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The title song is a typical techno track on the lines of crazy frog - simple and predictable. Khula aasmaan’s lyrics by Irfan Siddique and KK’s vocals save it since it has a standard indi-pop sound. The kids chorus in Sunday in interesting, but is better seen, than heard. Dhoom dhadaka has some innovative and well thought-out chorus. Coupled with Kailash Kher’s enthusiastic singing, this upbeat track is the soundtrack’s highlight. The two remixes are annoying, to say the least. The second CD with goodies is a brilliant idea in promoting a children’s film, but the soundtrack just passes muster.

Keywords: Sa re ga ma, Ken Ghosh, Rahul Bose

Note: One appalling thing I noticed in the CD sleeve is the absence of the director’s name! I’m sure director Kitu Saluja may not find this omission amusing.

Neeye en and Kaapatha mudiyala have incredibly silly and coarse lyrics. But while the former has an interesting sound and tune, the latter actually has a vintage Ilayaraja style rhythm and tune pattern - the only issue is that we’re quite far from the 80s now! Kadavul edhukku is highly sleep-inducing. Oththa pulla and Kalagakkara use familiar folk tunes, in rather staid packages. Ayiram ayiram is so amateurish in every sense - tune, sound, interludes, lyrics, choice of instruments - it’s shocking that it’s from an established composer. Jassie Gift, as a composer, indeed seems a flash in the pan!

Keywords: Karan, Udayathara, Jassie Gift

Dharm’s soundtrack is no doubt aligned tightly with the kind of theme the movie deals with, but some of the pieces are only 20+ seconds long that I wonder why the makers even added it in the soundtrack. In terms of songs, Bhaee bhor, Uphaar and Piya bole are decent enough, but along with the other tracks, there’s a feeling that these should be used in accentuating the movie watching experience and on their own are quite pointless. From that perspective, it may perhaps be a good idea to release such soundtracks once the movie is out and doing well!

Keywords: Pankaj Kapoor, Hrishita Bhatt

I really admire debutant director, choreographer Ganesh Acharya’s idea to make a realistic, dance-unfriendly film! But the soundtrack, for all its grand and refined sound by Nitin Arora and Sony Chandy, does only one thing for me - what starts as a very happy picture in the title song, Naa tin dhinna and Mumbai jaayenge, slips into ominously sad notes in every track post that – Gullak, Kursi, Talaash…! Given this in the backdrop of that cute kid in the promos, I really look forward to the movie. I perhaps need a very good film to relate to these sound pieces.

Keywords: Manoj Bajpai, Juhi Chawla

Beyond the fact that a unique voice like Kailash Kher’s does bring a certain fatigue, the Kailasa band innovates exceptionally well in the rich orchestration, choice of instruments and the tunes! The manic, trance-like Bam lahiri, the thoroughly imaginative sounds of Joban Chhalke and the pop-philosophy in Jhoomo re resonates beautifully in Kailash’s vocals. The ballad-like Saiyyan has a restrained Kailash doing full justice to its ghazal’ish blend even as Tere naina is loaded with appropriately rich backing chorus and dreamy interludes! Khusro’s words in Chhap tilak is treated well with the sound of rain and delightful vocalizing effects. Daulat shohrat’s rich prelude paves way for a thoughtfully penned track while the reggae’ish Yaar sajan and retro, filmi-pathos-styled Tu meri jaan hai are extremely ear-friendly. This second album by Kailasa actually is a lot more rewarding than the debut…and to think I loved that one! The CD credits Kailash for the compositions and that says a lot about this man, since he has captured a myriad range of moods across this 9 track album. Special kudos to the backing vocals and the overall packaging of tracks by the 10 member Kailasa as they produce this knock-out of a second coming!

Keywords: Kailash Kher, Amir Khusro

Kailasa are: Kailash Kher, Naresh Kamath, Paresh Kamath, Kurt Peters, Sanket Athale, Rinku Rajput, Sameer Chiplunkar, Debyajyoti Dutta (Jonqui), Sankarshan Kini and Tejasvi Rao

Note: This album deserves the 200 word review and the above list is ‘cos I felt that the readers of this blog should know the others behind Kailasa, along with Kailash Kher.

