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If his brother is going places, Karthikraja also seems to be doing the same, towards terra firma. And Muruga personifies this facet of the composer who had shown a lot of promise, even recently. Here, he does a lame remix of the 1956, MGR-Bhanumathi track Chinnanchiru chitte besides 3 other terribly annoying tracks not even worth a mention. That leaves us with the only redeeming factor in this nightmare of a soundtrack, En kaadhali. Well sung and loaded with the usual embellishments expected out of Karthikraja, this one just about saves the album from ending up in the garbage can.

Keywords: Karthikraja, Karthik Raaja, Samiksha

Kanja penne - Kizhakku Kadarkarai Saalai (Paul J, Tamil)
Paul J’s Tamil debut is fairly decent, and this track stands out for its unique sound.

Javeda zindagi - Anwar (Mithoon, Hindi)
Who are Ksithij and Shilpa Rao? And why does Mithun get these smaller, low-budget movies? One divine track!

Kabul fiza - Kabul Express (Raghav Sachar, Hindi)
Raghav’s film debut is a fantastic, breezy pop ditty. Eminently listenable!

Ek lo ek muft - Guru (A R Rahman, Hindi)
Perhaps the most under-rated track in Guru, at least going by the reviews all over the net. This one’s a charming track sung so effortlessly by Bappi’da. The word play…(’load shedding’ and ‘chand’ anyone?) by Gulzar is another fab highlight.

Ende khalbile - Classmates (Alex Paul, Malayalam)
Vineeth Srinivasan’s vocals sound untrained, that may be intentional, ‘cos he pulls the song damn well. Alex Paul’s simple and efficient music is the highlight even as it reminds me of a Tamil track by Vidayasagar, from Poovellaam un vaasam!

Maula mere - Anwar (Mithoon, Hindi)
A song I have been waiting for ever since I saw those promos…the first name that atrracted me was Manish Jha, ‘cos he was the man behind Maatrubhoomi. Then I saw Mithoon, who gave us Tere bin. And Mithoon doesnt dissappoint here!

Tere bina - Guru (A R Rahman, Hindi)
I dont think Rahman sounds that great here, particularly in the alaaps, but he makes it up with the overall sound and the choice of Chinmayee for the female vocals. Boy, is this the same lady who sang Kannathil Muthamittaa’ls title track? She sounds awesome!

Mithoon, after that phenomenal debut in Bas ek pal with Tere bin, proves that he’s here to impress. Big time! The two songs he composes for Anwar, Maula mere maula and Javeda zindagi are right up Rahman’s standards. While the former has an addictive sufi style sung fantastically by Roop Kumar Rathod, the latter by Kshitij and Shilpa Rao is a flawlessly beautiful, dulcet track. Pankaj Awasthi pitches in with a few songs and instrumentals, but only Dilbar mera impresses. Mithoon’s recreated track, Bangla khula is coarse and annoying. Go for Anwar’s soundtrack just for those two tracks mentioned earlier!

Keywords: Nauheed Cyrusi, Manisha Koirala, Mithoon

Kabul Fiza flows beautifully like a lively indi pop track than a filmi track. Raghav’s fresh vocals make the difference too! With a slightly monotonous and 90s feel, Banjar is a techno track with folk ambitions. The orchestration is perfect but Sunidhi’s and KK’s vocals in the remix versions suit this song better than Shubha Mudgal’s. Keh raha mere dil’s breezy tune endures, while Yeh main aaya kahan sounds as labored as a college band’s debut. Raghav’s film debut is an extension of his 2 albums, but it’d do well for him to get out of the Lucky Ali’ish sound.

Keywords: Arshad Warsi, John Abraham

Tere bin is an enjoyable, breezy reggae’ish track while Signal, with a noticeable drag sounds pretty neat! But the soundtrack goes completely haywire after these two hopefuls. Sunidhi’s Aa kushi se is assembly-line Pritam at his worst. The title song is no better and despite Neeraj ‘Bombay Vikings’ Sridhar, drags on pointlessly. And barring those catchy rock’ish riffs and some mildly interesting interludes Aafreen rambles even before it registers. The album is loaded with even more worthless remixes than a normal Himesh soundtrack, all of which are eminently forgettable. Even Pritam’s usually impressive techno sound lacks its edge, this time!

