The first song to hit the airwaves was Badtameez Dil, a breathless number, and it rules – there’s no time to reminisce, pause or even breathe while listening to this one. Benny Dayal goes from one line to the other at a great speed and with an equal amount of ease; never mind the lyrics, as they don’t mean anything in particular, as the makers themselves have said, they are essentially nonsense patter. What else would you make of these lines – Paan me pudina dekha, naak ka nagina dekha, chikni chameli dekhi, chikna kameena dekha or aloo bhaat puri bhaat? But these crazily disconnected lyrics do add to the madness of the number which is essentially a carnival of saxophone, drums and trumpets.
Balam pichkari is a folk tune, a Holi song turned on its head to create a party number. The tune is extremely addictive and you are bound to hum it even if only subconsciously. And Shalmali Kholgade and Vishal Dadlani’s powerful and energetic singing lifts it a notch higher. This song will definitely tempt you get up and start dancing.
Pritam’s album and a Ranbir Kapoor film – it cannot be complete without a Mohit Chauhan song. So the Rockstar crooner sings Ilahi, a song with a Scottish flavour. It’s a slightly offbeat number in this otherwise fully filmi soundtrack. Mohit improvises on the alaaps and makes this one sound like a live performance.
Dilliwali girlfriend is a bhangra pop song. Again, this one’s a high-speed number that’s fun, but it is a very ordinary composition from Pritam. Arijit Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan do a decent job of it. It’s definitely catchy, but not a top quality job.
Kabira is a song with a Sufi touch. Tochi Raina projects the pain and angst in the song with great élan. Rekha Bhardwaj too uses the folk base in her voice to great effect. The rhythm and electric guitar design this philosophical track and add to its nicely gliding effect.