Quite a few people have mailed me with extreme annoyance and complete disbelief – ‘Why are you a member in both Himesh fans and Hate-Himesh groups at Orkut?’ Are we supposed to take a stand and join groups accordingly? I’m there in both groups only to understand how and why both sets of people react. I like some of Himesh’s soundtracks, but also hate many others. The question is not liking/ hating Himesh - it’s liking/ hating particular tracks of Himesh. For some very strange reason, many people mix both up beyond reason and end up being the quintessential Himesh fanatic!

Keywords: Himesh Reshammiya

Ankh vich and Mehfuz have all the trappings of a standardized Himesh track, topped with his strong nasality (!) but strangely, the tunes are pretty good. Dekhoon tujhe has some ambient gothic backgrounds and the two things that annoy include the main song and that morose rhythm! The earthy simplicity in the title song and Tere sang definitely works – huge thanks to Sonu and Jaspinder’s rendition. Regardless of boxing being the film’s background, Bulls eye reminds you more of your breakfast while the feeling is about rhyming, unmentionable bovine excreta. Despite the obvious, tiresome monotony, some good tunes save Apne.

Keywords: Himesh Reshamiyya, Dharmendra, Basanti, suicide, Sunny Deol, Sunny Deol, Shilpa Shetty, Katrina Kaif

With 3 versions, you expect Kaun hoon main to be the highlight. But the track, by background score masters Ashu-Dhruv reeks of an indi-pop sound typical of small-budget movies with newcomers, that has been adopted by a huge production house, for no particular reason. The same applies for every other lifeless track here…barring the title track, with lyrics and music by Vipin Mishra (Parikrama?). The very lively track by KK (and its remix too!) pretty much saves this soundtrack from total mediocrity! Apart from the innovation in the film’s name, the title track is the only other thing that works!

Keywords: Hazel, Ruslaan, Mp3, Ashutosh Pathak, Dhruv Ghanekar

Awarapan is almost a Pakistani soundtrack! Roxen’s To phir aao is breathtaking no doubt, but three versions sounds a bit too much! Roxen lead Mustafa’s voice goes completely against him in Tera mera rishta, even though the track is pretty well arranged. Another Pakistani artist, Annie, brings her very successful bubblegum pop, Mahiya in the soundtrack. Its a simple and catchy track, only very predictable. Rafaquat Ali Khan’s Maula stays true to its sufi strains even as it strays into interesting guitar interludes in places. Awarapan is a notch below other Bhatt-production scores. So, what exactly is Pritam’s role here?

Keywords: Emraan Hashmi, Shreya Saran, Shriya Saran

Mathangi excels in the Ilayaraja’ish Kadale. Those exotic interludes, in particular, reek of vintage Raja style, even as the mellifluous tune is expertly arranged with clear focus on thoughtful lyrics and interesting sounds of typewriter for a prelude! One of the composer duo, Sabesh tries his hand in crooning the male version of Kadale and very surprisingly, does a pretty neat job of it, barring that very obvious and annoying ‘la’ mispronunciation! Silir silir is equally appealing with an enjoyable Hindustani base and that entirely coincidental tinge of Rahman’s Roja from Kaadhalar Dinam! Srilekha’s teasing vocals help generously in this sitar loaded track. Despite my relative lack of knowledge on raagas, I think I can bet that the fantastically conceived Thoranam aayiram is based on raag Maayaamaalava Gowlai. I was able to connect with this awesome track almost instantly – most probably perhaps of the raga familiarity! Equally captivating is Unnai saranadaindhen, which I believe is based on Gowri manohari. Ammuvaagaiya Naan may well be Sabesh-Murali’s best ever. Frankly, I did not expect anything out of this soundtrack – but every single song surprised the hell out of me with very refined and mature tunes, lyrics and packaging. Just one word – wow!

Keywords: Parthiban, Ammuvagiya naan, ammuvaakiya naan

Note: I think this soundtrack by relative upstarts Sabesh-Murali deserves the 200 words I’ve just jotted. Even if a few people become aware of this soundtrack’s existence through this review, I’d consider this blog post worth the effort!