If it is Hindi OSTs you are talking about, give me either Rahman or SEL, thank you. I mean, their songs might sometimes sound quite similar when played back to back but hello! the intervals at which they churn out these awesome soundtracks (given the stale Nadeem Shravan and brainless, dhin-chak Himesh Reshammiya forgettable numbers) are a breath of fresh air. What speaks more in their favor is that Gulzar consents to compose for them. He is one finicky guy. He likes to work with Vishal, ARR, and now, looks like with the SEL trio too.
Here are the whats (I know about these songs) and whys (I like these songs)...
Dhadak Dhadak
My favorite lines are ’’Chhotey chhotey shehron se kaali bore dupeharo se hum toh jhola uthake chale’’ (we walk away from small towns and dark, boring afternoons with our backpacks in tow), ’’barish kam kam lagti hai, nadiya mattham lagti hai hum samadar ke andar chaley’’ (we think the rain is insufficient and the river is calm, so we go seaward), and the best: ’’Chaand ka teeka matthey laga ke raat din taaron me jeena veena easy nahi’’ (With moon for a mark on the forehead, it isn’t easy to live amid stars)
Beyond all the dholaks, bells, and drum beats, catch the sound of the flute and aah! Both Sunidhi and Udit Narayan have done a great job. I didn’t quite pay much attention to the Nihira lady and her ’dhinak dhinak’ chants. Maybe the next time when I do a front to back of this song.
Duration: 6 mins 35 secs
Genre: Folk, Hindi Filmy, Dance
Singers: Udit, Sunidhi, Nihira
Chup chup ke
The hummable part is ’’Chup chup ke chup chup chori se chori - 2’’. The song is good but nothing too great about it. I am not too much for a Romantic number may be that’s the reason why I haven’t gone crazy about this song. Good to play while sipping on a coffee and munching on some pakodas on a rainy day. Heh.
Duration: 7 mins 16 secs
Genre: Romance, Hindi Filmy
Singers: Sonu Nigam, Mahalaxmi
Nach Baliye
A typical SEL dance number. I had a blast dancing to it. Somya’s voice is really neat. She had done a song for SEL for the dud, Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai.
Duration: 6 mins 5 secs
Genre: Bhangra Techno Disco
Singers: Shankar, Somya, Loy
Bunty aur Babli
Starts very much with the what the bolas from Kathak sound like and it is fantastic. Well suited to Sukhwinder (Wonder why he is sometimes Sukhwindara or Sukhwinder or blah!) Singh’s voice.
Duration: 5 mins 45 secs
Genre: Filmy, Folk
Singers: Sukhwinder, Jaspinder, Shankar, Siddharth
B n B
Blaaze is more of a ARR man but how he does it is more important than who he does it with. He writes his own lyrics and more or less composes his own music. What remains is the arrangement, which we can trust this trio with.
Duration: 3 mins 45 secs
Genre: Rap
Singers: Blaaze, Shankar, Loy
Kajra re
’’Aankhen bhi kamaal kartey hai, personal se sawaal karte hain’’. Masha allah!
Our lady, Alisha, her voice is what gives this song the sound it emits. Shankar and Javed give it a very laid back, background vocals. The violins, harmony and guitars give it a tad bit R.D. Burman sound but I am not complaining. It is definitely a good thing. Much better than Anu Mallik insulting RD by calling his average compositions for Main Hoo Na, RDisk. Shut up Mr.Mallik!
Duration: 8 mins 4 secs
Genre: Kawwali
Singers: Alisha, Shankar, Javed Ali
The audio CD is reasonably priced at 125/- for 6 long tracks. Was a good experience.