The theme is adequately haunting with the usual thematic ingredients. Barring two Yuvan’ishly cool tracks, the overall soundtrack is predictable.

Keywords: Vishal, Reema Sen, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Shreya Reddy

The first thing that strikes you about the soundtrack of By2 is the consistently melodious sound, with impressive orchestration! Unnai paartha (and the similarly tuned Poovin madiyil) is the pick of the lot. Kannada imports Chaitra Gopinath and Dwarki Raghavan (also the film’s Director) impress in Nenjil enna, guest-composed by SP Venkatesh. Chaitra also does a neat job in En kaalgal. The slower Azhaga azhaga & Roja poovin gain considerably from the vocal sync between Hariharan and Sadhna Sargam. Vijay Antony truly breaks the tradition & manages to give us an interesting soundtrack in this film with just 2 characters.

Keywords: Vijay Antony, Dwarki Raghavan, By 2

Right from the turn of events at Gopika’s wedding in the beginning, Kanaakanden breaks lot of conventions. The intimacy between the lead pair is sparkling fresh and rivals any Maniratnam screen couple. Gopika in particular, with zero skin show, heralds the new-age, B-town (Trichy?) woman who is outspoken and doesn’t twitch at the premarital jamboree she has with Srikanth, her friend-turned-lover. Prithviraj’s characterization - brutal money-mindedness in the garb of an impeccable gentleman - is refreshing villainy. Srikanth, as usual lends able support. Vivek’s comedy and the songs are painfully distracting. The core plots of seawater desalination - acute water scarcity - crude money lending practices, have been blended and etched into the racy screenplay marvelously. The cat & mouse game between Srikanth and Prithviraj are kept to the minimum, unlike some of the recent screenplay-whiz’s films where they begin and end the movie. This is a very crisp, refreshing, well enacted and thoroughly enjoyable movie that deserved a lot more accolades. Debutant KV Anand impresses big time! It’s perhaps the slightly educated aspect of the plot that became its unfortunate hurdle. Madurai Anbu’s name in the opening credits on a movie dealing with Kandhuvatti is a complete irony, though!

Keywords: Srikanth, Gopika, Prithviraj, Vidyasagar, K V Anand
Note: 100 more words than usual. You’d know why when you see this film!

An extended prelude paves way to an unconventional & catchy Sari sari! Teri in adaaon bears Sandesh’s trademark sound - poppish and pleasant. Doston begins in hushed tones, before Kunal erupts amidst a dholak sound, along with a catchy rhythm. This one’s quite interesting! Sonu Kakkar does what she’s been cursed to do in Ghoongat…sing another raunchy-sounding number through her nose. The tune just passes muster, the orchestration is sprightly though! The title song is instrument-laden & hapazard while Ek baari is minimal & hapazard. The first 3 songs pretty much makes up for the other annoyances. Welcome back, Sandesh!!

Keywords: Sandesh Shandilya, Sonu Nigam, Udit Narayan

The contrast between the vocal pitches between Himesh and Himani in Diya dil is interesting, besides reasonably good arrangements Afsana banake’s minor middle-eastern hints make it worthwhile. Yaadan teriyan has Himesh’s Ahista Ahista sound, but doesn’t cut an impression here, while Mile ho tum is slipshod in tune and orchestration. Though Alisha sounds her usual best, Jabse aankh is non-descript. Hemachandra and Vinit are saddled with a dumb tune in Chalo dildar which will not help them in any way. Aaditya Dutt seems out of luck while trying to re-create the commercial heights of the music of Aashiq Banaya Aapne.

Keywords: Himesh Reshammiya, Emraan Hashmi, Ashmit Patel

The Indian government blocking a popular domain like blogspot in the name of blocking access to a handful of blogs hosted there is, to say the least, ridiculous. I’m amazed at the kind of people inhabiting departments like CERT-IN. So, what is stopping anybody from hosting their anti-social sites elsewhere? And, will these folks block internet in general? Why leave it there? Ban every other communication medium and give us back our 2 channel Doordarshan! I mean it, seriously. Life with Yeh jo hai zindagi, Malgudi Days and the occasional 15 minute Spiderman on Saturdays was far more enjoyable! Bah!

Related Links:
http://www.withinandwithout.com/?p=854
http://www.shivamvij.com/2006/07/somebody-must-have-blocked-some-sites-what-is-your-problem.html

Junoon highlights the nasality (!) of Himesh a bit too much, even though the overall arrangement is catchy. Laagi chutte na and Rocky rock the world are all noise with hurriedly put-up tunes. Tere yaad has an ensemble of instruments that doesn’t add up to much, even tune-wise! My love for you sounds lame and Himesh and Akriti just ham their way through. SaReGaMaPa star Vinit’s Dil rang le has a tune that borrows some noises from Himesh’s own Ishq Hai Tumse. The song itself is a ridiculous medley. Himesh is back to his assembly-line best…hollow, uninterested and uncharacteristic tunes.

Keywords: Himesh Reshamiyya, Zayed Khan, Isha Shravani, Minisha Lamba

Sivamani opens and Naveen aptly weaves a lovely, racy flute piece in the title track. The much celebrated Bombay Theme goes completely haywire to begin with and then we get the now-cherished flute piece again. The improvisations jar, though. Mohana is the pick of the album with excellent support by Rajesh Vaidya on the veena. Naveen’s rendition adapts very well in the carnatic scheme. Chennai rain is very Rahman’ish. The tune’s great and you kinda hum along with it! The guitar-based Jiya Jale is fantastic, with Rashid and Keith playing a major part! First light’s jazz’ish feel with a Bhoopaalam base is haunting. James ‘The man with the Golden Flute’ Galway’s influence is clear in the Symphony, but Naveen’s blending of some Indian notes is excellent. You & I is pretentious though, with very less of Naveen. And is that Gowri Manohari I hear in Essence? My knowledge is limited but from what I hear, the adaptation sounds beautiful. There’s a strong Rahman influence throughout the album. But Naveen’s debut proves that there’s life beyond film music and ridiculous remixes. That Naveen has managed to get a fabulous team spearheaded by Sivamani’s percussion lends extraordinary charm to this phenomenal album!

Keywords: Naveen, A R Rahman, James Galway
Note: 200 words here. This album deserves it!

Ishq kiya and No way are no different from the tons of other pointless Himesh tracks. Nasal. One-hook dependant. And very very irritating! A middling retro attempt in Tune mera doesn’t register. Sonu hams his way utterly uninterested, in Bhangra paale. The only novelty in Because I love you is the hubby-wife duo singing - Kunal and Gayatri Ganjawala. There’s nothing rocking in Lets rock either! Its in fact mega bland and predictable. And the remixes. Just one question. Does Akbar Sami really get paid for this? Law of averages catches up with Himesh, again, as he hits rock bottom!

Keywords: Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Himesh Reshammiyya