Alag

By: Joginder Tuteja, IndiaFM

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Alag is one of those rare albums that have hit the stands without much pre-release publicity of songs happening on the small screen. Also there has not been much hype and hoopla behind the music release which is a rarity for a movie with decent credentials. A Subi Samuel production, Alag is touted to be a 'truly different' movie that comes from Ashu Y. Trikha who has earlier directed Deewanapan and Sheesha. After Deewanapan, the director repeats Dia Mirza to star opposite Popcorn Khao Mast Ho Jayo hero Akshay Kapoor in this adventure-drama film! Aadesh Srivastava, who has recently come up with a decent Rehguzar - The Road To Destiny is the composer at the helm while Rahul Seth and Nusrat Badr write. Surprisingly the lyricists have not been credited for their individual contribution to the songs which make one wonder if the two have jointly written all the tracks, though it seems unlikely!

Title song 'Sabse Alag' comes at the very beginning of the album and as soon as it starts you are sure to have a soulful outing. A smooth and sober track that moves at an extremely slow pace and makes you hear it along carefully, it helps in establishing the character played by the lead protagonist and how he and his world are completely different from the rest if the mankind. This appears to be the promotional number that features the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, Bobby Deol, Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Bipasha Basu, Sushmita Sen and Preity Zinta and would be seen on the small screen soon. The track comes in two versions, first where husband wife pair of Kunal Ganjawala and Gayatri Ganjawala come together with Shaan, Hemachandra and Nihira Joshi and later when Kunal renders a solo. A fine haunting number to kick start the album, it should help the film's promotion but isn't of the kind that one sings or hums along the town!

When there are singers like Shaan and Vasundara Das and the song's title goes as 'Hai Junoon', you expect a foot tapping dance number. That's exactly the case with Shaan crooning for the character who questions the world about what is wrong if he is alag i.e. 'different' from the rest! Also the man is now passionate about living life after finding his love. The track sounds more like an Indi-pop song rather than a conventional Bollywood number and is more suited for a dance floor/club outing. The song falls in above average category but is not the kind that could take a nation by the storm. As expected, DJ Suketu adds on further zing to the remix version and gives the song a chance to find a place in the Top 10 charts on the basis of its choreography and picturization that should help it gain some eye balls!

It's as 'tapori' as it get with the arrival of 'Apun Ki Toli' and there is just one term to describe the number - "Forgettable"! A 'basti' number with terms like 'bindaas', 'dhinchaak', 'shaanpatti', 'haiyya-balle balle', 'lagey raho' etc., it takes you back in time to the 80s and that itself is not a pleasant feel to have. Shaan, Kailash Kher, Aadesh Shrivastav and Vasundara Das are simply wasted in the number. The last time when one felt so repulsive while hearing a track of this genre was in small time flick 'Praan Jaaye Par Shaan Na Jaaye' that had music by Daboo Malik and Nitin Raikwar!

Krishna does the 'alaap' for 'Saanjh Ki Pighalti' that makes you wonder that when Aadesh can make a song like this then why did he really have to come up with something like 'Apun Ki Toli' earlier? A 'raga' based number sung by newcomer Ujjaini with Anand Sharma's voice in the background, it has a poetic feel and is track that would have required some real hard work before its final cut would have been out. A song that has a peaceful effect on you while it is being played, it is one of the better tracks composed by Aadesh in recent times.

Ujjaini and Hemachandra do 'aalap' for the 'The Soul of Alag that should be a part of the film's background score. A full length theme score that comes with some variation in it, it also has shades of classical touch to it.

To sum it up, the musical score of Alag doesn't have a single number that one could take home and sing along. At most a couple of numbers can be heard and enjoyed to an extent but there is none that makes you rush to the nearest neighborhood music store.