The album kicks off with Chiggy Wiggy which has already made its appearance on all music channels. Though at the onset this song with Kylie’s seductive vocals sounds like the typical hip hoppish dancy track a la Zara Zara from Race et al, Rahman brings in a lot more depth in the arrangement. And almost towards the middle the song totally turns on its head with Sonu’s Punjabi entry. But somehow after that dramatic entry of Bhangra elements the song seems to dwindle out. And I found the phrase Chiggy Wiggy rather unsavoury. Sounded something straight out of cartoons rather than anything romantic!! Nevertheless I am hooked to the 45 second segment from 2:15 to 3:00. Next up is the predominantly bluesy Aaj Dil Gustakh Hai. First there is this haunting sequence of Sukhwinder’s humming, followed by an acoustic guitar loop reminiscent of that in Allah Ke Bande. The first line reminds you slightly of Asha Bhonsle’s initial humming in O Bhawre from Daud. The similarity is only fleeting however, as the song then goes off tangentially on the blues mode. Sukhwinder and Shreya is brilliant as usual on the vocals, Shreya handling the Westernised rendition exceptionally well. I think I will have to play the song at half the speed to make out the various intricacies of the song!! Fiqraana, the third song in the lineup, sounds something along the lines of Masti Ki Paathshaala from RDB, Dhakka Laga from Yuva etc, the lyrics also indicative of the same. Vijay Prakash sounds quite different in this song, probably due to the processed voice. Backing him up is Shreya Ghoshal.
Bhoola Tujhe which follows next has Rashid Ali sing to an orchestral arrangement. After repeated listens this song has grown so much on me I am forced to re-review this song! In its general feel it is reminiscent of some older Rahman songs but the grandness of orchestra would simply blow you away! The background string sequence from 1:39 to 2:00 is my favourite. Six singers – Blaaze, Sonu Kakkar, Neha Kakkar, Jaspreet Singh, Dilshad and Raqeeb Alam – feature in Blue theme. As is Rahman’s wont, he creates yet another super theme song. With its power-packed Bhangra-electronic elements, it would seem Rahman made this for some Asian Underground album!! Sonu and Shreya return with Rehnuma, which is again majorly blues with a James Bond-ish loop appearing all through the song. The arrangement is once again spot on, and Sonu and Shreya particularly excel in the high-pitched portions. And finally there is Yaar Mila Tha, which is an unconventional sort of item number from ARR. While the lyrics and rendition by Udit Narayan and Madhusree have a slight folksy edge, the instrumentation is hip-hoppish. To add to the mix the vocals are mostly synthesised. I wonder why Rahman is displaying an increased penchant towards vocoded vocals of late. Whatever the case be, this song is also entertaining due to its unconventionality, and makes for a good listen.

Being Rahman’s first album post his Oscar win, there were great expectations of this album, but on the other side there was also that this was an Akshay Kumar movie and Akshay movies are not exactly known for their musical exquisiteness. Given that situation Rahman has given an ideal soundtrack, though not going to be counted among his best, a definite entertainer. And even while churning out such albums, Rahman makes sure that his music does indeed stand out from the ordinary.

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