Pritam starts off the soundtrack with a brilliantly orchestrated melody called Mera Jeena, sung by Neeraj Sridhar. A song that meanders through some breezy orchestration dominated by piano and flute for about a minute and a half before switching gears to rock, Mera Jeena provides the perfect start for the album. The remix is not that impressive though, with an overdose of dance pop elements. Pritam is always good doing songs with Latino elements, one of my faves being Falak Dekhoon. Following on similar lines, Dilkash Dildaar Duniya also starts off on a haunting note buoyed by Shaan‘s soulful vocals. That is until misfortune strikes the song in the form of Tulsi Kumar‘s singing! Nevertheless the song makes for a good listen if you decide to ignore the above-mentioned component. The remix is passable.
After Pritam it is the turn of Pakistani singer-composer Shiraz Uppal, who does a re-rendition of a song from his album Ankahi, Rabba. A very feel good sort of song with its peppy youthful orchestration and the man’s singing all fitting to a tee. After that the baton is passed on to Salim-Sulaiman who do four more songs for the album. But things take a relative dip in their first song Ab Mujhko Jeena, in spite of seeing Zubeen Garg return after a long gap. The base tune is in fact decent, but its the banal arrangement that becomes the song’s undoing. Same goes for the remix. Shukriya Zindagi sung by Shafqat Amanat Ali has a very strong deja-vu feel about it, but is engaging nevertheless, thanks to Shafqat’s vocal brilliance and Salim-Sulaiman’s innovation in the arrangement which stands out in places. There is also a short sad version of the song which is for most part Shafqat’s solo act. The feel kind of reminded me of Yeh Hausla. The remix is in bad taste however, robbing the song of all its beauty.
The real clincher from the duo comes in the form of Pal Mein. With mildly ambient orchestration reminiscent of some of the compositions from their previous outings with Nagesh Kukunoor, the composers get it totally right with the vocalists for the two versions – Shreya Ghoshal and Shankar Mahadevan. And though both do their parts brilliantly, the mood of the song is more fit for the female voice and hence Shreya’s version rates higher. And finally there is Mohit Chauhan crooning yet another melody, Chala Aaya Pyar, a very hummable tune but again replete with heard-before elements. Not upto Salim Sulaiman’s standards, especially in comparison to what came before this song, but good nevertheless.
With each of the three composers contributing his bit, the 13-song soundtrack of Aashayein has enough good music to make it worthwhile.
Music Aloud Rating: 8/10
Recommended Tracks: Pal Mein, Rabba, Mera Jeena
aashayein song are are just touching .the song shukriya zindagi ,mera jeena hai kya and pal mein are just touching.and the most beautiful ab mujhko jeena is so encouraging .
@shishir: yup. zubeen is one guy who hasnt quite got his due in bollywood.
@julie: thanx.. 🙂 chala aaya is pretty good in fact. and for a person new to hindi music it would be very impressive indeed. mebbe after getting exposed to more hindi music you would notice the similarity i talked about. 🙂
Wow! I’m finding I agree with your comments almost to a T. The only difference is that I like Chala Aaya Pyar quite a bit. Perhaps it’s because I’m relatively new to Hindi films and music, so things don’t sound “old” or familiar.
Zubeen is always best in singing but it is unknown for me why he isnt heard more in bollywood. Aashayein is the delayed project n the promo song was said 2 be by zubeen i.e ‘aab hai ujala’ . This song is in the album but the promo which i hav seen is by neeraj shridhar n pritam. Lets hope we can also watch zubeen’s ‘aab hai ujala’. In the album the song is written as ‘ab mujhko jeena’.
One song in the album which reminds the rocks composed in ’70s – “Ab Mujhko Jeena” by Zubeen Garg really stands out. The composition,lyrics and mainly Zubeen’s unique voice and rendition makes the song a ‘must listen’ and definitely the USP of the album ‘Aashayein’.