Prologue
To understand the rest of the review, it’s necessary that you skim through this part. Nothing much, just some ‘technical’ terms I would be using.
For the express purpose of making sense of this review, take this salvo from me. Songs have four (er… over-simplistic) parts:
Header.
Sub-header.
Body.
MBP (Music Between Paragraphs).
Other ‘technical’ aspects such as chorus are known to all intelligent readers, readers who are intelligent, and intelligentsia who read, along with all others. So beat it, you say? Fine.
Opening Comments
The magnificent reviewer (Me! Me!) is only too well aware that some songs sound and look different. Picturisation (is there any such word?) does make a difference to how one takes a song. So here goes the disclosure – the magnificent reviewer has not seen any of these songs, only heard them.
Seemayen bulaye tujhe chal rahi, Seemayen bulaye sipahi
Easily one of the better songs of the album where vocals are used. Music man Anu Malik has used some marching-band inspired music in the Header. The pity is that he has used them sparingly; the rest of the beats (especially during the Body) sound as old as the mountains. The poignant voice of Alka Yagnik gives life to some unique and pretty brilliant lyrics of Javed Akhtar. Sample this:
Tum aur main jo… sang na honge
To holi me bhi rang na honge
Barf se thandi, koyle se kaali
Tum bin hogi har deewali
So, this starter leaves us more than satisfied. If anything, expectations are raised. Duration: 7.53. Humble rating: 4.5 / 5.
Pyaar bhara geet
The peppy voice of Shreya Ghoshal instantly livens you up. Sonu Nigam sounds a bit deep, wonder why! Some rare use of the ghatam here.
But hey! The male chorus humming at MBP reminds you a bit of another song. Now, where could you have heard that? It’s difficult to put a finger on it. Oh yeah! Ishq bina of Taal!! Ouff, don’t be mean! It ain’t an exact copy okay?!
Duration: 9.21(whew!) Humble rating: 3.5 / 5.
Khush rahena
Roop Kumar Rathod raises the pitch pretty effortlessly, with tremendous effect on your heart-strings; but seems to kind of thrust it out when in lower octaves. If you felt Anu Malik threw you a lemon in the second song, here Akhtar seems to have been sleep-walking, penning some funny https://lyrics. Don’t believe me? Well, you don’t expect the big daddy to punch in things like:
Main achha hu… main theek hu…
Tumhe kasam hai tum khush rahena
(Duh! Duh!) followed up with:
Dil me hai jinke be-imani
Unko baat hain ye samjhani
Could do better, eh? Hmm…
Duration: 6.31. Humble rating: 3 / 5.
Before we forget (Instrumental)
The redeeming factor. The saving grace. Was it the haunting flute? Was it the reverse echo effect given? Either way, this ‘sad’ version of Seemayen bulaye is – simply put – un-miss-able.
Duration: 3.24. Humble rating: 5 / 5.
Pyaar bhara geet (Instrumental)
The violin replaces the voice quite mellifluously. You are made to think the violin almost speaks to you! Better than the one with vocals? Ahem!
Duration: 5.30. Humble rating: 4.5 / 5.
Main kahin bhi rahoon
Begins darkly, but evens out soon enough. This song boasts of a bevy of singers – R K Rathod, Sukhwinder, Hariharan, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam – all excellent exponents of high-pitch male singing.
Javed Akhtar recovers from his stupor, and how! Check the piece-de-resistance:
Meri aankhon ki duniya hai sooni padi,
Dil ki duniya magar tujhse aabaad hai
The music is positively melodious, extremely hummable, and rivals Seemayen bulaye for top honours. All Header, Sub-header, Body and MBP flow seamlessly. The chorus towards the end gives you goose-pimples! You end up wondering why the elite chorus didn’t sing the entire song?!
Duration: 12.46 (Whoa! But you don’t even realise it.) Humble rating: 4.5 / 5.
Ek saathi aur bhi tha
The album rounds up with this vintage Sonu Nigam rendition. The magnificent reviewer named this song Sober Victory – The Morning After. The eternal soldier seems to be saying:
Hey buddy!
We won! We got ‘em!
Go home. Celebrate.
Think back what we got through.
But remember that mate of yours.
Good way to sign off, me thinks.
Duration: 8.29. Humble rating: 4 / 5.
General Comments
Both were war movies, both directed by J P Dutta, music by Anu Malik. Comparisons with Border are but natural. And are dismissed equally fast. Border was a class apart with ’Sandese aate hain’, ‘Ae jaate huve lamho’, and ‘Mere dushman, mere bhai’. Don’t even think about it.
Anu Malik has been variously named – from the ‘king of plagiarism’ to the ’most inspired music director in the industry’. But sometimes he gets really inspired and comes up with genuine gems such as Border, Yaadein (HEY! JUST THE MUSIC!), Akele Hum Akele Tum, and Virasat (applying Bollywood polish to Ilayaraja’s rustic charm). While LOC Kargil doesn’t make that kind of an impact, he’s, well, almost there.
By the way, giving full lyrics on the jacket is one welcome trend. Helps poor souls sing along without murdering the meaning.
Final words of wisdom? There are no foot-tapping numbers here; so forget about hitting the dance floor. No fast and peppy numbers. No rap either. The watchwords seem to be melody and poignancy. Meets expectations; does not exceed them.
Duration: 60 minutes, round and square. Humble overall rating: 4 / 5.