Anu Malik is back with another big movie. This one stars Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar and Bobby Deol. This is once again an Indo-Pakistan movie and is directed by Anil Sharma (from Gadar fame). Anu Malik was assigned this movie because he already showed that he can compose nice patriotic songs like in Border and Line of Control.
The album contains 8 songs and lyrics are by Sameer.
Ab Tumhare Hawale Saathiyo (Part 1)- Sonu Nigam
Reminiscences from the Border song ‘Sande Se Aate Hain’ are imminent. Another patriotic song with great singing by Sonu Nigam. The melody is somewhat there but the song lacks the pulse of a patriotic song. The male chorus helps to lift the patriotism feel with the constant ‘Vande Mataram’ . Overall, a good title song but could have been better. Sadly this song will not be remembered if the movie flops.
Ab Tumhare Hawale Saathiyo (Part 2)- Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Kailash Iyer
A singer can make a difference to a song. This one sounds much better though it is the same song. It shows how a singer can transform a song. Udit Narayan starts this one and does full justice to this melody. The lyrics are very good.
Humein Tumse Hua Hai Pyar- Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik
A typical Anu Malik song sung in the standard style by the mentioned singers. Seems like this is a compulsory song in big movies like this one, especially if it is targeted to the masses. You must have heard this song so many times before and no-one bothers about it. Melody is there but it’s the melody of old songs and lyrics are pathetic. Udit and Alka seem to be in a hurry to sing to go to another recording! Mediocre stuff!
Dil Rota Hai Baar Baar – Sonu Nigam
Actually, after repeated listenings, I found out that this is the sad version of the above mentioned song. The whole song is the same but presented in a Rafi mood. This song is too sad. It will make you run away from your sound system. To make it worst, it sounds a lot like the song ‘Koi Pyar Na Kare’ from ’Aan-Men at Work’ sung by Sonu Nigam himself. Nothing great to mention here except an unbearable chorus.
I cannot imagine Anu has produced 4 songs from a same tune! The one from ’Aan’ has two versions as well. This guy is running out of tunes!
Chali Aa Chali Aa- Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik
This one starts very badly but then the ‘Chali Aa’ part comes to make more catchy. The rest of the song is not well sung and out-dated. About music, there are some quite good sounds with the electric guitar. The song loses its appeal when the first antra is heard. Once again, the screaming chorus spoils the song. Both singers fail in their task. This one might be liked by the masses but overall, a disappointing score.
Shivji Satya Hai - Sukhwinder Singh and Sonu Nigam
A devotional song about Lord Shiva. These type of songs are quite hard to compose but Anu did a very good effort. Quite different from filmi devotional songs but in this one, it’s the male chorus with the ‘Om Namah Shivaya Om’ which makes it listenable. Of course, the music is loud because it is required. I will say that the background score is excellent. The classical bits with the singing of the mantras are first class. A composer like Anu who also came with crappy songs like ‘Aanan Faanan’ in Hathkaidi, can also come with a good devotional song for Shivji. Hats off.
Kurti Mal Mal Di - Sudesh Bhonsle, Kailash Kher, Sonu, Sneha Pant & Anuradha Paudwal
Supposedly this is bhangra but it turned out to be a wonderful disaster. The mix of bhangra-punjabi does not blend with the music. The singers are out of track singing on their own as if Anu Malik was at Indian Idol meetings when this one was being recorded. All singers are wasted. I cannot imagine the picturization of this song on Amitabh Bachchan. Please no! Music is horrible.
Mujhe Pyar Do - Sonu Nigam, Anuradha Paudwal & Karsan Sargathia
Now we are in the field of beautiful singing and melody. A beautiful song with great musical arrangements, makes this one an above average track. The tabla and the flutes with the perfect orchestration and average lyrics, save this album. Typical Bollywood song but pleasant.
Mere Sarpe Dupatta- Alka Yagnik, Udit Narayan and Jaspinder Narula
A noisy song with some average music. I observed that all songs with the Dupatta word has this typical violin sound. A song for the masses again with Jaspinder (after a long time) singing in the background. Udit comes in the middle but it does not make any difference. Mediocre song.
I understand that this movie is targeted to the masses but the songs are disappointing. Anu Malik did not put in his best here. A movie starring big names requires selling music but this one turns out to be just mediocre numbers. Even the title song does not match the expectations created before.
This movie was in news because Anu Malik composed a 21 minute song but where is it? It was the title song which was supposed to be that long. I guess that the song will be extended in the movie. But there is no 21 minute song. Another gimmick again. How long is the song is not important. It is how the song is composed and rendered. Apart from a couple of average tracks, Anu Malik comes up a very poor patriotic album.