Director: Punit Malhotra

Producer: Karan Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar, Ronnie Screwvala

Banners: UTV Motion Pictures, Dharma Productions

Music: Vishal-Shekhar

Lyrics: Anvita Dutt Guptan, Kumaar, Vishal Dadlani

Cinematography: Ayananka Bose

Cassettes and CDs on: Sony Music

Release: July 2, 2010
Read the rest of this entry »

They may not have converted their first Emmy Daytime nomination, but composer brothers Salim and Sulaiman Merchant have found other ways to make India proud, this time on a much bigger level with the duo reportedly having been invited to compose a song for the upcoming FIFA World Cup as part of the official compilation (Thanks to Jayaram, Ankur and Easwar for pointing out that its not the anthem as I thought earlier). Some of the people who have in the past been bestowed this honour include biggies such as Vangelis, Youssou N’Dour and Ricky Martin. Salim-Sulaiman are the first Indians to achieve this feat. The duo will also have the opportunity of performing at the opening and closing ceremonies of the World Cup. They would be performing alongside R&B artist Loyisa Bala and Kenyan singer Eric Waninaner. The official anthem for this year’s World Cup is Canada-based Somalian hip hop artist K’Naan‘s Wavin’ Flag.

Salim-Sulaiman have had an experience at composing anthem-like songs with Chak De India. And they have been having a good run in the recent past. But all their scores have been Indian, and I am yet to hear anything on the world music front from them. Just hope that they churn out a memorable composition for the World Cup, not ending up Indianizing/Bollywoodizing the whole thing! Below is the video of the 2002 World Cup anthem composed by Vangelis, my favourite composition for any FIFA World Cup yet.

Director – Mani Ratnam
Producer – Mani Ratnam
Banners – Madras Talkies, Reliance Big Pictures
Music – A R Rahman
Lyrics – Gulzar
Cinematography: Santosh Sivan
Cassettes on – T-Series
Release: June 18, 2010
(Click on the song title to listen to the song online)
Read the rest of this entry »

Jab Mila Tu sounds a lot like a leftover from Vishal-Shekhar‘s score for Dostana and wonderfully so, the frolicsome beach flavour in the orchestration and all. Add to it Vishal‘s exuberant vocals the song is an absolute delight! The guitar/ukulele loop is addictive! Of the three versions of Bin Tere, I liked the serene Reprise best, Shekhar Ravjiani making the most of his return to mainstream playback singing since Luck By Chance. Wonder why Shekhar doesn’t get as many chances as Vishal, as vocalist. What a voice! The increase in speed works against the tune in the original version sung by Shafqat Amanat Ali and Sunidhi Chauhan. Plus, having heard Shafqat sing so many semi-classical songs I tend to be biased against any song that under-utilizes his voice! DJ Kiran‘s remix with its heavy electronic elements is a safe skip.
Despite faint traces of V-S’s previous similar foot-tappers like Ab To Forever, the title song grows on you, Vishal once again doing the honours behind the microphone. V-S do a Pritam in the romantic Bahara (just to clarify, I speak from the arrangement perspective and not of plagiarism! ). Shreya Ghoshal sounds delightful singing this one, while Sona Mohapatra does her job wonderfully in the folk portions. She deserves much better for her voice and talent. The composers completely revamp the orchestration in the Chill Version, making splendid use of the sarangi. Somehow though, I didn’t quite find Rahat Fateh Ali‘s singing to my taste in this one. That said, the chillout feel brought about in the arrangement works well for the song taking it above the original version. Suraj Jagan sounds a lot like Vishal delivering Sadka Hua alongside Mahalaxmi Iyer. Sad songs with rock feel have been a Pak rock thing of late, but V-S do it their own way, successfully incorporating rock elements into the somber tune without sounding a least bit Pak.
Eight months since the release of their lack-lustre soundtrack of Aladin, Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani make a strong comeback with I Hate Luv Storys’ delightful score.
Music Aloud Rating: 8.5/10
Recommended Tracks: Jab Mila Tu, I Hate Luv Storys, Bin Tere (Reprise)

The Grandslam season is back! French Open is already underway and in less than a month Wimbledon will kick off. And this time in its efforts to making the Wimbledon experience a novel one, the authorities have appointed an official resident poet for Wimbledon in association with the Poetry Trust. Matt Harvey, the British performance poet, will come out with a poem on each of the Championship capturing every facet of the tournament. The verses will be available online and in podcasts, apart from being being recited to spectators at the All England Club. Harvey will also be interacting with fans via his blog posted on the Wimbledon site, and twitter.
In his quintessential manner, the humorist responded thus to his being appointed Official Championship Poet 2010 – “It’s an honour, and I’m acutely conscious it’s the only time I’ll come first in anything at Wimbledon, unless you count the queue for strawberries.” The first poem has already been published. Its called Grandest of Slams. You can listen to Matt Harvey recite the poem on the official podcast here. The lyrics can be read here as well. So there are more reasons than one to look forward to this year’s Wimbledon!