Keywords: Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Govinda

Despite its crowd-pleasing catchiness, Barso re is rather contrived. Tere bina & Ay hairathe get everything right…imaginative accompaniments, delightful vocals by Rahman and Hariharan, and are excellently packaged. Bappi Lahiri and Chitra’s combination & Gulzar’s colorful word play add ample charm to the effortlessly elegant, Ek lo ek muft. Mayya mayya is Maryem’s show all the way with an interesting, whimsical middle-eastern assortment. Baazi laga, barring its distinctive Central Asian sound is largely situational. Rahman attempts orchestral opulence in Jaage hain and pulls it off in grand style. Guru’s soundtrack has an engaging sound, with Rahman in good form again.

Keywords: Maniratnam, Abhishek Bachan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhavan, Vidya Balan

Thimirae & Angel, despite their Vikraman’ish tunes, are reasonably catchy, thanks to some sprightly orchestration. Barring those annoying tanglish gibberish, Enjoy is indeed enjoyably catchy. But Salladai and Rendaam jaamam are non-descript. Joshua apes Rahman’s Ale ale in Silu silu, much like Vikraman getting SA Rajkumar to redo Bombay’s Kannalane. Because the wonderful source, the faithfully (to an embarrassing extent) redone version is decent, except for Kalpana’s voice and some absurd lyrics. Vikraman’s films always carry characterless music, which rides solely on the film’s script. The change in composer has helped Vikraman bring some variation, at least in the sound.

Keywords: Bharath, Genelia, Harini, Vikraman, Joshua Sridhar

Ariyadha manasu’s orchestrational simplicity, with that right amount of innovation, showcases Yuvan’s maturity. Iyyaiyo and Sari kama pathani sound at best like an excellent Raja tune gone awry, with Yuvan not able to repeat the earlier track’s minimalistic charm. Authentic folk attempts like Tanka dunga & Oororam puliyamaram sound almost alien, with no cinematic additions. Raja’s trademark was tweaking folk to reach a larger audience - an approach sorely lacking in Yuvan’s attempt here. Nadhaswaram is an interesting instrumental experiment with a special focus on urumi melam. Regardless of Ameer’s requirements for the theme, as a soundtrack, the album disappoints.

Keywords: Ameer, Karthi, Parithiveeran, Priya Mani

The aimless Come on, rambling Har manzar and an assembly-line Keh raha hai give us enough reasons on why Aadesh is still in the side lines. But he does redeem himself largely due to the Jagjit Singh track, Kehta hai baabul and the beautiful Baawari piya ki, in which Sonu is absolutely scintillating. Kunal attempts at something similar in Bebasi dard, but doesn’t quite manage anything. The rest of the soundtrack is some mish-mash nonsense, may be put to use better by the director. Baabul’s music is strictly functional. Whether Aadesh intended it like that is quite a different issue!

Keywords: Amitabh Bachan, John Abraham, Rani Mukherjee, Salman Khan

Jagjit’s voice hasn’t changed. Gulzar’s word play hasn’t, either. So, here’s one of the finest ghazal albums this year. Hai lou zindagi and Teri soorat get on to you instantly, while Phoolon ki tarah & Zindagi kya hai’s three-lined imagination is captivating. This is a much better sounding album than Marasim, with Jagjit sticking to his time-tested musical style. But whatever small variations he adds in the orchestration, this time, help the album get that extra edge, making it thoroughly enjoyable. And Jagjit’s relaxed style of rendition, coupled with that mild orchestration helps us soak in Gulzar’s beautifully poignant words.

Keywords: Jagjit Singh, Gulzar, Marasim, Triveni