Sonu Nigam has been singing many wonderful songs thru out his career as a playback singer. But his debut album Deewana remains one of my all time favourites. Thanks to Rama’s (arey baba, not me.. but the other one.. dwingramki) list of Sonu gems, it made me go look for this cassette in the lost corners of my CD stacks and re-listen to some of the pleasing melodies once again.
Ab mujhe raat din, tumhara hi khayal hein..
kya kahoon pyaar mein, deewano jaisa haal hein..
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My best song of the album which begins with a rather obtuse “eh..yeh.. zu.., ” followed by a lovely piece of Piano, Keyboard and then Piano again. The flow of music is pleasing and Sonu gives a wonderful rendition, actually emoting each of the words. I absolutely adore the way he goes sensually throaty at “tumhara hi..” My favorite line however is the ‘O o o aaha ha, la la la la laa’ where he drawls rather.. err.. hmm.. sexily I think. Beginning somewhat slowly, the song splendidly picks up pace with a superb combination of drums and jingles with interspersed tabla strokes. The Echo and re-echoing effect for the mukhda towards the end catches your attention. The over all combination of music, melody and Sonu’s heavenly voice in this song transfers you to a new world totally. And I think the video starring Sushma Reddy and a cute guy (anyone know his name?) was sorta nice too.
Deewana, main hoon deewana tera..
mausam hein, mastana.. uspe dil deewana..
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The beauty of this song is the variation in the mukhda, which is sung in 2 extreme tempos and the way Sonu oscillates between the two through out is fantastic. The first instance is slow and with hardly any instruments in the background, while the second time it’s accompanied by lovely drumbeats and rhythmic tinkles. The strumming of the guitar at the opening, the “tyon, tyon” and “tu ru tu” (err.. using them for the want of better way of expression for a musical note) sounds cool and when Sonu elaborates a little longer than necessary at “yeh marzi teerriiii.. ee..” the effect is what I call.. umm.. cho chweet :-D Check him out in the following stanza –
“Pyaar thuje jab se kiya, bhool baita main sabko
Tune magar jaana nahi, dhadkanon ki talab ko..”
Kaun hein woh ladki..
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Pretty Ok song in comparison to others. This one reminds me of old Bollywood style of music and https://lyrics.. Sample this: ‘mehki hui bahaaron si woh..chamki hui sitaron si woh..’ how very common and unexciting! (But I do like, uski adaayein toh khaatil hein, uski baat kya.. charon pehar tadpta hoon, din raat kya ;-)) I am not very sure but I think its Clarinet that sounds so different and of course, the use of Harmonica, just before the song reaches its end, is fine too.
Is kadar pyaar hein tumse aye humsafar..
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Sigh! I just love this song. And no, it has nothing to do with Milind Soman starring in the video. Everything about this song is so romantic and appealing.. be it the plain piano at the beginning or the effective use of drums, saxophone & chimes eventually. The simplest of the lyrics yet hopelessly passionate, flowing music and once again Sonu’s magical voice make it an utter pleasure. You actually get goosebumps hearing Sonu’s lovesome sighs over “tumhari har adaa, tumhari har nazar” and immediately followed by the husky “yeh kya kehne lagi, tumhe hein kya kabar”.. Ooh la la! Sigh, sigh, and more sighs!
Dil se dil tak baat pahunchi,
milte milte sanam..
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Very soothing ditty, almost lullaby like in nature. Here, the voice and singer are in all glory while the music takes a backseat with slow, soft melody. Sonu modulates his voice suitably and most of the song is rendered in a whispering fashion with a profound tenderness.
Kuch tum socho,
kuch hum soche..
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Another pretty much ordinary song of the album. Sounds kinda repetitive somewhere. Nothing extraordinary about music and lyrics, though you chuckle and appreciate,
“Paagal duniya, paagal rasme
aur thore hum tum paagal..” (catch Sonu’s subdued giggle here)
Yeh pehli mulaqat ki, meeti si bekhudi..
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The initiation is typical Bollywood style of the late 70s and the early 80s. However, it flourishes quite smoothly with pleasing melody and romantic lyrics yet again. Sonu weaves magic all over with his vocals in the antara,
“Meri zindagi mein jiski kami thi
Woh jiski tamanna is dil ne ki thi
Woh mil gayi mujhe.. toh mil gayi.. har kushi..”
(If only those college Romeos who wrote, “dil diya tha aapko tohfa samajkar, aap uspe bait gaye sofa samajkar” cud learn something from such simplistic poetry)
Deewana kiya hein teri yaadon ne,
tu aake zara dekh le, aa jaa..
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The highlight is the recitation of some lovely verses in between regular singing. The obsession of a lover and his ‘tadap’ is effectively communicated. Superb employment of tabla in the antaras and alternating it with the drumbeats in the mukhda with a Western choir like chorus humming in the background is praiseworthy. Though there is actually no change in the pace, the use of these 2 distinct instruments creates an illusionary effect as if the song were a fusion mixture of fast and slow tempo renderings.
It’s a T-Series, Gulshan Kumar presentation with great music by Sajid-Wajid and good lyrics by Faaiz Anwar, though I must say that side B doesn’t have the same repeat value as that of side A. And my overall preference of top 3 songs of this album would be:
1. Ab mujhe raat din, tumhara hi khayal hein..
Is kadar pyaar hein tumse aye humsafar..
Deewana, main hoon deewana tera..
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It’s a shame to notice that there were no earlier reviews on this album. Hence I took the liberty and pleasure of writing a jatpat fatafat one without much thinking or procrastination. But if I sounded like a moonstruck sweet sixteen thru out, blame it all on this mushy album that makes any girl flip topsy-turvy.. I mean, for Sonu’s crooning only ;-)