Game – Music Review

Expectations
An edgy and thrilling score - That's what one expects from the music of Game which sees the team of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Javed Akhtar coming together again. Now this was expected considering the fact that Game is a Farhan Akhtar-Ritesh Sidhwani film. Since Game is a thriller and has major portions of it shot abroad, one expects a soundtrack that would boast of an out and out Western flavour with a foot tapping appeal.

Music
Title song 'It's A Game' opens the album and one can well expect this one to be playing in the opening credit rolls of the film. Boasting of the same style as the opening sequence of the Bond movies, 'It's A Game' pretty much meets the expectations. Sung ferociously by Vishal Dadlani, it is not the kind that turns out to be a chartbuster track but does well in setting up the mood right at the start of the film. Also, one can expect snippets from the song to form a part of the background score of the film as well. Later Sunitha Sarathi does a 'reprise version' of the song as well and it turns out to be further closer to the Bond theme.

An even better outing takes place, courtesy the soft notes that mark the beginning of 'Maine Yeh Kab Socha Tha'. An urban contemporary love song with a modern day setting to it, 'Maine Yeh Kab Socha Tha' is a quintessential love song that one expects from a film that boasts of upmarket production values. Rendered by Shaan and Anusha Mani (good again after 'Dil Mein Jaagi' [Dev D], 'Lazy Lamhe' [Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic] and 'Lehrein' [Aisha]) with Loy Mendonsa chipping in as well, 'Maine Yeh Kab Socha Tha' is a bring-on-the-smiles love song that moves along rather smoothly and makes you play it all over again.

'Mehki Mehki' takes the listener back to the 50s when cabarets were in vogue. With the female protagonist taking centre-stage here, it is Shreya Ghoshal who does the needful to be her voice. While she does her job well and so does Kshitij Wagh who is her male counterpart, the overall composition turns out to be just about decent. For a setting like this one would have expected something spectacular but that is not really the case with the song turning out to be more lazy than exciting. The 'remix version' too doesn't quite add on to the spice and one moves on to the next song with a feeling that this one could have been far better.

It is back to Bond mood with Aditi Singh Sharma and K.K. sung 'Kaun Hai Ajnabi' bearing the kind of sound which has been associated with many a film belonging to this genre over the decades gone by. This one in fact mixes Bond theme with the 50s style composition which is yet again situational. The lyrics here are typical where the protagonists are trying to find the identity of a stranger, hence setting the mood for a song (arriving again in a 'remix version') that could well have been composed for the climax setting.

Overall
Game starts off well with an attention grabbing title song and a melodious 'Maine Yeh Kab Socha Tha'. However it doesn't quite keep the momentum with 'Mehki Mehki' and 'Kaun Hai Ajnabi' ending up being just about situational. Of course in the process of doing so, a definite mood is maintained for Game which in a way is a positive considering the fact that the film was never meant to be a musical. However for the songs to make an impact, it would all boil down to how they are picturised and plugged into the film's narrative.

Our Pick(S)
Maine Yeh Kab Socha Tha, It's A Game