“22 No. Faatak was a railway crossing (now it is below a flyover) in Patiala. This is the city where I did my engineering from and spent the most amazing years of my life. It gave me friendships that will remain a part of my life forever, it made me believe in myself and gave me courage to run after my dreams, it made me the person that I am today, thats why this album is named 22 No. Faatak.” – Dilpreet Bhatia on his debut album. So what does the album 22 No. Faatak speak of the person that Dilpreet is today? Let us see.

Ae Geet, the flagship song of 22 No. Faatak, starts off on a bhajan-like note before shifting to rock. Dilpreet succeeds in bringing about the melancholic feel with his soulful rendition. He has done a commendable job with the arrangement as well, the occasional smattering of tabla beats being an especially smart bit of work. Dilpreet follows it up with Rabba Es Dil Nu, a splendidly arranged soft melody. Dilpreet has previously shown his prowess at delivering soft numbers with Saanu Ik Pal, he excels here too. I did get reminded of the Serene Version of Gulon Mein from Sikander in places, but Rabba Es.. shall remain one of my picks from the album. Dilpreet introduces a pop version of Saanu Ik Pal, which in spite of the innovative orchestration (I liked the harmonium/accordion in the interlude!), did not appeal to me as much as the original did. The original incidentally makes its appearance later in the album as Saanu Ik Pal Unplugged.

Teri Yaad kicks off as another feel good, sing-along sort of track but doesn’t appear as attractive in its antara portion. But Dilpreet sort of makes amends with Tere Bin Dil, a predominantly folksy song with mild rock garnishings. Interestingly there is  a line in this song that goes “Ranjha Ranjha Kar Deeni Main Aap Ranjha Hoi“, same as the starting line of the Raavan song! Dur Kitte sees a delightful fusion between folk, rock and classical elements (Raag Darbar I suppose). Main Pyaar Kar Challi Aan is unadulterated folk music, serene and emotive. Ideal song for easy listening. I found a mismatch between the Punjabi lyrics and the kind of poppish arrangement that was given for Pata Ni Ae Hunda. Dilpreet bows out with another well-arranged sedate melody, Aj Aakhaan.

Dilpreet Bhatia’s debut album stamps his authority in composing and delivering sedate folksy tracks, but speaks little of his flair in other genres. Nevertheless, 22 No. Faatak is a good listen with some brilliantly arranged melodies, thanks in part to Leslie Lewis who worked with Dilpreet in the arrangement. Below is the video of Ae Geet which has been on TV for some time now, and Saanu Ik Pal which was released some time back (You can read Music Aloud’s interview of Dilpreet here.

Music Aloud Rating: 7.5/10

Recommended Tracks: Ae Geet, Rabba Es Dil Nu, Main Pyaar Kar Challi Aan

Ronnie James Dio, one of the most popular singers of heavy metal music, passed away on the 16^th of May after struggling a long battle against stomach cancer. He had performed with “Elf “, “Rainbow”, “Black Sabbath”, “Heaven & Hell”, and his own band “Dio”. He is hailed by his fans as one of the most powerful singers in heavy metal, renowned for his consistent powerful voice and for his “devil’s horns” hand gesture in metal culture. He took over as the lead singer of Black Sabbath in 1979 after Ozzy Osbourne left the group.

He was born as Ronald James Padavona to Italian Parents. He made his first mark in the field of music as the frontman  in the band “Rainbow”, who released their first album in 1975. After he broke away from “Rainbow”, he was asked to replace the mighty Ozzy Osbourne in “Black Sabbath”. He recorded two highly popular and acclaimed studio albums with “Black Sabbath”, known as “Heaven and Hell” and “The Mob Rules”. In the 1980’s he left “Black Sabbath” and formed his own self titled band which earned a cult status in metal culture. On January 17, 2007, he was inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame at Guitar Center on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard.

We pray that his soul rests in peace.

Happened to listen to Rahman‘s second anthem in two days, this time Jai Jai Garvi Gujarat. Quite late I know to be listening to a song that came out on May 1. Even now its thanks to my cousin Unni and friend Emmanuel that I came to know of this one. The song was released as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Gujarat state. The lyrics, originally by Kavi Narmad, have reportedly been slightly modified by Dilip Rawal, Ankit Trivedi, Sairam Dave and Chiragh Tripathi. There is also a Hindi version of the song written by Prasoon Joshi. The video has been directed by Bharat Bala.
Apart from the fact that the two anthems have been made for two parts of the country, there was a general contrast in the feel brought about in the two songs. While the Tamil Classical Conference anthem was sort of imposing in its arrangement with the ambient feel et al, Rahman has brought a very quaint feel in Jai Jai.. Starting with just an acoustic guitar in the background, the arrangement slowly builds up as it progresses. The folksy loop on the flute is a beauty! Keerti Sagathia has of course done a wonderful job of delivering the song. On the whole, a very heart-warming anthem. Thanks to Rahman being involved in composing, this song will already have won lots of fans outside the Gujarati community! Below is the video of the song. And here is the official download link of the mp3.

