These are days when there is a virtual drought of good tunes. So when an album having songs of Lata, is released, one is bound to go for it with closed eyes. To top it, when the music director is Madan Mohan, it is a dream come true for all lovers of true melody.
The dreams come to a crashing halt when you hear the album. Sad, very very sad. However, good things first. Lata sounds breathtakingly young in the songs. Listen to her in ’’Hum to bhai jaise hain...’’ and you would know what ’’age-defying voice’’ means. She’s scintillating in ’’Ye hum aa gaye hain kahaan’’ with Sonu Nigam. You can sense the strain while she negotiates the higher octave but hey, the lady is in her 70s and its amazing she’s even able to attain the heights almost effortlessly ! If that’s not divine, what is ?!!!
Sonu Nigam gets the best songs (or maybe , his singing makes them the best of the lot!) Very sensitively sung duets. So is Roop Kumar Rathod’s with Lata (’’Tere Liye’’). The ’’Lodi’’ song is probably a derivation of Madan Mohan’s ’’Nache ang wey...’’ from Heer Ranjha , but doesn’t actually make you go balle-balle. Yash-ji, please give Lata-didi a break and don’t force her to sing the dholak & bhangra songs !!! Leave that to the younger lot. We expect only the classy duets from didi now !
Now for the flip side. WHERE IS MADAN MOHAN’s SOUL IN THE MUSIC? I now understand the difference between composing music and arranging music!
Firstly, Madan Mohan, had he been alive, would never have chosen the tunes that have been chosen here. If he had, he would have given that special touch to the songs - that honey-soaked sitar interlude (remember the magically melodious sitar compositions in Raaga Charukeshi in ’’Baiyan na dharo’’ of ’’Dastak’’ ?) ---or, a soul-stirring , semi-classical touch of romance( recall the sensous whisperings in Raaga Yaman Kalyan in ’’Meri Duniya Mein Tum Aaye’’ from Heer Ranjha )....or at least a poignant ghazal (’’Aaj socha to aansoon bhar aaye ...’’). Recall these and you would know what I mean when I ask the wherabouts of the maestro in this album.
You could pass it off as a Jatin-Lalit, Himesh Reshammiya & Sandesh Shandilya combo and no one would realize the gaffe !
I hope the movie salvages MM’s songs ! Ironical indeed given the fact that to this day, it is MM’s songs that have made a forgettable movie like Hanste Zakhm (and many more) , immortal !
Amen!