bollywood music review

By: Joginder Tuteja, IndiaFM
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Around a decade back, there was a new wave that hit Hindi cinema screens - English and South Indian movies being dubbed in Hindi and released across Hindi belt. As the quality of such films deteriorated, the number of such films too became lesser with every passing year with hardly any such notable release in last few years. Aparichit may just about revive the trend when it releases in a few days from now. A dubbed version of Tamil superhit Anniyan that released down South last year, Aparichit is an action/social/drama/thriller about a man [Vikram] who plays the character of a man with MPD [Multiple Personality Disorder]. Sada is his female interest while Shankar, who has numerous superhits to his credit like Gentleman, Humse Hai Muqabla, Hindustani and Nayak to name a few, is the film's director. Harris Jayaraj, who was last heard ages back for his superhit soundtrack of Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, is the composer for Aparichit while Mehboob writes.

One of the characters played by Vikram is a rockstar called 'REMO' and that's the title of the song that marks the album's beginning. Sung by Nakul and GV Prakash, 'Remo' is a cracker of a number as a kick start! With lavish picturization, innovative sets, western musical arrangement and some eye candy dance moves to boast of, 'Remo' is the song of, for and from the lead character of the film who loves to sing and dance about himself. And which man won't really do that if he has someone as gorgeous and stunning as Yana Gupta in his arms throughout the song's run!? A superbly arranged number that takes various twists and turns throughout by picking up pace and slowing down alternatively, 'Remo' is a number for fast driving cars and campus crowds!

'Kumari' has a South Indian classical beginning to it and as the song progresses one realizes that the song continues in the same vein. The song won't really go down well with the Hindi belt audience at which the dubbed version is targeted at and may only work with a miniscule audience who have a taste of such music that has strong South Indian flavor. Sung by Unni Krishnan and Harini, the song does come easy on ears but the overall flavor [that includes music, lyrics and the vocals] remains so rooted to its original version that it turns out to be miles apart from what an audience of today is listening to!

When you read Leslie Lewis and Vasundhara Das on the credits, you have all the reasons to believe that it's going to be a rocking outing yet again after 'Remo'. That's indeed the case as 'Gora Gora' begins that gets to the point right away and is high on energy throughout its duration. With great picturiztion once again, it is a number based on western music that has a rocking feel to it and promises to engage you while it is on the screen. Lavish picturization and some special effects ensure that 'Gora Gora' doesn't allow you to look the other way!

Album moves alternatively from being Western ['Remo', 'Gora Gora'] to hardcore South Indian classical [Kumari] as 'Iyengar Ghar Ki' comes next. With an extended chorus coming into play, it's a matter of around a minute before Hariharan starts crooning the number along with Harini. A love song, it is a song that would hardly be identifiable by the North belt. Though the makers may have all the right intentions to present the number to all-India audience, chances are bleak that the song would be a good enough reason for a listener to lap up the album. The song belongs to the fast-forward variety and one wonders if its inclusion may turn out to be a speed breaker in the film's narrative!

A song that has a distinct Shankar feel to it, whether in terms of composition or the picturization, 'Chori Hai' is a kind of song that the director specializes in. 100 odd background dancers, a village folk feel, colorful clothing, synchronized dance steps, paddy fields and some innovative sets/set-up [this time painted trucks, rocks with images of filmstars etc.] - now that's what makes 'Chori Hai' a fairly enjoyable number that may keep the pace going for the album. Apparently lakhs have been spent on creation of this single number and though the song may not be remembered by audience once they come out of the theatres, singers Kay Kay and Shreya Ghoshal [who sings in a distinct husky voice] do their bit to make the song work to an extent.

Best part of the enterprise comes at the album's end in the form of theme track 'Stranger in Black'. Haunting to the core, it has an enigmatic appeal to it and if it is indeed original, then it should be a worthy answer to the rest of the world as far as coming up with an innovative tune is concerned. A great piece of orchestra complimented by Sunitha Sarathy's vocals, 'Stranger in Black' is simply superb as it goes through different moods and fits in quite well as a part of the film's overall feel and narrative.

'Remo' and 'Gora Gora' are primarily the two songs that remain with you with remaining just passing muster. Anyways, 'Aparichit' is a movie that is being released in Hindi as a thriller rather than a musical; hence it is quite obvious that music is certainly not the USP or the prime publicity mechanism of the film. Harris Jayaraj's score is primarily targeted for South audience and hence expecting another RHTDM would make matters too far fetched. Enjoy 'Remo' and 'Gora Gora' for a couple of weeks to come and forget about the rest.