The anthem for the World Classical Tamil Conference, set to be held next month in Coimbatore, was launched yesterday. The theme has been directed by Gautam Menon, set to tune by A R Rahman and penned by Karunanidhi, a dream combo for any music lover. If that was not enough, the song features some of the biggest names from the Tamil film music, Carnatic music and Sufi music worlds. Here is a small sample I was able to discern from the set – TMS, P Susheela, Hariharan, Aruna Sairam, Bombay Jayashree, Srinivas, Nityasree Mahadevan, Sowmya, Harini, Karthik, Chinmayee, Blaaze, Benny Dayal and Shruti Hassan. Other surprise elements are music director Yuvan Shankar Raja singing for Rahman, and GV Prakash returning to sing for Rahman first time since his debut as composer. Since no good quality video is available on the net as yet, I was not able to get a good idea of Gautam Menon’s work, but on the musical front Rahman has once again ensured a treat. Owing to the patriotic theme perhaps, there are faint traces of Maa Tujhe Salaam in places (some alaaps also reminded me of Omanappenne due to the raga similarity), but on the whole the song is quintessential Rahman with its intriguing layers of instrumentation and mounting addiction on multiple listens. The only complaint that i have is of the usage of rap. Somehow I can’t picture rap fitting in with Classical Tamil! But of course, Rahman knows best!
Below is the best quality video that is currently available on youtube.

Bheegi Si Bhaagi Si belongs to the Pritam line of romantic songs which once were very pleasing owing to their imaginative arrangement but are now getting very boring due to repeated usage. For all you know this song could well have been a Teri Ore or a Tera Hone Laga and it would have made little difference! Adding to the cliche factor is the “melody king” Mohit Chauhan. He is a good singer, but its really high time he shifted genres. Apart from the mild interest aroused by the very Shreya Ghoshal-esque Antara Mitra, there is nothing much else to this song. Thankfully we are spared of a remix for this one! Enter Aadesh Shrivastava with Mora Piya. Frankly I was quite surprised to see his name in the credits for this one when it appeared on the trailers. The subtle use of instruments, the haunting feel, are all so un-Aadesh (Is the raag Darbaar?)! Thats not to say the song is without its foibles (for instance, he could have gone slightly easy on the modern percussion in places, and the English chanting by Rosalie Nicholson), but it is definitely way ahead of the stuff he mostly offers in the name of songs. And Aadesh does a great job of delivering the song as well, backed splendidly by Shashi. As usual the subtlety is mostly lost in the remix versions, two in number. The Twilight Mix is the better of the two, having done away with the English part. Kavita Seth‘s singing is the high point of the Trance Mix which has little in common with the original apart from the base tune.
Composer No. 3 Shantnu Moitra next presents a folksy number, Ishq Barse. Being well-versed with the genre Moitra delivers an impressive score, sung well by Hamsika Iyer, Pronob Biswas and the lyricist Swanand Kirkire. Unfortunately owing to its functional nature the song doesn’t score high on the entertainment front. That said, Pronob’s classical ad-libbing in the interlude deserves a mention. DJ Lloyd and Discreet‘s effort do little to improve matters in the Bombay Bounce Club Mix. If anything, they only make matters worse, doing away with the folksy nature. With Vande Mataram‘s tune adorning the two extremes and a splendid orchestral score in between, Wayne Sharpe‘s Dhan Dhan Dharti is a beauty! Sharpe succeeds in bringing the anthem-like inspirational feel with the orchestration, the ambient background reminding one of another composer Sharpe considers his major inspiration, Vangelis. Shankar Mahadevan compliments Sharpe’s work well with a kickass job behind the microphone. If there is a Bollywood singer who can match Shankar at singing, it is Sonu Nigam, and Sharpe quite ideally brings Sonu to render the Reprise version (Call of the Soil) where nothing much changes except Sonu’s classicalized improvisations.
Despite the ill-advised usage of four different composers for four tunes, Prakash Jha pulls off a decent soundtrack for Raajneeti, thanks to lead composer Wayne Sharpe and, quite surprisingly, Aadesh Shrivastava.
Music Aloud Rating: 7/10
Recommended Tracks: Dhan Dhan Dharti, Mora Piya