Aap Ka Suroor - Music Review

By: Joginder Tuteja, IndiaFM
Monday, April 30, 2007
Soundtrack of Aap Ka Surroor - The Moviee easily qualifies as THE most awaited album of the first half of 2007. Expectations from the music are gargantuan to say the least and reasons are aplenty...and not quite unknown to the listeners.

a) First and foremost, it is nothing short of an acid test for Himesh Reshammiya as over and above handling the music and singing department, he also turns a lead actor with the film
b) Himesh Reshammiya and Sameer have given dozens of superhit tracks together. Their fans would settle for nothing less than that here.
c) Lot is expected from the choreography/picturisation of each and every song. After all director Prashant Chadha is the man who made Reshammiya a household name through his innumerous music videos.
d) Off late, Reshammiya's track record has been a mixed bag with a mix of hit and not-so-popular soundtracks. Aap Ka Surroor is his chance to silence his detractors once for and all.
e) Last but not the least, as the release date of the film is coming nearer, majority of media seems to be targeting it left, right and center for no rhyme or reason. Now the ball is in the court of his loyal fans to decide the fortunes of his dream album.

Reshammiya greets listeners with 'Assalaam Vaalekum', a stage song where Reshammiya does what he is best at i.e. wear his trademark attire, bring mike close to his mouth and croon with an undisputed energy which is always witnessed when he is front of a live audience. A song in appreciation of the woman he loves, it is one of those rare Reshammiya numbers that takes more than just a couple of times to catch up on you.

While the 'sufi' element is present throughout the track, it is still left to the two mix versions, first a regular 'remix' followed by the 'dark' mix, which bring an altogether different mood to the song and give it a different attitude. Out of these two remixes, while the former is an entire song running with a different orchestra, latter is purely for the dance floor/lounge.

Though in last six months or so remix versions have been more of a nuisance rather than being an add-on, in case of 'Assalaam Vaalekum' it turns out to be a rare case of a remix salvaging an original and actually turning out to be a highlight of the album.

There is a brief 'aalaap' at the beginning of 'Tera Mera Milna', a well written track, which is just an opposite of 'Assalaam Vaalekum' when it comes to being easy on ears in the very first hearing. Those who are still not tired of accusing Reshammiya of having a nasal twang would have to rethink before making such a comment again since he is remarkably restrained for most part of the song.

A melodious track that has Shreya Ghoshal as Reshammiya's female partner and moves at quite a decent pace with just the right 'thehrav' and right dose of orchestra, 'Tera Mera Milna' is one of the best tracks of Reshammiya this year. Another fact to be noticed in this song is that 'antara' is much more impressive than the 'mukhda' which makes the song sound further interesting as one hears it in totality.

Just like 'Assalaam Vaalekum', even 'Tera Mera Milna' comes in two more versions - a 'regular' and a 'House' mix. Though the original stands tall in this case, if one has to choose between the two remixes, it would be 'House mix'. This is because it is not just an assortment of a consistent rhythm playing along but has some variety of shades provided at different junctures of the song to make the remix stand out.

Reshammiya and Shreya Ghoshal are heard once again in 'Jhooth Nahi Bolna' which turns out to be even better than the two numbers preceding it. This romantic track with a core Indian base to it only takes the album in the right direction since proceedings only seem to be getting better every five minutes.

There is an extensive use of 'tabla' and 'ghunghroo' in the song which reminds one of the Nadeem Shravan score of the mid-90s. The feeling is further strengthened when one senses the mood of 'Pardesi Pardesi' [Raja Hindustani] as the track progresses.

A high-on-orchestra track seemingly designed for the interiors audience, 'Jhooth Nahi Bolna' is what Bollywood songs have traditionally been made of and is surprisingly very un-Reshammiya! Well, one doesn't mind that at all since as a listener one now waits to hear something new from him now. There is absolutely no need for the remix version of a song like this and the same holds good for 'Jhooth Nahi Bolna' too, though the music company feels otherwise and hence the presence of an easy-to-skip 'remix' version here!

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