Woh Lamhe - Music Review

By: Joginder Tuteja, IndiaFM

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Amongst all the biggies [Fanaa, KANK] and Reshammiya wave [Ahista Ahista, PHP, CCK] arrives the music of Yun Hota To Kya Hota. USP of the film is Naseeruddin Shah making his directorial debut while the film is episodic in nature with a character/situation driven plot. A Shabbir Boxwala production, the film has been ready for quite some time and should now eventually see a July release. A multistarrer with Paresh Rawal leading the pack followed by Jimmy Shergill, Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ayesha Takia, Ratna Pathak, Saroj Khan, Boman Irani, Suhasini Mulay, Ranveer Shourey, Makrand Deshpande along with newcomers Ankur Khanna, Shahana Goswami, Sameer Sheikh, Meghna Malik, Uttkarsh Majumdar, Imaad Shah and Trishla Patel, the film has music by Viju Shah and lyrics by Sameer. With a subject like YHTKH, there is not much expectation from the music front and only four tracks in the film reaffirm the perception that it is certainly not a musical.

Title song Yun Hota To Kya Hota has an element of cool breeze but still doesn't go an extra distance to be remembered for days to come. Kunal Ganjawala and Sunidhi Chauhan do well with the soft musical arrangements, while lyrics have a slight poetic feel to them as well but overall what remains with you is a sense of dejÀ vu! Mush and romance are alright but still there is lack of any hammer strong impact that could make you feel for the characters while they continue to fall deeper in love. An okay number at the beginning of the album when one expected something much better.

'Ek Baar Jaana America' could well be termed as the theme song of the film Yun Hota To Kya Hota since it deals with the journey of numerous individuals to the country of their dreams for AMERICA. Set as a 'dandia-mix' number, it has the singers Madhushree, Javed Ali, Kirti Sagatia and Devchand Gadhvi narrating the aspirations of the protagonists in the movie who want to earn name, fame and money in the country of riches and luxuries. Well, the music could have appealed to the Marathi/Gujarati belt audience who jive to the beats of Viju Shah when he performs his orchestra in the Navratri festival but for a Hindi movie/music buff, it is hardly exciting, especially in the context of the film. Simply boring!

Enter Paresh Rawal and Joi Barua, exit Madhushree and Javed Ali for the second version of 'Ek Baar Jaana America' that is a promotional number shot on Paresh Rawal himself. Well, there is nothing flattering about Paresh Rawal's singing while the video too is hardly striking! Appearing to be nothing more than a gimmick, it doesn't really add on much to the album inspite of the tune being heard twice in the album.

Seductive sound of a saxophone raises one's hopes to come across a romantic outing. That indeed holds true in the instrumental 'Dance Music' that has a Spanish feel to it and boasts of class. With the pace swinging between low to high to mid-range alternatively, this short-n-sweet musical outing ensures that it gives exactly what the situation demanded.

To compensate for lack of numerous songs in the film, the album is filled with other tracks like Pyar Hai [Sowmya Raoh], Tu [Mumbai Matinee], Odhni Odhae [DJ SUKETU Remix], Yaadon Mein [Paisa Vasool] and Man Ke Darpan Mein [Om] but sadly one has just lost interest in the film's music by this time.

In the name of a soundtrack, there are just two songs in the album [along with an added version and a dance instrument], which makes it one of the most light weight Bollywood albums ever. Even these two tracks are nothing great shakes hence making YHTKH one of the most disappointing albums of 2006.